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The Taino People of the Caribbean Are NOT Extinct

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Author Topic: The Taino People of the Caribbean Are NOT Extinct  (Read 13098 times)
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Bianca
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« on: February 29, 2008, 06:49:45 pm »








1900-2000



As a result with their battles with the Spanish, of disease and emigration to other islands, of
hard labor in the mines, and other unaccustomed drudgery, the Native population of Puerto
Rico rapidly disappeared, so that in 1543 it was reported to the King of Spain by the bishop
of San Juan, that there were but 60 Native Indians remaining in the island. At this time there
are few traces of them remaining, at least this census has not discovered any. Still in such
matters no census can vie with the trained observer, and therefore attention must be called
to the following statements of Captain W.S. Shuyler in a report onAugust 30, 1899: while work
was being done on the roads, I had the occasion to watch crowds of 700 or 800 men gathered
around the pay tables at Las Marias, La Vega, and Anasco. The frequency of the Indian type
was very noticeable. While its almost certain that there is today no single Indian of pure stock
in PR it is equally sure that the type can be seen every where in the mountain settlements.
At San German I noticed a woman whose color, hair, and features were true Indian as seen in
the Southwest of the US. (report of General George W. Davis) .War Department Census Of
Puerto Rico 1899, LT. COL J.P. Sanger, Inspector-General, Director. Government Printing
office 1900

 Stewart Culin reported that upon his arrival to eastern Cuba to investigate rumors of wild
Indians living in the mountains, he finds that the Indian phenotype was everywhere and very
pronounced. He also asserted that on his way to the Indian village of Yateras, he stopped
at a plantation called “La Sorpresa” where he met the owner, “a white Cuban man”, Senor
Eugenio Ysalgue, who, living near the Indians was expected to know something definite
about them. Mr. Ysalgue who was part Mexican, asserted that the Indians of Yateras were
actually Indians that had been brought over by Spanish soldiers from the Dominican Republic
some sixty years earlier (this is 1902). Some ten families of Indians were taken to Cuba from
the DR where they eventually intermarried with the Indians already living there. Bulletin of
the Free Museum of Science and Art of the University of Pennsylvania. Vol. 111 Philadelphia,
May 1902,No. 4.

 Between the years 1898- 1912, 62 children from the “Porto Rican Tribe” were placed in
the Carlisle Indian School of Pennsylvania. To date, no one knows exactly why these child-
ren were placed there, what is known is that the criteria for being a student at the school
was that you had to be Indian. Valerie Nanaturey Vargas In “The Carlisle 62” Native Ameri-
cas magazine, page 23, winter 2000. Also Barbara Landis at the Cumberland Historical So-
ciety, who originally researched the names of all 62 children and Mr. Bobby Gonzalez who
independently researched the story at the Huntington Free Library in New York and passed
on his findings to Jorge Estevez of the National Museum of the American Indian who did
further research on the Carlisle 62. note: Sonia M. Rosa has a published paper on the Car-
lisle 62 in the Caribbean Amerindian Centrelink’s “Issues in Caribbean Amerindian studies” http://Http://www.centrelink.org/Papers.html

 Walter J Fewkes writes: El Yunque, where marked Indian features were casually observed
everywhere, especially in the isolated mountainous regions, where the inhabitants still
preserve Indian features to a marked degree. In“The Aborigines of Porto Rico” 1913. John-
son re-print corporation, USA 1970, p. 24-25 Further:

 In the Cibao and Higuey provinces likewise the natives resisted with desperation. Henri-
quillo, the last cacique of Santo Domingo, was never subdued, but was given the pueblo
of Boya, north of the capital, where the descendants of the early Natives still live. The
Aborigines of Porto Rico 1913. Johnson re-print corporation, USA 1970, page 31.

 We now come to the class of people though smallest in numbers, interest us the most-
descendants of the original Indians. They are not so rare either in the Baracoa district,
for one will pass many persons of strongly Indian features in a days journey in almost
any direction. All however, have more or less Spanish blood although once in a while a
type that looks almost pure may be seen. Mixtures with Negro blood will not be consi-
dered. These people still make and use a few articles of aboriginal character, while their
houses, their methods of agriculture, and, to a large extent, their mode of life, are still
quite Indian. In “Cuba Before Columbus” Vol. 1&2 for the Museum of the American Indian,
Heye Foundation, 1920.

