Our Roots

	The Taino Indians
	The Spanish Conquistador
	The West African Slaves

The Taino Indians

As far back as 100 AD several indigenous groups occupied Puerto Rico – first the Arcáicos, then the Igneris, and finally the Taíno who arrived in 600 AD and dubbed the island "Borinquén". This last group had a long-lasting effect on Puerto Rican culture and bloodlines; many Puerto Rican words come from the Arawak language spoken by the Taíno, and it is estimated that sixty percent of Puerto Ricans today have Taíno ancestry.

Full-blooded Taíno were driven off the island almost entirely by the mid-sixteenth century, 150 years after Spanish occupation. The following is an excerpt from an eye witness account that describes the cruelty of the Spanish conquistadors. Events like these were a major reason why the Taino and Arawak peoples became extinct.

"The Spaniards with their horses, their spears and lances, began to commit murders and other strange cruelties. They entered into towns and villages, sparing neither children nor old men and women. They ripped their bellies and cut them to pieces as if they had been slaughtering lambs in a field. They made bets with each other over who could thrust a sword into the middle of a man or who could cut off his head with one stroke. They took little ones by their heels and crushed their heads against the cliffs. Others they threw into the rivers laughing and mocking them as they tumbled into the water. They put everyone they met to the edge of the sword."

Bartolome de Las Casas, c. 1513

When Christopher Columbus landed on Puerto Rico, which he called San Juan Bautista, in 1493, it was the Taíno who guided his troops there from Hispaniola, where the Spanish had taken the Indians as guides and slaves. And it was the Taíno who safeguarded Ponce de León's passage through Puerto Rico in search of gold when the Spanish government granted him authority to colonize the island in 1508.

The Spanish Conquistador

During the age of navel supremacy, Europe scattered its peoples, ideas and models of government across the oceans. The rise of European mercantilism in the 16th and 17th centuries provided the impetus for change. The doctrine was to discover new sources for gold and silver, to increase the export of goods, to establish a merchant marine, and to develop new colonies.

The reasons for migrating to another land were as varied as the people involved. In the years of colonization, settlers accepted relocation by virtue of their circumstances: soldiers defending their country’s outposts, craftsmen and farmers carving out independence, religious groups in search of freedom and convicts seeking redemption and a new life.

European immigration to the Americas began shortly after Christopher Columbus made his historic voyage in 1492. Columbus and the explorers who followed brought settlers who stayed to found new colonies. In the case of Puerto Rico the Europeans were the Spanish Conquistadors who discovered the island in 1493.

Conquistador (meaning "Conqueror" in the Spanish language) is the term used to refer to the soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th through the 17th century.

After the discoveries of Columbus had gained Spain a foothold in America, expeditions were soon set out to conquer and evangelize this 'New World'.

The leaders of these expeditions are called conquistadores, a name that denotes that they felt connected with the reconquista, the Christian (re)conquest of the Iberian peninsula from the Muslim Moors (711-1492). They also evoked the name of Santiago Matamoros ("St. James the Moor-killer") before going into battle against the Indians, another echo of this connection with the reconquista.

Many of the conquistadors were poor nobles (hidalgos) looking forward to make fortune in the Indies since they couldn't in Europe.

The first Spanish conquest in the Americas was the island of Hispaniola. From there Juan Ponce de León conquered Puerto Rico and Diego Velasquez took Cuba.

The West African Slaves

Involuntary immigration accounts for the early arrival of Africans to the various colonies. The ruthless slave trade was a part of European imperialism and aided in colonial settlement. Between the late 15th century and mid 19th century, millions of Africans were kidnapped from their homelands and sold in the Americas. During this colonial period there were 4 to 5 Africans for every European who came to the New World.

Initially they were mainly used as servants for the rich. The Europeans justified the taking of slaves by arguing that they were providing an opportunity for Africans to become Christians. By the 17th century the removal of slaves from Africa became a holy cause that had the full support of the Christian Church.

When Spanish and Portuguese sea-captains began to explore the Americas they took their African servants with them. Some of these Africans proved to be excellent explorers. The most important of these was Estevanico, who led the first European expedition to New Mexico and Arizona.

The people living in the Americas resisted the attempt by the Europeans to take over their land. One of he most important struggles took place in Cuba in 1512. The Cubans, led by Chief Hatuey, were eventually defeated by the superior weapons of the Spanish.

It is estimated that over a million people lived in Cuba before the arrival of the Europeans. Twenty-five years later there were only 2,000 left. Large numbers had been killed, while others died of starvation, disease, committed suicide or had died from the consequences of being forced to work long hours in the gold mines.

After the arrival of the Europeans there was a sharp decline in the local population of most of the islands in the Caribbean Sea. This created a problem for the Europeans as they needed labor to exploit the natural resources of these islands. Eventually the Europeans came up with a solution: the importation of slaves from Africa. By 1540, an estimated 10,000 slaves a year were being brought from Africa to replace the diminishing local populations.

British merchants became involved in the trade and eventually dominated the market. They built coastal forts in Africa where they kept the captured Africans until the arrival of the slave-ships. The merchants obtained the slaves from African chiefs by giving them goods from Europe. At first, these slaves were often the captured soldiers from tribal wars. However, the demand for slaves become so great that raiding parties were organized to obtain young Africans.

Over the past five centuries the converging cultures of the Caribbean Indians, Spain, and Africa, have blended to create a uniquely Puerto Rican heritage.

Notables Of Spanish Descent:
Severo Ochoa(1959 Nobel Price in Medicine and Physiology)
Luis W. Alvarez(1968 Nobel Price in Physics)