Carolyn Woo, ago 11, of West Newton, Mass., for her question:

What are the Florida keys?

The Taino Indians once lived in the West Indies and the early Spanish settlers picked up several words from their language. One of these words a blend of Taino and Spanish, was cayo .‑ the name for a small coral island. It was applied, to low‑lying reefs in the West Indies and later to the coral islands off Florida.

These islands form an archipelago which hooks down from the southern tip of Florida. When English speaking people settled the region the old Spanish‑Taino word cayo was changed to key. Each little island was known as a key, for example Key West. The whole archipelago became known as the Florida keys. ,