Caquetio

Caquetío are the Indigenous people of northwestern Venezuela, as well as the islands of Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire. The Caquetío along with their neighbors, the Jirajara and Quiriquire tribes, were largely diminished due to Spanish colonization. Although no full-blooded Caquetío remain today, notable Caquetío DNA can still be found in the modern populations of Aruba and northwestern Venezuela. The Caquetío language (Caquetío) belongs to the Arawakan family of languages, being closely related to the Jirajara language. The Caquetío language is termed a "ghost" language because little to no trace of the language survives. Only the name remains, saved in 17th-century texts.