 G. Jimenez Rivera, school inspector for District no. 41 Northern Department of Santiago.
Dominican Republic reported that the people living in the campos around San Jose de las
Matas are mostly of white/Indian descent as are the people of the towns of Janico and
Najayo etc. In Emilio Rodriguez Demorizi “Lengua y Folklore ”April 12, 1922

 Today there no pure Taínos writes Sven Loven, Mestizos are found in the rural towns
of Oriente plateau in Cuba, also in the woods ofEl Yunque massif on Puerto Rico, page
499. He writes further: the Taínos were a people that long ago became extinct. Such
relics in the form of objects still used, or ancient superstitions occurring in folklore, as
may still be found among their mestizo “descendants” in the Yunque Rainforest, of Orien-
te in Cuba, or among the Negro interbred population of the Dominican Republic.
Summary page 657 in Origins of Tainian Culture, Sven Loven, 1935.

 In 1948 Dr Jose de Jesus Alvarez concluded after a study based on A-B-O blood groups,
that the “Indian mestizo ” did in fact exist in the Dominican Republic. He found that 57%
of the Dominicans studied had a predominance of Blood type O, M and Rh¹ which is high-
est among American Indians. He also stated that in places where the people displayed
strong Indian features (like the mountain communities and isolated regions, there was be-
tween 54 and 70 percent Indian descent. As reported to the “American Anthropologist”
1951 page 127 titled “Studies on the A-B-O, M-N and Rh-Hr blood factors in the Domini-
can Republic, with special reference to the problem of admixture. Also in EME EME Vol 2,
No 8 Sept-Oct. 1973

 In 1949 Bertita Harding writes: What appears most noteworthy about the entire district
of Constanza, Dominican Republic is the fact that the population has remained almost
pure Indian. Almonds shaped eyes, aquiline features, straight black hair, and high cheek-
bones all bear the stamp of Taíno and Carib strains. In “The Land Columbus Loved”
Bertita Harding, 1949 Chapter 21, p141

 Dr. David de Jongh who was interviewed by Taíno/Ciboney activist Mr. Jorge Louis Salt
says: “it is quite obvious that Indians still remain in Oriente, Cuba, his conclusion coming
after an O blood Type group study he conducted in that region of Cuba, in the 1950’s.
LC CONTROL NO. 72214899 TYPE OF MATERIAL: book (print, Microform, electronics,
et.c) BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Gates, Reginald Ruggles, 1882‑1962 (from old catalog) Race
Crossing (Roma, Instituto "Gregorio Mendel," 1961?) (25)‑153 p. illus. col.). ports. 29 cm.
CALL NUMBER: RB155.D37 pars 2 Copy 1 REQUEST IN: book service: Jefferson (Main Eur
Hip LHG) or Adams 5th Fl. STATUS: not charged DATABASE NAME: library of Congress
Online Catalog UBLICATION IN ENTITLED Studies of interracial crossing VI. The Indian
remnants in eastern Cuba, Genetica 27, 65‑96 (1954).

Don Joaquin Priego writes that unquestionably there are many Dominicans who show truly
Taíno Indian phenotypes, and calls for a thorough investigation into this matter.
In “Cultura Taína” page 43,1967.

 A man may not know that he is Indian. A man may know and not admit he is Indian. “But
it does not matter”. The ignorance of your father and mother does not change who you
are, he said. “No matter what a Puerto Riqueno decided he is. It already has been decided
for him. Interview with an Elder in Caguana,” The Islands, the world of the Puerto Ricans,
by Stan Steiner, page 9, 1974.

 The Natives of the island, the so-called “Taino” Indians, who never called themselves that
since it was not their name-hidden in their mountain villages, beneath whatever cultural
guises most effectively disguised them, were not about to reveal themselves in writing.
Like many conquered tribal people they decided it was safer to be “nonexistent”.
“The Islands: The worlds of the Puerto Ricans” by Stan Steiner. Page 499

 Studies on the so called “shovel shaped incisors” conducted in the town of Sabana de
los Javieres , indicated that between 35 and 40 percent of Dominicans in this town
(many of which were aware of Native ancestry) had shovel shaped teeth which is a
trait found in Native Americans and Asians. Hernan Omos Cordones, in Boletin (15)
Museo del Hombre Dominicano. 1980

 There was also an admixture of Negro, white and Arawak blood that produced many
exotic types. In both the Spanish and French areas of the island, there developed a
legal system of grading such mixtures. There were samboes, mullatos, mestizos quad-
roons and octoroons, each having different legal rights. But since statistics were not
reliably kept, if at all, we can only guess at the evolution of race in Hispaniola. In
“A Dominican Chronicle” by Carlton Alexander, second edition,page 54, 1986 Impreso
Editorio, Stanton.

