c. AD 1000 – 1500: The integration of local Lesser Antillean communities into the broader sociopolitical and ideological spheres of Greater Antillean polities represents a fundamental shift in regional dynamics.

c. AD 1000 – 1500: The integration of local Lesser Antillean communities into the broader sociopolitical and ideological spheres of Greater Antillean polities represents a fundamental shift in regional dynamics. This period of “esoteric interaction” involved the movement of prestige goods, religious symbols, and potentially people across the maritime boundaries of the Caribbean. Smaller island societies became part of a larger, interconnected “Taíno” world, which influenced their local art, ritual, and social hierarchy. Keegan and Hofman argue that this integration was a complex process that transformed local cultural trajectories while maintaining a shared regional identity. This “kaleidoscopic” expansion of influence illustrates the fluid nature of indigenous boundaries and the power of shared ideologies in the Late Ceramic Age.