Lucayan
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The Lucayan were those Arawak which inhabited the Bahamas at the time of Christopher Columbus' landing on October 12, 1492. They are widely thought to be the first Amerindians encountered by the Spanish. Early accounts describe them as a peaceful people. Before Columbus' arrival, there were probably over 40,000 Lucayans, but because of slavery, diseases and other hardships brought about by the arrival of the Europeans, by 1517, they were virtually non-existent.
Columbus wrote, "As soon as I arrived I took some of the natives by force."[citation needed]