 Abstract:  Previous studies performed at Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo (1982)
confirmed the Incidence of Shovel Shaped teeth, taurodontism and dentis invaginatus in
the population of the Dominican Republic. Precise genetic transmission mechanism of sho-
vel shaped teeth has not yet been established, although heredity by dominant autosomas
is very probable. It is necessary to establish prevalence and distribution among modern
races and the eventual value as criteria for the differentiation among the populations. No
previous studies have been conducted with relatives of the 1st or 2nd degree. This has
only been established by brothers. There is a noticeable incidence of Shovel shaped teeth
in the Dominican Republic’s actual population, in the different ethnic groups, due perhaps
to the racial mixture established in our country since the first days of colonization.
F. Mornab Laucer, in Boletin (20) 1987 page 17, Museo del Hombre Dominicano.

Bernardo Boyrie De Vega, writes of the many Taíno elements found in modern Dominican
Culture. In “La herencia Indigena en la cultura Dominicana de hoy” Ensayos sobre la cul-
tura Dominicana, 1988.

 They withdrew into the mountains, later intermarrying with the escaped black slaves and
deserting Spanish soldiers. They later became the rural proletariat. Indeed, their imprint is
still visible in the faces and stature of many Puerto Ricans as well as in the Islands language.
 In “The Puerto Rican Houses in Socio-historical Perspective” by Carol F. Joppling page 11,
1988

Dr Rivero De la Calle who studied the natives of eastern Cuba in 1964, as did Dr. V. Gins-
burg in 1967 who came to the same conclusion: the Taínos did in fact survive in Eastern
Cuba. As reported to the Cuban Publication “Granma” News letter #4, August 13, 1989

 Maya Derin’s Study of Haiti was one of the first to point out the many areas of “cultural
convergence” among the Taíno and African Peoples who were brought to the island as
slaves. Derin, Divine Horsemen: The living Gods of Haiti. 1964 (New York: McPherson &
Co. 1991. See especially 61-67 and appendix B, 271-286.

 "The persistence of a Taíno genetic component in contemporary Dominican life, along
with the survival of certain undeniably indigenous beliefs and traditions (kept alive in ru-
ral areas and passed along through oral tradition) requires the recognition of a native sub-
stratum in our midst today in: “Trans-culturation in the contact period and contemporary
Columbian Consequences”, by Garcia Arevalo, 1990 page 275

 “Although the Taino population of Hispaniola was “wiped” out within thirty years of the
discovery, it is as though the Tainos had left their mode of life embedded in the land, to
be reenacted in a surprisingly similar form by the campesinos now”. Rich soil, a benign
climate, and plants of predictable yield guarantee basic survival, although today on a
threadbare level..... Pucho asks me a lot about the Tainos-- I once read him from Las
Casas the descriptions of their common crops and agricultural practices, and he was as
startled as I was that everything was all still growing within shouting distance, that we
were more or less enacting the Tainos' agricultural patterns, using their words, living
more or less as they did except for our clothes and our discontents. In “Reflections:
Waiting for Columbus" by Alastair Reid in "The New Yorker" (February 24, 1992, pp.
57-75) http://muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/data/art/REID-01.ART

 Dr. Irving Rouse, although first stating that the Taínos are “extinct”, goes on to say
that people claiming to be of Taíno descent have survived on all three of the Spanish
speaking islands of the Caribbean, and that they have in fact retained cultural, biologi-
cal and linguistic traits of their Taíno ancestors. Irving Rouse, In “The Taínos, The Rise
and Fall of the People that Met Columbus”, page 161, 1992.

