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
Cerezeda finally set out with his expedition to the interior but was forced to return when Díaz de Herrera attempted to abandon Trujillo, taking all the colonists with him. Trujillo was now at the point of collapse; the Spanish lacked essential provisions, and although more Spanish soldiers had come to Honduras than were needed to overthrow Peru, the bitter Spanish infighting had resulted in the almost complete collapse of the colony. Trujillo was the only Spanish settlement left in the territory, and possessed less than 200 Spanish inhabitants. The Spanish assaults upon the native population had wreaked havoc upon them, but failed to successfully conquer any territory outside the immediate environs of Trujillo. The native population level collapsed, with many Indians being sold as slaves to supply the workforce on the plantations of the Caribbean islands. In 1533, an epidemic swept through the natives within the reduced Spanish area of control, killing half their number. The "encomienda" system was dysfunctional in the colony, with little tribute, and no rich mines of silver or gold. Many colonists had heard of the riches to be had in Peru, and threatened to leave. By 1534, the only richly inhabited native region left was the Naco valley; in desperation, Cerezeda once again planned to move the colony west to Naco.