This is a special report to let the world know about the group of natives that inhabited the island of Puerto Rico before Columbus and his settlers arrived. Last week, we covered the controversy surrounding the colonization of Puerto Rico; this week, we plan to discover the identity of these peoples. Who were they? What did they look like? Did they welcome the arrival of the Europeans? The answers to these questions and more will be revealed this week in The Puerto Rico Report.
It is commonly known that before the colonization attempts made my Columbus and his settlers, a people known as the Tainos inhabited the island of Puerto Rico. More specifically, the natives of the island referred to themselves locally as the “Borinquen,” which was their name for this island. The word “Taino” means “good” or “noble;” it is said that the natives spoke this word to Columbus upon his arrival to indicate they were not to be confused with the Island-Carib peoples. Though the Tainos often referred to themselves as the “Borinquen,” we will be referring to them as Tainos for this issue. The Tainos populating Puerto Rico were one of the most culturally advanced inhabitants, as well as the most populous, in the Caribbean at that time. We have discovered that approximately 600,000 Tainos lived on the island before settlement by Europeans.
To start off, we will discuss how the Tainos provided for themselves. They used an impressively sophisticated form of agriculture; they heaped mounds of earth together to cultivate root crops in the soft soil. These mounds were called conuco; they stood three feet high and were usually arranged in rectangular rows. This made it easier to harvest the crops. What is interesting about this technique is that these more permanent fields were a completely different process to the slash-and-burn method other tribes used during this time. Furthermore, the main crop was casaba, or cassava. The Tainos frequently ate sweet potatoes, squash, beans, peppers, and peanuts, as well. Fruit, tobacco, cotton, and calabashes were grown around the dwellings. They also ate fish, iguanas, wild parrots, dogs, and manatees.
As for the appearance of the Tainos, we have concluded that they had high cheekbones, straight hair, and copper-colored skin. The men were naked or covered the genitalia with loincloths. The unmarried women wore headbands, and the wives wore short skirts referred to as nagua; the length of the skirts indicated the woman’s rank. Both men and women often painted themselves when partaking in special ceremonies. The color red was most cherished in the society. The chiefs were distinguished from the rest of the inhabitants by headdresses decorated with feathers and gold. Moreover, the Tainos wore pendants in the form of carved masks which was also a sign of rank. Clearly, these inhabitants had already developed complex chiefdoms and indications of rank by the time Columbus arrived.
We have also discovered numerous facts about the religion of the Tainos. They worshipped two supreme deities: Yúcahu, who was the lord of cassava and the sea, and Atabey, the goddess of fertility and fresh water. These deities were often referred to as zemis. This term also refers to the idols representing the gods, which were made from wood, stone, bone, pottery, or shells. Zemis were passed on from generation to generation by inheritance, trade, or gift.
Polygyny was common in the Taino society. Long-distance marriages may be arranged for political purposes, or men obtained wives in their village. Only the chiefs could afford many wives. The Tainos also traded frequently with other islands. Long sea voyages were very common in order to trade. They traded most often with the inhabitants of eastern Hispaniola due to the sharing of a common language.
It is said that Columbus was actually disappointed by the lack of civility with the Tainos. If these sentiments are genuine, we cannot be sure. We can speculate, however, that given a few more centuries isolated from Spanish interference, the Tainos of Puerto Rico would most likely have developed into a more commercially-based society because they would have created a linkage with the people of Middle America. This connection would have allowed them to acquire statehood, writing, and other important aspects of civilized peoples. However, as we stated last week, the Tainos were not left alone. Columbus and his settlers exploited them for a profit, which led to their demise. More importantly, the exchange of diseases caused an epidemic amongst the Tainos, as well. They were the natives that suffered the most.
Aside from the historical aspects of the Tainos presented in this article, we would like to point ou that much of their society did survive and surrounds us even today. For example, many words from the Taino language are used in the English language. Words such as hammock and kayak are from the ancient society. Also, the weaving of baskets is a heritage left behind by the Tainos.
Sources:
Rouse, Irving. The Tainos: Rise and Decline of the People Who Greeted Columbus. New Haven: Yale UP, 1992. Accessed through Google Books.
Marino, John. Frommer's Puerto Rico. Pg. 211. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publ., 2008. Accessed through Google Books.
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