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Guanahatabey Tribe
The Guanahatabey (also spelled Guanajatabey) were a Caribbean tribe of the far western end of Cuba. Very little is known about them.
They were apparently a small community of hunter-gatherers, unlike the more settled
Ciboney and
Taino farming peoples of the rest of the island.
The Guanahatabey language was never recorded but was probably distinct from Taino, since one of the mentions we do have of them in European records
was the comment that the Taino guides could not understand them. Some researchers have associated the Guanahatabey with placenames of
Carib origin in Western Cuba, although those could also have come from Carib sailors; others have associated them with prehistoric cave sites in the
region, although those could have been used by the ancestors of other Caribbean people as well. Unfortunately, the Guanahatabey and their language
will have to remain a mystery-- when the Spanish conquered Cuba in the early 1500's, most of the indigenous population of the island were killed, enslaved,
or forced to resettle elsewhere, and if there were any survivors of the small Guanahatabey group, they would have been absorbed into larger
Caribbean communities centuries ago.
Wikipedia: Guanahatabey:
Online article listing the few existing placenames which may be of Guanahatabey origin.
Books for sale on the Guanahatabey Tribe
Our organization gets a commission from any book bought through these links
Art and Archaeology of Pre-Columbian Cuba: 
Cuba Before Columbus:
Books on the indigenous prehistory of Cuba.
Antilles Tribes Map Tainos, Caribes and Guanahatabeyes:
Maps showing possible locations of the Guanahatabey and their neighbors in the Caribbean.
Principal Cuban Sites:
Map showing the location of Ciboney/Guanahatabey archaeological sites in Cuba,
The Indigenous Peoples of Cuba: Guanahatabey, Siboney, and Taino:
Overview of what is known about the Guanahatabey and other Cuban tribes.
From the Guanahatabey to the Archaic of Puerto Rico:
Archaeology paper about complications in understanding the ancient societies of Cuba and Puerto Rico.
Links, References, and Additional Information
Wikipedia: Guanahatabey:
Encyclopedia articles about the Guanahatabey tribe.
Native American History of Cuba:
Information about indigenous culture and archaeology in Cuba.
Los Indigenas Guanahatabeyes Indios en Cuba: Los Guanajatabeyes:
Information about the Guanahatabey people and their language in Spanish.
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