ARAWAKAN, one of the most important and widely ex tended of the linguistic stocks of South American Indians, whose name is taken from the Arawaks, one of the earliest and best known tribes. The Guana, the most southerly tribe of this stock, were on the upper Paraguay river, in southern Matto Grosso in Brazil. The Moxos and Baures were in northern Bolivia, whence a practically continuous belt of Arawakan tribes extended northwards and north-westwards from the upper Tapajoz across the whole of the upper Amazon drainage to the mouth of the Orinoco and the Guiana coast. The Antis or Campas on the Apurimac river north-west of Cuzco in Peru were outlying members of the stock in the west, as were the Goajiras in the peninsula of the same name in Colombia. Tribes of this stock also held the whole northern and eastern coast of the continent from the Amazon delta to the Orinoco, and may, prior to the Carib invasions, have extended westward continu ously through Venezuela far into Colombia. From the South American mainland they extended northward through the whole chain of the Antilles to the Bahamas. At the end of the 15th century, however, the Caribs had ousted them from all the Lesser Antilles, and were beginning to raid the larger islands, held by tribes known as the Tainos, further north.
Physically the Arawakan tribes are in the main of medium or slightly under medium stature, and appear to be prevailingly brachycephalic or round-headed. Culturally they rank among the more advanced tribes of the eastern half of the continent, being sedentary agriculturalists and makers of excellent pottery and textiles.