c.

c. 1500 – 1600 (Demographics): The notion that the indigenous Caribbean population was completely driven to extinction within a few decades of contact is a historical myth. While the Spanish began importing enslaved “Indios” from the mainland and smaller islands to bolster a dwindling labor force, many local lineages survived through intermarriage and flight. Modern genetic evidence, specifically the high frequency of Native American mitochondrial DNA in the region, confirms that indigenous women continued to bear children who integrated into the emerging colonial society. This biological continuity serves as a primary counter-narrative to the “extinction” theory promoted by early historians.