|
Our Story: Like so many other Boricua families part of our story begins in Spain. Before we get to that part let's
educate those not familiar with Boricua history... and in order to do this I must give a mini history lesson on Puerto Rico so here we go:
In 1492 Cristoforo Columbus (Italian for Christopher Columbus) arrived in America, he was a happy man; he thought he was in
the Far East. Columbus was wrong. He was lost. It's a popular misconception that Colombus named the natives he came upon
"Indians" because he thought he was in India..acutally during that time India was actually called Hindustan . Columbus called
the spiritual natives he met “Indio,” coming from the Italian (Spanish too!) "en dio", meaning “in God.”
Because his voyage was deemed a sucess Spain decided to finance a second expition. It's on this second voyage that on
November 19, 1493, Columbus set foot on the island of Borinken which he named San Juan Bautista(St.John The Baptist)-known
today as Puerto Rico.
The island was inhabited by Taino Indians and they called the island Borinken. The Spaniards changed the spelling to Borinquen, but no matter how it's spelled the word is
still used among its' people today to identfy the island and themselves.The Spaniards also took Taino women as wives and concubines because they came to the island with no women of thier own, and so the mixture begins...
In 1508, the Spanish Crown gave Juan Ponce de Leon permission to colonize Borinquen.The Tainos were enslaved by the
Spainiards.
It took three years before the Taino began rebelling against the Spaniards.
They began their rebellion in the southwestern part of Boriken.
Many Tainos were killed, and those that weren't were enslaved. In the eastern part of the island The Tainos continued to to be
a problem. There they allied themselves with their ancient enemies - the Caribs - and resisted the colonization of that part
of the island for many years.
Unfortunately The Tainos were no match for weaponry of the Spaniards. Many died as slaves and others fled to the inner mountains and to the islands nearby.
By the 1520's, the Tainos as a people were practically
extinct,bur those left continued resisting and attacking the Spaniards until the 1580's.
The Catholic Church also played a great part in the errosion of The Taino population. Despite the highly spiritual nature of The Tainos The Church felt The Tainos were heathens and not human; and that in order for the souls of The Taino to be saved they needed to be converted to
Christianity.The Church attempted to assimilate the Tainos and when that failed, they also enslaved and destroyed them . Hmmm maybe that's why I have an innate aversion to organized religion, especially the church!
After nearly destroying the Tainos, the conquerors had a problem. There weren't enough Tainos to work in the gold mines. This is where slavery comes in, so pay attention....
The first slaves to arrive in Puerto Rico came from Spain. Some were born there as slaves. Many were "jelofes",natives of
Senegal, West Africa. They were greatly influenced by Islamic culture. As slaves in Spain they were
often rebellious.In order to get rid of them, their owners sold them to the colonists in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. The
Spaniards also looked towards Africa.The slaves imported to Puerto Rico from Africa came from the areas between Mali and
Nigeria (west Africa). In Mali, the people created Timbuktu. A city famous for its' beauty and an important center of
Islamic studies. Islam had a great influence in the development of West Africa.
Slavery existed in Africa before the coming of the Europeans.It was limited to the
domestic needs of conquerors palaces and homes. However it was the Portuguese that initiated the slave trade for profit on an international level.
The way it worked was that the local African rulers would recieve 16 guns per captured slave.They'd also trade gun powder,
iron, and cloths. This wealth led to an ever expanding economy and warfare.
The more powerful African cities attacked and destroyed the weaker ones-taking captives. Then the slave traders would choose
the most able-bodied captives-mostly young men and women between the ages of 15 and 35, at a ratio of two men to one woman.
Sometimes they would take children, too. The Europeans made a huge profit off the slaves, something like 300 % per slave.
These profits inturn helped finance the industrial revolution in Europe.
I wouldnt want to misinform you and lead you to believe that it wasn't until The Tainos were almost extinct that Africans
began arriving on the island. There were already Africans on the island when Ponce de Leon began colonizing Puerto Rico,they
had arrived with Columbus.The first Africans that arrived in Borinquen were called slaves and "Libertos"
Libertos were ex-slaves that had gotten their freedom in Spain. Either their owners granted it to them or they had bought
their freedom and were converts to Christianity.Poor economic conditions motivated the Libertos to immigrate to the New
World,Hispaniola and Borinquen. The men labored as merchants, servants, "recogedores". They gathered The Tainos that had to
be taken to their work assignments. They also worked as miners, and were assigned Tainos to mine gold. The women worked as
laundresses, cooks and servants.
In the 1520's, gold mining in Puerto Rico became less productive for the Spanish Crown. The colonizers had virtually depleted
all the gold. Between 1520 and 1650, the Spaniards developed three different agricultural industries in order to make Borinquen more ecomically viable as a colony.The industries were sugar, cattle and ginger. Sugar refineries were built in the
northern part of the island near the city. The population was concentrated near the sugar refineries for security reasons,
The Tainos still posed a threat.
Also it was in the 1700's that an additional 2,000 Tainos were found living on the island of Mona, it seems that they had been "forgotten" about... think about it lord knows how many more "forgotten" Tainos were living in the mountains of Puerto Rico and no one ever knew about it. I guess that's what the mtDNA study has proved, that Tainos managed to survive by eventually assimilating and being hidden in plain view.
The US came to possess Puerto Rico during the Spanish American war when it invaded the island on July 25, 1898.
General Nelson Miles arrived with the first contingent of 16,000 American troops. Yes kiddies this is the very same General Miles that hunted down American Indians Sitting Bull and Geronimo.
He landed in the town of Guanica in the
South of Borinquen. By August, the whole island was under United States control.
Even after The US took control of the island there still were Tainos left on the island, as evidenced in documents located by
a researcher proving that Taino Indians had been removed from Puerto Rico and sent to The Carlisle Indian Industrial School in The United States.
Now that we've had our history lesson keep all of this in mind as I introduce you to my family and their stories.They'll be a
quiz at the end of the page!
Please feel free to
Contact Me if I can offer some assistance, or if you're a long lost relative, or if you just owe me money!
|
