ABSTRACT
In 1494, when Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the New World came to Jamaica, he found it inhabited by Arawak Indians. These people did not long survive Spanish colonization. Research has provided us with artifacts and knowledge of their era, but it has not unearthed evidence of their musical culture. As the Arawak work force diminished (mainly from overwork and introduced diseases to which they had little or no resistance), the Spanish began augmenting these laborers by importing slaves from Africa. By the mid-1600s, the Arawak had virtually been eliminated.
