"Of the Amerindian peoples who came to settle in the Caribbean, the Arawaks and the Caribs were the most important. There were many similarities in their ways of life, although the Arawaks were a more gentle and peace-loving people, while the Caribs were proud and warlike.
The Spanish were the first Europeans to arrive in the Caribbean region at the end of the fifteenth century. The Spanish were seeking gold and other precious metals. They treated the Ainerindians with terrible cruelty and within 150 years the whole of the Arawak population had been wiped out."
--- English for Life / Cecil Gray