The Taíno are pre-Columbia indigenous inhabitants of the Bahamas and the Greater Antilles islands, which include Cuba, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico, and Jamaica. The Taíno society was arguably destroyed in the 18th century, decimated by introduced diseases, and forced assimilation into the plantation economy that Spain imposed in its Caribbean colonies, with its subsequent importation of African slave workers. Many people today claim to be descendants of the Taíno, most notably among some Puerto Ricans, both on the island and US mainland. People claiming to be Taíno descendants have been active in trying to assert a call for recognition of their tribe.

Taíno oral tradition explains that the sun and moon come out of caves. Another story tells that people once lived in caves and only came out at night, because it was believed that the Sun would transform them. The origin of the oceans is described in the story of a huge flood which occurred when a father murdered his son (who was about to murder the father), and then put his bones into a gourd or calabash. These bones then turned to fish and the gourd broke and all the water of the world came pouring out.