Archeological, historical and
ethnographic evidence of the Bay Islands indicates that they were inhabited
well before the Europeans arrived, as long ago as 600AD by a pre-Columbian
culture known as the Paya. The Paya may have entered Central America in the
great North to South America migration in 5,000 BC, although to the contrary,
linguistic studies indicate that the Paya may have been descendants of South
American tribes. Christopher Columbus, on his fourth voyage to the new world,
landed on the island of Guanaja on July 30, 1502, after encountering a small
fleet of
