The first inhabitants of Puerto Rico were hunter-gatherers who reached the island more than 1,000 years before the arrival of the Spanish. Arawak Indians, who developed the Taino culture, had also settled there by 1000 ce. The clan-based Taino lived in small villages led by a cacique, or chief. They had a limited knowledge of agriculture but grew such domesticated tropical crops as pineapples, cassava, and sweet potatoes and supplemented their diet with seafood. In the late 15th century 20,000-50,000 Taino lived on Puerto Rico, which they called Boriquén (Borinquén, or Boriken). The Taino occasionally warded off attacks by their Carib neighbours from islands to the south and east, includi...