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My rough map of the article: The Taino (native Caribbean tribe) was thought to have been wiped out completely. Today’s Caribbean residents were of slave decent

My rough map of the article: The Taino (native Caribbean tribe) was thought to have been wiped out completely. Today’s Caribbean residents were of slave decent and Spanish conquerors. They discovered the Taino instead bred with the new settlers. The Taino likely migrated from South American tribes called Arawak. The Taino’s network was active across far distances. From Puerto Rico to the Bahamas. And About 14% of Puerto Ricans today have Taino DNA.

adolfojp 6y ago
Your map of the article is partially wrong because the article, at least part of it, is wrong. In order to make the "boring" parts of Taíno genetic research interesting to your casual reader some magazines sell this false romanticized narrative about Puerto Ricans using DNA to learn the Taíno history that was denied to them. But in reality every Puerto Rican gets taught in school that they are a mix of Taíno, Spaniard, and African. It's a gross oversimplification but that's how Puerto Rican identity is built by the school system. And this isn't something new. I learned this story in school in the 80s. My parents learned it in the 40s. Our colloquial demonyms Boricua, Borinqueño, and Borincano are derived from Taíno words. What we are told that went extinct is the direct cultural lineage of the Taíno, and this is true. Taíno women were taken as "wives" by the conquerors, and this was confirmed by DNA research, and their children were raised in Spanish culture and traditions. Virtually all that we know about Taíno culture comes from Spanish historians, Taíno remains, and a few artifacts. Throughout most of our history we were raised without Taíno elders or teachers. What these articles reveal are specifics about genetic composition, distribution, migration paths, etc. And all of that is wonderful. I just wish that these magazines published those discoveries without lying about how Puerto Ricans are ignorant of their past and genetic composition to make the articles more appealing. It's appalling.
cambalache 6y ago
> My rough map of the article: The Taino (native Caribbean tribe) was thought to have been wiped out completely. Today’s Caribbean residents were of slave decent and Spanish conquerors. Huh? Virtually every Puerto Rican consider themselves to have Taino/Indigenous blood. There are even popular sayings like "Se me salio lo Taino" (_I left my internal Taino to come out_) which acknowledge the perpetuation in PR genetic pool of native people. BTW this is something not exclusive to PR, it happens all across latin america. It's always "interesting" to me to hear Americans talk about this sort of stuff, because the way they are taught is that Spaniards were extremely more violent and cruel than their English counterparts, and yet, the US/Canada exterminated their native population down to 1% or so, while all the massacres and crimes in Latin-America were not enough to wipe out the native component, which can be as high as 50-65% in several countries.

adolfojp 6y ago

Your map of the article is partially wrong because the article, at least part of it, is wrong. In order to make the "boring" parts of Taíno genetic research interesting to your casual reader some magazines sell this false romanticized narrative about Puerto Ricans using DNA to learn the Taíno history that was denied to them. But in reality every Puerto Rican gets taught in school that they are a mix of Taíno, Spaniard, and African. It's a gross oversimplification but that's how Puerto Rican identity is built by the school system. And this isn't something new. I learned this story in school in the 80s. My parents learned it in the 40s. Our colloquial demonyms Boricua, Borinqueño, and Borincano are derived from Taíno words. What we are told that went extinct is the direct cultural lineage of the Taíno, and this is true. Taíno women were taken as "wives" by the conquerors, and this was confirmed by DNA research, and their children were raised in Spanish culture and traditions. Virtually all that we know about Taíno culture comes from Spanish historians, Taíno remains, and a few artifacts. Throughout most of our history we were raised without Taíno elders or teachers. What these articles reveal are specifics about genetic composition, distribution, migration paths, etc. And all of that is wonderful. I just wish that these magazines published those discoveries without lying about how Puerto Ricans are ignorant of their past and genetic composition to make the articles more appealing. It's appalling.

cambalache 6y ago

> My rough map of the article: The Taino (native Caribbean tribe) was thought to have been wiped out completely. Today’s Caribbean residents were of slave decent and Spanish conquerors. Huh? Virtually every Puerto Rican consider themselves to have Taino/Indigenous blood. There are even popular sayings like "Se me salio lo Taino" (_I left my internal Taino to come out_) which acknowledge the perpetuation in PR genetic pool of native people. BTW this is something not exclusive to PR, it happens all across latin america. It's always "interesting" to me to hear Americans talk about this sort of stuff, because the way they are taught is that Spaniards were extremely more violent and cruel than their English counterparts, and yet, the US/Canada exterminated their native population down to 1% or so, while all the massacres and crimes in Latin-America were not enough to wipe out the native component, which can be as high as 50-65% in several countries.