History article: "What Became of the Taino?"

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minerva_feliz

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Wanted to share this article from Smithsonian magazine (October 2011):

What Became of the Ta?no?
The Indians who greeted Columbus were long believed to have died out. But a journalist's search for their descendants turned up surprising results...

What Became of the Ta?no? | People & Places | Smithsonian Magazine

Nothing novel as far as the DR specific content, but it was new to me to hear about the Taino presence in the U.S.

Maybe this paragraph will stir up some comments:

Still, some scholars remain skeptical. ?You have to be aware of people running around saying they?re Ta?no, because they are after a federal subsidy,? said Bernardo Vega, a former director of the Museum of the Dominican Man and the Dominican Republic?s former ambassador to the United States. Yvonne M. Narganes Storde, an archaeologist at the University of Puerto Rico agreed. She gives the activists credit for preserving important sites on the island, but she sounded wary of their emphasis on establishing a separate Ta?no identity. ?All the cultures are blended here,? she said. ?I probably have Ta?no genes. We all do. We have incorporated all these cultures?African, Spanish and Indian. We have to live with it.?
 
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Baracutei

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Oct 15, 2008
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Hola Chip, I see that teh article was posted on DR1. I'm not really sure how to comment on the excerpt above. Mr Bernado Vega has written extensivley on Taino material cultural survival in the DR in "Cultura indigena en la RD hoy, but warns that this must not be applied to genetics since no study had ever been done. But now that the genetic studies have been done and proven that Dominicans have a substantial amount of Native ancestry as well as any other, he now responds with the above. But to date, I have never heard of Dominicans wanting federal subsidies basded on their being Indian. Its a dumb statement which makes me wonder, has he denial of the Taino in the past been due to fears of Native rights movemenst emerging, etc etc. Who knows. In the mean time Multi disciplinary studies continue to discount the myth of Taino extinction.
All the best
Jorge Estevez
 
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Chip

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Jul 25, 2007
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Jorge

Thanks for the reality check. I thought the article had an "old school" slant, ie that the Tainos were killed off in the first 50 years. As you have previously posted the recent DNA tests and other evidence have established without a doubt that Tainos were around until the 19th century with more than likely most of their ancient culture intact.
 
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Tom F.

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Jan 1, 2002
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Baracutei said:
Hola Chip, I see that teh article was posted on DR1. I'm not really sure how to comment on the excerpt above. Mr Bernado Vega has written extensivley on Taino material cultural survival in the DR in "Cultura indigena en la RD hoy, but warns that this must not be applied to genetics since no study had ever been done. But now that the genetic studies have been done and proven that Dominicans have a substantial amount of Native ancestry as well as any other, he now responds with the above. But to date, I have never heard of Dominicans wanting federal subsidies basded on their being Indian. Its a dumb statement which makes me wonder, has he denial of the Taino in the past been due to fears of Native rights movemenst emerging, etc etc. Who knows. In the mean time Multi disciplinary studies continue to discount the myth of Taino extinction.
All the best
Jorge Estevez
Click to expand...

I think he was referring to Puerto Rico and the Taino claims when he as referencing federal subsidies.
 
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Chip

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Tom F. said:
I think he was referring to Puerto Rico and the Taino claims when he as referencing federal subsidies.
Click to expand...

Tom

Keep in mind that Baracutei is the same Jorge Estevez from the Smithsonian that appears in the article. Given that the article jumps from island to island it could be assumed that Dr. Vega was referring to DR but nonetheless that wouldn't seem logical but given the other inaccuracies of the article who would really know?
 
NALs

NALs

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Jan 20, 2003
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Not too long ago I got the results of an ancestry DNA test that I did out of curiosity.

Most of it originates from the Basque/Aragon regions of Spain and that was a no brainer based on the family history, but there is a 9% that was categorized as Asian/Native American; could possibly be Taino. The slightly slanted eyes are there and until now, had never given them much thought and so are the shovel incisors.

Several family members are about to take their own tests in an attempt to find out through where did the Indian snuck in. lol

There?s even a marker that supposedly shows Guanche ancestry, the original inhabitants from the Canary Islands.

The whole family history has to be revised now.
 
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