Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean
The Classic Taíno lived in eastern Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico. They spoke a dialect called Classic Taíno. Compared to their neighbors, the Classic Taíno had substantially developed agricultural societies. Puerto Rico was divided into twenty chiefdoms which were organized into one united kingdom or confederation, Borinquen. Hispaniola was divided into roughly 45 chiefdoms, which were organized into five kingdoms under the leadership of the chief of each area's premier chiefdom. Beginning around 1450, Classic Taíno from Hispaniola began migrating to eastern Cuba; they are conventionally known as the Cuban Taíno. The Cuban Taíno gained power over some of Cuba's earlier Western Taíno inhabitants, the Ciboney, but no regional or island-wide political structure had developed on the island at the time of Spanish colonization of the Americas.
Spanish conquest of Honduras
By the end of the 16th century, eastern Honduras was still beyond the frontier of conquest. The region was known as Taguzgalpa, stretching from Trujillo in the north, to the valleys of Olancho, Jamastran and Agalta in the west, to the Guayape and Guayambre rivers in the south, and the Caribbean Sea in the east. The territory was well populated by a diverse range of indigenous peoples, including Lencas, Nahuas and Misumalpas. The exact political composition of the territory was unknown to the Spanish, such that the Spanish Crown prohibited campaigns of conquest and reduction in Taguzgalpa owing to ignorance of its makeup.