Taino: A Lost Civilization

The first known residents of the eastern tip of La Hispaniola were the Taino people

. This particular area is now more commonly known as the city of Santo Domingo, which is the capital of the Dominican Republic. For those who don't know where the Dominican Republic is, it is one half of the island of La Hispaniola (the other half being Haiti). La Hispaniola is unique in the world for being the only island to be home to two unique countries.

History can not tell us exactly when the Taino arrived on what is now known as the island of La Hispaniola. What is known about them is from the extensive documentation by the first European settlers. Records from the era of colonization show that the Taino were present in more areas than just La Hispaniola. They appeared to have colonies all across the Caribbean.

Before colonial times, the mainlanders and islanders were known to interbreed. This is the basis of the belief that the Taino are related to the Arawak people of South America. The Taino people were able to navigate the waters of the Bahamas, Lesser and Greater Antilles, and were a seafaring people, as Columbus discovered on his arrival in the area. It is also known that the Taino language is related to the Arawak language. Among the islands of the Caribbean and also in South America, the Arawak language was used.

Populations of the Taino began to wane by the eighteenth century. The stress of colonization, integration, intermarriages with colonists and unknown to them, diseases ravaged their numbers. Infections such as smallpox were especially damaging to the Taino, and those of other indigenous people, as their immune systems had never been exposed to anything like it before.

Between 100,000 and 1,000,000 Taino are estimated to have lived on the island of La Hispaniola before colonial times. Their numbers on the islands of Jamaica and Puerto Rico were thought to be in the 600,000 range. For the entire Caribbean, there was thought to be in the neighborhood of 8,000,000 Taino. It would appear now that all the Taino are gone, unfortunately. Although, there are detractors from this idea who feel that traces of this seafaring people still manage to survive in pockets in the Americas and Caribbean.

One of the places that many believe might have the descendants of the Taino, is the island of Puerto Rico. Many dismiss this idea and feel that there are no more full blood Taino left. At best, their lineage is probably found in the large mestizo populations in the area. The idea is that the mestizo populations are part of what is known as a tri-racial crealo culture. This is the historical by-product of Spanish men who married Taino women; and their offspring married people of African descent. There is a historical precedent for this as a census taken in 1514, recorded that up to 40% of male Spanish settlers had Taino wives. It is also recorded that the extinction of the Taino had occurred as early as the sixteenth century. Documents such as wills and legal records, that surfaced after their extinction was declared, do not support his claim.

More fuel for the fire that the Taino still exist in some form can be found in many traditional practices of the people of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba. Anthropologists point to these as possible clues to the fate of the Taino. Scientific testing has also established that 15-20% of the DNA of Puerto Ricans' is of American Indian descent, with most being of Taino origin. Some people in Puerto Rico are certain of their background. Two groups in particular, the Liga Guakia Taina-ke and the Guaka-ku, have created their own writing systems to help teach each new generation about their Taino lineage.

by: Robert Nickel

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