Taino Indians Counted Out Of Existence

There are those who self-identify as Taino Indians today and they are making sure that they are counted in the upcoming 2010 census.

The Taínos were the original indigenous people of the Caribbean islands that include Puerto Rico and have long been considered historically extinct.

Christopher Columbus encountered the Taínos during his maiden voyage to the New World and according to history books the natives were eventually exterminated by the Spaniards through slavery, mass killings and disease.

Present day Taínos argue that they were not entirely killed off and that many of them escaped into the mountains and others intermarried with their conquerors and survived.

The Neo-Taínos also claim that during the 1500s the Spanish colonizers did not use a fixed standard for counting people and that the enumerators intentionally reported inaccurate numbers of the Taínos decline to the Queen of Spain in order to get her permission to seek slaves from Africa to be able to continue their work.

A 1798 census was done by the Spanish and they found more than 2000 inidans in San German, it also mentions another group of about the same numbers in Anasco barrio Miraflores contradicting earlier historical documents that claimed their extermination in the 1500s. In 1898 Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States during the Spanish-American War and the islanders were granted U.S. citizenship in 1917.

As the self-identified Taínos organize for the 2010 census they understand its significance. Proof is in the numbers and they feel that the same way that history tried to count them out of existence they will use the census to count themselves back into existence.

Category:

Education

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• Alex Zacarias
• 3N Productions LLC
• www.LosttainoTribe.com
• www.3Nvideopro.com

[ReptileDude511]

Of course the Tainos still exist. The modern Puerto Ricans and Dominicans are descendants of Tainos. There might be full blooded Tainos who identify as Native American. It's like saying the Mexican Indians like the Aztecs and Mayans don't exist. The Mexicans are the descendants of the Native Indians of Mexico. The Mestizos make up most of the population, Indigenous Native mixed with Spanish.

[darkannoble2009]

@TheTainoWarrior The word boricua derives from the word borinquen, which means LAND OF THE NOBLE LORD. and as far as being latino, thats what were called now, i never said nor mentioned that i was 100 percent taino, my statement people! is that my matrileneal dna confirms that my maternal ancestors were indeed taino, most real BORICUAS share that lineage for the way things happened colonialy.

[uphamtimothy]

"Tau" -- "Greetings" in Taino.  Learn the language, that way you can rewrite history and be counted again. Do not let the language language be buried by Spanish and English. Keep your culture alive, by keeping your language alive. "Bo matum" -- "Thank you" in Taino. European and African inundation does not have to end, what has been in existence for thousands years.

[TimAmerica1000]

I'm still waiting for white americans to blame this on african people that it was their fault like every thing else!

[TheNintendofree21]

i suck