When Christopher Columbus stepped ashore on the Lucayan island of Guanahan , the people greeted him with gifts of parrots and cotton. They gave all they had. Columbus later told Queen Isabella of Spain that these gentle, peaceful islandersseemed poor in everything but blessed with an abundance of love. Within fifteenyears, the Spanish conquerors killed or enslaved everyone, depopulating the LucayanIslands. The same fate awaited untold millions of indigenous peoples in theCaribbean Islands and Central and South America. The Lucayan Ta no: First Peopleof the Bahamas is told from their perspective prior to European contact. It is a storyin words and paintings, told by Sandra Riley and Alton Lowe, about their culture andconnection to their natural and spiritual worlds. It is a story created by filmmakerTravis Neff in his docudrama Full Circle: a Ta no Story. It is a story told in bronze byJames Mastin as a memorial to the Ta no. These works of art will endure as remindersof the goodness and generosity of spirit that Columbus recognized from the momenthe first met the island people. | The Lucayan Taîno by Sandra Riley, Paperback | Indigo Chapters