Modern genetic testing confirms sizable populations now living in West Indies, Central & South America.

• First Colonial Contact: Arawak were the first indigenous people encountered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 in the Greater Antilles.

• Colonization Impact: Many island populations (such as Taino) were decimated by colonization. Some Arawak communities survived and with resurgence in certain areas.

Covering geography in the West Indies, greater Caribbean, Central and South America, Florida, and much of Amazonia, the Arawak people maintain continuous culture, identity and ethnicity in diaspora.

Arawakan is the largest linguistic family in the Caribbean and South America.