Hispaniola
An Arawak/Taíno home consisted of a circular building with woven straw and palm leaves as covering. Most individuals slept in fashioned hammocks, but grass beds were also used. The cacique lived in a different structure with larger rectangular walls and a porch. The Taíno village also had a flat court used for ball games and festivals. Religiously, the Arawak/Taíno people were polytheists, and their gods were called zemí. Religious worship and dancing were common, and medicine men or priests also consulted the zemí for advise in public ceremonies. For food, the Arawak/Taíno relied on meat and fish as a primary source for protein; some small mammals on the island were hunted such as rats, but ducks, turtles, snakes, and bats as a common food source. The Taíno also relied on agriculture as a primary food source. The indigenous people of Hispaniola raised crops in a conuco, which is a large mound packed with leaves and fixed crops to prevent erosion. Some common agricultural goods were cassava, maize, squash, beans, peppers, peanuts, cotton, and tobacco, which was used as an aspect of social life and religious ceremonies.
Ciboney
The Ciboney were the dominant population in Cuba until around 1450. Las Casas states that unlike the highly organized Classic Taíno to the east, the Ciboney had no integrated chiefdoms or wider political structure. In the mid-15th century, Classic Taíno from Hispaniola began migrating into eastern Cuba, overcoming the native Ciboney. These "Cuban Taíno" established chiefdoms concentrated in Oriente Province, though they established settlements as far west as Havana Province. However, the Cuban Taíno never established an island-wide political structure as existed in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. Classic Taíno migration from Hispaniola to Cuba increased after Spanish contact, with many Taíno leaving to escape the Spanish incursion. Notably, Hispaniola Taíno chief Hatuey fled to Cuba with most of his people; he remained there until the Spanish captured and executed him. Following the Spanish conquest of Cuba in 1511 under Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, the population of all native groups declined precipitously until they had disappeared as distinct groups by the end of the century.