Tainos Then and Now

Historically poor treatment of the Indians of Hispaniola and the negative attitudes towards them has translated into the present day suppression of their culture. Negative views of the Indians may have been caused in part by their believed extinction. A recent reexamination of the sources discussing the extinction shows inaccuracies. There are several reasons for these misconceptions. There was no established classification system set up for categorizing people when taking a census. Many people were lumped into an ‘other’ category. People of mixed races did not fit clearly into any one category. In addition, the Spaniards taking the census didn’t have the ability to count everyone. It was widely recorded that many Indians fled into the mountains. Did the Spanish believe that they had died, or did they just want to believe that? They had motivation to promote the extinction of the Indians. The Spanish viewed the Indians as inferior workers to the Africans. If the Spanish government knew (or at least were led to believe) the Indians had died out, the residents of Hispaniola would be granted permission to have more enslaved Africans sent to the island. More slaves meant higher crop production and yield, which meant more profit, and in turn more power. Thus, the enslavement had huge impacts on the culture of the Africans and Indians in Hispaniola.

The Indian culture is still present today, but many people do not celebrate it or even acknowledge it in their daily lives, which demonstrates the impact of historical misconceptions. Jorge Estevez is an example of a person working to eradicate this idea. Esteves, in his article “Ocama-Daca Taino (Hear Me, I am Taino)” he exclaims, “The denial of our culture and heritage has been ingrained in all Dominicans with just about every book or magazine article we read on the subject” and goes on to say that “institutions have perpetuated the myth that our indigenous ancestors perished...” (59). How can anyone deny this man of his heritage? If he is Taino, his ancestors could not have become extinct. Esteves even went as far as taking a Bio-Geographical nuclear test, showing he has “a significantly high quantity of indigenous genetic markers” (61). He remembers learning about his ancestors way of life, traditions, and stories. He should not have to fight to claim Taino heritage. Because of the longstanding negative opinion of the Tainos and because of their believed extinction, the culture has been suppressed. These mistakes could possibly be helped by verifying historical information and by contextualizing the sources. Evaluate what you read. Current interpretations of history can greatly alter the future.