c.

c. AD 1492 (Language): Language is considered the most common element shared by various societies throughout the Greater Antilles during the time of contact. Bartolomé de las Casas noted that while Hispaniola featured three distinct and mutually unintelligible languages—Macorix, Ciguayo, and a “common language”—the latter functioned as a lingua franca. This common language, which modern scholars refer to as Taíno, allowed for communication across different ethnic groups and diverse island territories. Dictionaries compiled from colonial documents have since been used to interpret indigenous place names and reconstruct precolonial natural history.