This dissertation provides a model of the prehistoric to proto-historic expansions of Arawakan-speaking groups into Northwestern Venezuela and Northeastern Colombia. It is based on research conducted in Coastal Falcon State. Venezuela between 1981 and 1983. Three independent data sets are analyzed: archaeology, lingustics and ethnohistory. Once the patterns of distribution are modeled for each domain independently, an evaluation is made of the degrees of correspondence between each model. The resulting integrated model of Arawakan expansion stands in sharp contrast to previous models. It is argued that an early Proto-Maipuran/Arawakan group expanded out of the Central Amazon into the Orinoco-Apure River confluence, reaching the area by 3600 B.C. and carrying an ancient Amazonian Polychrome Tradition. This expansion continued westward along the Apure and into the Llanos, splitting northward into Barquisimeto Plateau and into the Maracaibo Basin. The archaeological evidence correlated with this early movement is defined as the Marco-Tocuyanoid Tradition. By ca. 1200-900 B.C., the Macro-Tocuyanoid Tradition had already colonized the Lower Magdalena and the Rancheria valleys in Northeastern Colombia. The Marco-Tocuyarnoid Tradition survived until shortly after Conquest in the Lower Guajira, where the Arawakan-speaking Onoto, Paraujano and Guajiro inhabited at the time. An intermediate "stage" of Proto-Maipuran divergence and subsequent expansion is hypothesized to have taken place possibly as early as 1500 B.C. out of this, the Caquetio eventually emerged. Their ancestors expanded westward along the Apure and north into the Cojedes river (Upper Llanos). Along the way they developed a ceramic style of the Macro-Dabajuroid Tradition. By at least A.D. 700/800, two related by distinct archaeological traditions emerged. The Dabajuroid Tradition and the Tierroid Tradition. The latter, by A.D. 900 had already colonized the Barquisimeto and Yaracuy valleys. The Tierran styles correlate precisely with the Barquisimeto-Yaracuy Caquetio polities based on a dual system of leadership. The Dabajuroid Tradition, also expanded into the Yaracuy Valley where it split into several component sub-traditions and spread in opposite directions along the coast of Venezuela. The Dabajuran Sub-Tradition expanded into the west coast of Venezuela and rapidly colonized Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire by A.D. 900. By A.D. 1300 it reached the Maracaibo Basin. This process of expansion was interrupted by the Spanish Conquistadores. The Dabajuran sub-tradition precisely correlates with the Coastal Caquetio polity, characterized by a centralized leadership based on combining the roles of great shaman and paramount chief. U of I Only ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission