The Cultural History of Puerto Rico
The first inhabitants of Puerto Rico were the Taino Indians, a tribe that is considered to be descended from the Arawak Indians of Venezuela. The Tainos had an advanced culture that combined agriculture (they grew cassava and sweet potatos) and hunting and gathering. The Tainos lived in permanent villages consisting of a number of straw houses (bohios) arranged around an open plaza. The chief, or caique, lived in a large bohio in the central plaza. There is an excellent archaeological site near Utuado
Since the Tainos were essentially wiped out by European settlement, there is not a lot of information about their customs and traditions. It is known that they They lived in villages called Bhogrew crops (cassava, sweet potato, and corn) and hunted and gathered food and other resources from Puerto Rico's lush forests and productive oceans.
The Tainos had an antagonistic relationship with the Carib Indians, who invaded the island and attacked Taino settlements in the 14th and early 15th centuries. . In 1493, the Tainos received their first European visitor: Christopher Columbus who landed on the island while looking for gold and other booty. He immediately claimed the island for Spain and started a wave of Spanish settlement.
In the first four-hundred years after its colonization by Spaniards, Puerto Rico was considered to be a very valuable bit of real estate and was fought for by the Dutch and English. Spain managed to hold onto the island until 1898 when the Americans took it as the spoils of the Spanish-American War. |
