Post by Radrook Admin on Jun 22, 2022 17:47:56 GMT -5
Did Tainos Immediately Disappear in Puerto Rico?
Well, that seems to be the popular view even among most Puerto Ricans. But is it really true? Did the Tainos who were said to have numbered as many as 600,000 at the time of the Spaniard, arrival quicklydisappear not long after the Spaniards arrived? The excerpt below recounts a completely different story.
Excerpt
In 1797, Spain conducted a census in Puerto Rico. The census identified 2,312 pure-blooded Indians. So we still had surviving Tainos into the 19th Century until the governor of Puerto Rico, Toribio Montes made changes. Toribio Montes committed paper genocide by proclamation in 1808, declaring that there were no more Indians in Puerto Rico. However, vital statistics continued identifying some Puerto Ricans as Indian and Mestizo.
Moreover, a militia document discovered in the General Archives of Puerto Rico from 1817, lists the names of 382 Indian soldiers from San German. Additionally, the US Army documented in their Report of the Census of Puerto Rico, 1899, seeing aboriginal people with the same characteristics as Indians from Southwest United States. These Indian people were seen in the vicinity of San German, Las Marias, and AƱasco. Vital statistics throughout the first half of the 20th Century would continue identifying some Puerto Ricans as Indian and Mestizo.