Taínos Blood still flows |
| The original name of the island of Puerto Rico, given by the
Taínos and there Ancestors, was "Boriken," which
means "land
of the brave people". In 1493(map of the voyages), on his second voyage to the Americas, Christopher Columbus claimed Boriken for Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain. He originally named the island San Juan Bautista. The island's name was later changed to Puerto Rico, which means "rich port." Within sixty years, most of the Taíno population was destroyed through war against the Spanish invaders, through the devastation of slavery in gold mines and plantations, and through diseases that the Europeans brought to the island. The devastation also included mass suicide among the Taínos who refused to be enslaved. Almost immediately after the arrival of the Spanish, the Taínos began to rebel against colonization tho these facts are not friquently told. Caciques or chiefs led revolts against the invading Spaniards. Famous legends and historical documents from the Spanish themselves tell stories of this resistance, led by famous caciques such as Urayoan and Agueybana II. Even before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, Cacique Urayoan had warned his people of the coming devastation. Legend tells that he had a vision of the coming of white-skinned men that would bring great destruction to his people. He was one of the first caciques to call his people to rebellion and to spread the word to other caciques to resist Spanish colonization. Many Taínos escaped from the oppression of the Spanish by fleeing to the interoir of the island into the mountians and to other Caribbean islands, where they joined the Caribs (the native inhabitants of the lower Antillean Islands) in resisting Spanish colonization. Despite the decimation of the Taíno people, their influence lives on as a permanent physical and cultural element of Puerto Rican life. For example, many Taíno words passed into Spanish (and, in some cases, from there into English), such as huracan (hurricane) barbacoa (barbecue) and hamaca (hammock). Taíno musical instruments, such as maracas and the guiro (an instrument made from gourds), the mayohuacan (wooden drum), the flutes and fotuto (conch shell) continue to play a key role in Puerto Rican musical forms. Once the Taíno population was largely destroyed, the Spanish began enslaving Natives from the main land and then Africans to fill their need for labor. Nevertheless, today there are still traces of Taíno survival all around the world. Tribal units exist in the states and in the caribbean who are dedicated to keeping the legacy and the richness of the Taíno culture and heritage alive. Despite all that has been written regarding the extinction
of our poeople,
there are new scientific studies that demonstrate
the blood of the great
warriors still flows through the veins of many Boricuas. |