Interesting point in history that is forgotten is that the Arawaks were the main food source for the Caribe Indians, form which the word “Caribbean” came.
The Spanish pronounced their name as Canabs and coined the word “cannibal”.
In the post above I mentioned some books by Samuel Eliot Morison who I greatly admire, and in his book “The Great Explorers”, he talks about Giovanni da Verrazzano (the Italian explorer after whom the Verrazzano bridge in NY was named) who went ashore alone in Guadeloupe, was seized by Caribs, killed, cut up, and eaten in full view of his crew on the ship who could only watch in utter helplessness.
It is no wonder Columbus was greeted with open arms by the indigenous people in the Caribbean-they were preyed on by the Caribs, whose fierce and bloodthirsty reputation cannot even be conceived of by people today. The natives being preyed on likely viewed Columbus and his great big ships as a bulwark.
I think there is even an account of the captain of one of Columbus’ ships taking a beautiful Caribe woman as a captive to be used for sex (hard to feel sympathy for her, since her people took people to eat them and not to have sex with them) and she apparently fought back with such gusto until, she submitted and enthusiastically engaged in sex to the point it “made the whores back home look like nuns” or something like that.