 We never disappeared as a people or as a culture. As a new people we made ourselves
one with the European and with the African, and as a culture our customs and know-
ledge fused with theirs, creating an unreal but certain us. The Dominican Taínos still
live 500 years later. Only knowing truly what we were can we see what we want. E.
Antonio De Moya, In “Animacion Sociocultural y Polisintesis en la Transformacion del
Sistema Educativo Dominicano,” Revista de Educacion , Santo Domingo, 1993, P 10.

 In any case I discovered that Native Americans had been legally defined as mulattoes
in Virginia in 1705, without having any African ancestry. Thus I knew that the dictiona-
ries were wrong and that there was a lot that was hidden away from view by the way
most authors had written about the Southern United States, about slavery, and about
colored people. I later discovered also, that the same thing was true as regards the
Caribbean, Brazil and much more of the rest of the Americas. Quoting from page 2.
The term Mestizo does not appear in the Nebrija dictionaries o c.1495 or 1520 although
mezcla, mesturar and related words are included. Mestico also is not a word found in
Santa Rosa de Virterbo’s study of medieval Portuguese language. Its first known appear-
ance is in Cordoso’s Portuguese dictionary (1560’s Nearly 68 years after contact) when
it is equated with Latin Ibira (corrected to Hybris, hybrida) in the 1643 edition. Quoting
from page 125 Surprisingly such an important term as “mulatto” seems never to have
been systematically studied historically. This is, as we shall see, a sad example of schol-
arly oversight since the term mulatto, like most racial terms, has not had a static or sin-
gle meaning. We have already seen that mulatto in the sixteenth century was treated
as being the equivalent of ‘hybrid’ and thus applicable to many kinds of persons. It is
necessary to be more precise, however, in terms of the changing meanings of this word.
Quoting from page 131 “Africans and Native Americans, The Language of Race and the
Evolution of Red-Black Peoples” by Jack D. Forbes, Illini Books edition 1993

 It is true that much of the Taíno culture has been lost due to destruction by the con-
quistadors or absorption into the dominant Puerto Rican culture. The latter observation
is often unknown, however, even by Puerto Ricans themselves who have been condi-
tioned to believe that the Taínos were completely wiped out. It is my contention that
Taíno Customs and beliefs provide the extensive roots of Puerto Rican culture. Only by
nourishing these roots with recognition and preservation can the Puerto Rican people
nurture a strong positive self- identity. Toni-Ann Ramos’s thesis UMI # 1376047 pages
82-83, 1995

 These few strands of indigenous culture were not perceived as such in the conscious-
ness of the Puerto Rican people until anthropologists and members of independence mo-
vements began to rescue Puerto Rico's indigenous roots in recent years. However, even
now, a type of discrimination creeps in, ranking Taíno culture "lower" or "more primitive"
than the Aztec, Maya, or Inca civilizations. In spite of the efforts to reconstruct indige-
nous life in Puerto Rico as it was before the arrival of Columbus (extensive anthropolo-
gical work, two museums), it remains an artifact of the past and few people feel a
connection to it. In Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, or Ecuador large indigenous populations
have managed to survive in spite of genocide and repression. Puerto Rico's indigenous
legacy has been assimilated, however, although a visit to the Taíno museums in Puerto
Rico help to identify those elements of everyday life that Puerto Ricans owe to our indi-
genous ancestors. Moreover, identification of indigenous communities in the Caribbean
(Cuba, Dominica, St. Vincent, Trinidad) is opening new doors to the real history of that
region Piri Thomas. "Puerto Rico - 500 years of oppression." Social Justice Summer 1992:
73-75.

In a letter to Dr. Richard Morrow of Brisas Del Mar, Luiquillo Puerto Rico:
Dear Dr. Morrow,
We are pleased to inform you that since 1993, when Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictio-
nary, Tenth Edition was first published, the word extinct has not appeared in our definit-
ion of the Taíno people. It has been retained only in the definition of the Taíno Language.
Here is the entry as it appears therein:

Tai-no, n pl Taíno or Taínos [sp] (ca1895)

1: member of an aboriginal Arawakan people of the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas 2:
the extinct language of the Taíno people.

We certainly appreciate your concern about this, and we thank you for the information
you have supplied in this regard.

Sincerely

James G. Lowe
Merriam Webster
« Last Edit: February 29, 2008, 07:35:00 pm by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

Your mind understands what you have been taught; your heart what is true.


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