"The population of the island is so scattered that we find houses everywhere we go. There is a great abundance of bananas, and fish are plentiful in the rivers and along the coast; there is a great supply of fruits, sweet potatoes, beans, corn, and rice in the hills. Cow's milk is abundant. Household furniture....usually consists of only a hammock and a kettle....A machete is the only instrument used in their work. With it, they cut the sticks, vines, and palm leaves their houses and also clear the ground and plant and cultivate their crops." -Translated from Fray Inigo Abbad, 1788. (The Puerto Ricans: A Documentary History. Praeger Publishers, 1973).
A picture of a hammock with a Taino Indian.
Juan Ponce de Leon was the conqueror of Puerto Rico in 1508. His intention in the conquest was due to the so-called abundant amounts of gold and the numerous resources that this island produced. The Taino Indians were the orginial inhabitiants of Puerto Rico when the conquerors arrived to take over the land. These Indians were the cultivators of this region and knew how to keep the island flourishing with the crops and labor needed to go on as a major colony. The natural resources that the Taino Indians used satisfied their essential need for survival. They also used the technique for cultivation known as slash-and-burn, although it damaged the soil. Frank Moya Pons describes, "Cultivation was started by setting fire to the area of forest which was to be cleared. Then the soil was heaped into mounds on top of which stalks were planted. These heaps measured some nine to twelve feet across, and were two or three feet apart." (History of Puerto Rico. Markus Wiener Publishers, 2006 p. 13-14).
The Taino Indians were the major reason why Puerto Rico was such a flourishing island because of their patience and expertise in their natural resources it enabled Puerto Rico to sustain its abundance. When the conquistadors arrived they at first wanted to take over; quite, peacefully. Eventually, they became more intense with the conversion to Christianity and pratically turned the Taino Indians into slaves in the mines and fortifications. The Spaniards were extremely greedy men that wanted gold and fortunes but didn't want to do the hard labor themselves so they forced it upon the Indians. In a reading from Benjamin Keen he states, " The Indians were to be forced to labor, but as free men." (The Puerto Ricans: A Documentary History. Praeger Publishers, 1973. p. 22).
Consequently, the Taino Indians were decimating in large numbers due to the diseases, enslavement, fleeing, and slaughters that was occurring on the Island at the hands of the colonists. So without the valuable Taino Indians to do all the hard labor and productivity..what was the settlers to do? The settlers were not fit to hard labor and maintain a flourishing island without the Indians which made it this rich possession. In 1579, Fray Diego de Salamanca, reported back to the King, "The main reason for the deterioration and stagnation of this island is the lack of slaves, for planting the sugar and mining the gold as before, when it was in such great abundance....There is no lack of gold, but there are no slaves to mine it, and if a number of them brought here it would do much good for the Royal Treasury, and this poor island would truly recover the title of Puerto Rico." (The Puerto Ricans: A Documentary History. Praeger Publishers, 1973. p. 35-36). The Spanish colonists became seemingly disinterested in Puerto Rico because they weren't making enough money to satify their needs. Even the importation of the African Slaves in the second half of the 16th century didn't motivate the Spaniards nor the economy. But there was still some colonists that tried to revitalize the island and introduced plants and animals, sugar, coffee and bananaes, etc.
"The colonization process itself and the forces of change which accompanied it were anything but insignificant: the indigenous population was reduced, dispersed, or assimilated, and the beginnings of a new nation and people definitely took root." (Economic History of Puerto Rico: Institutional Change and Capitalist Development. Princeton University Press, 1986. p. 10).
The Conquest of Puerto Rico completely changed the colony as a whole; and changed the lives of the Taino Indians overall. Before they arrived the Taino Indians produced an island that was flourishing to the highest standards. When the Spainards arrived they turned the island upside down, decimated the native indians, brought the economy down, and couldn't keep up with the natural resources due to limited laborers. I believe that the colonization of Puerto Rico was complete failure and should have been colonized in a way that would have benefited everyone all together.
Sources:
Dietz, James. "Economic History of Puerto Rico: Institutional Change and Capitalist Development." Published by Princeton University Press. (1986).
Pico, Fernando. "History of Puerto Rico: A Panorama of Its People." Markus Wierner Publishers. (2006).
Wagenheim, Kal. "The Puerto Ricans: A Documentary History. " Praeger Publishers. (1973).
The Tainos believed in a pantheon of gods headed by Yuchahu' whose counterpart was Jurac'an. They believed that the souls of the dead go to the underworld, and when night comes they take form of bats and eat fruit "guayaba". Also anthroplolgists emphasize on the fact that some or all of the Petwo Voodoo rites may have origin in Taino religion. The Tainos traditional background which embellished their festivity were held at the "areyto" which is a ritual dance for celebrating an event and transpiring beliefs within the group. Tainos would induce vomiting with a swallowing stick to serve as a physical and symbolic purging to get rid of the impurties of the body. There is an abudant amount of myths referring to the Taino's religious beliefs but the myth that was most intriguing to me was the one the Taino origin of the sea: A father found out that his son wanted to kill him so he killed his son and put the bones in a gourd. The son's bones turned into a fish and the gourd broke one day which so much water came out of it that it covered the whole earth with fish of all sizes. Today many people are trying to get recognition of being descendants of the Taino especially Puerto Ricans. The United Confederation of Taino People was established to review these many allegations.
