Today we celebrate the Native People of the USA and elsewhere in the Americas. Traditionally, the first Monday of October honors the maiden transatlantic voyage of Christopher Columbus. Although numerous people regard the latter as a cause for celebration, increasingly, a growing segment of society recognizes the importance of Honoring and Respecting Native People. In like manner, therefore, today is Indigenous People’s Day.

Cuban Woman

Guanahini, Arawak, Taino

As many already know, Columbus and his group arrived in the Lucayan, or the Bahama Archipelago on October 12, 1492. Amid the hundreds of islands, the disputed landing occurred in San Salvador, Bahamas. Or as the Lucayan named it Guanahini. Lucayan, an Anglicized term, for the Hispanicized appellation Lucayos, derives from the Taïno word Lukku-Cairi, meaning People of the Island. The Lucayans spoke the Taïno tongue, a derivative of the Arawakan languages. And as reported from that era, it is the term…