500 B.C. – 200 B.C.: The Saladoid peoples migrated from the Orinoco Valley into the West Indies, bringing the first sedentary villages and agricultural practices.

500 B.C. – 200 B.C.: The Saladoid peoples migrated from the Orinoco Valley into the West Indies, bringing the first sedentary villages and agricultural practices. These ancestors of the Tainos introduced the worship of zemis and the cultivation of root crops to the islands. Significance: Introduced pottery, sedentary villages, and agriculture, foundational traits of later Taíno society. Nuance: This was not simple replacement. Saladoid settlers gradually displaced and absorbed Archaic populations. Cultural blending shaped the transition