c. AD 1492 – 1600 (Theory): The early colonial period in the Caribbean is increasingly viewed as a time of complex transculturation. Indigenous communities at sites like El

c. AD 1492 – 1600 (Theory): The early colonial period in the Caribbean is increasingly viewed as a time of complex transculturation. Indigenous communities at sites like El Chorro de Maíta integrated European goods (such as brass, tin, and glass beads) into their existing prestige systems, reflecting agency and adaptation in the face of colonization. Even as the Spanish attempted to suppress native beliefs and consolidate labor through the encomienda system, indigenous traditions and biological lineages persisted through resistance and intermixing. Keegan and Hofman emphasize that the history of the “First Islanders” did not end in 1492. It continued to shape the social and genetic landscape of the modern Caribbean.