MY SOURCES FOR MY DATA and an Interesting link

[Tordok]

The Cibao has always been the major center of human activities on the isand. It was the center of Taino Civilization and it was also the center of European civilization. This is evident in the development patterns of the three major regions of the country.

The Cibao was where the bulk of the population of the country lived, most being of european decent, mostly from Spain. There were natives and blacks in the mix, but most were whites from the Iberian peninsula. The blacks that were imported were brought from Spain, who were slaves already in Spain. Aas a result, these blacks were already "hispanizised". Its no coincidence that the Cibao has most of the oldest settlements and towns in the country.

The East was developed later, mostly in the 1800s, with its major towns developing and growing in the early 1900s, due to the sugar boom. The east consisted of whites (who were a minority in this part of the island) and blacks imported from the British West Indies. These blacks had more of an Africanize culture because the British imported the blacks directly from Africa, contrary to how Spain imported most of its blacks through the mainland. As a results, the cocolos came with their heavily africanized culture which have an impact on that region.

The South developed around the sametime the Cibao developed, but it never really grew much due to its vulnerability of being ransacked everytime Haitian forces invaded, which were quite often. In fact, the south could be said to have the most Haitian influence, such influence is evident in the founding of Barahona which was founded by the Haitians.

How does all of that influence speech patterns in the DR?

Well, given that the South never fully developed properly and the East developed very recently, its almost natural to not expect much in terms of a unified sub-culture in those regions. In the contrary, the Cibao not only developed extremely early, but remain very Europeanized with whites making up most of the population in that region. Most whites left after the 22 year Haitian occupation of the island, but their legacy has remained.

As a result, the Cibao contains a sub-culture that is very europeanized and that culture is the culture being used to define as Dominican culture. The reason falls in that about three quarters of Dominicans live in the Cibao to this day. The huge european presence in the Cibao is also the reason why the Cibao population tends to be whiter or lighter than the rest and the reason why the region actually has a provincial Spain feel to it. That becomes very evident in the habits of the people in the region, which go hand in hand with Hispanic traditions.

Add to that the ethno-centric reality of cultures that developed on islands, and you got a sub-culture that still retains many elements of Spain, elements that have eroded in much of Spain in modern times, but remain intact and alive in the Cibao till this day.

Please keep in mind that there have also been some Haitian (ie. African) influence in the Cibao all this time with the constant migration. The last 10 years have seen the largest influx of Haitians into Dominican territory since their last invasion and as a result, their presence is causing deep feelings to come to light again. But, it cannot be denied that the African influence by way of Haiti has been felt in the country also.

It is important to note that because the Africans brought by the Spaniards most were slaves in Spain prior to being brought to the island, they had already a hispanic culture among themselves. Much of the African elements in the country have come through Haiti and the blacks who came from the Lesser Antilles and settled in the East and also, to some extent, the African-Americans that settled in Samana.

Another interesting fact is the survival of many Taino words and speech patterns in the Dominican Spanish (which is the Spanish spoken in the Cibao). This brings further evidence that the Tainos were either not completely annihilated as thought, or they were not killed as fast as thought. Otherwise, its a mistery why so much "Tainoism" has found its way into the European component of this society, most noticeable in the speech patterns of Dominicans.

The following link is a good article about the influences of Taino into the Speech patterns not only of the Dominican Republic, but of the entire Spanish Caribbean. I have posted this article numerous times in other threads, so if you have read it, I'm sorry for posting it again. But it brings some interesting insights into the legacy of the Tainos into the speech patterns of the Spanish Caribbean.
http://www.centrelink.org/davidcampos.html

There's enough baloney on the above comments to cut it in slices and make sandwiches for a hungry football team.

Prior to the last half of the XXth century, the size and economic base structure of both Santiago and Santo Domingo, never approached the critical mass of civilized peoples to form an urban entity equivalent to the level of economic and cultural sophistication already seen by then in Europe and even in other Western Hemisphere countries. Moya Pons states this over and over again, and so does Juan Bosch in his treatise on Dominican social development. Until very recently the whole country was essentially a rural society with a few villages in between.

Yes, the Cibao region and Santiago in particular, blessed with an abundance of fertile lands, was always somewhat wealthier, more diversified and less dependent on government funds when compared to the capital. But to suggest that it was a sort of European enclave on the island is quite a stretch.

BTW Nal0Ws, I am from the Eastern past of the island, and I think that you oversimplify our contributions to the development of the country. Many of our ancestors fought guerilla wars against the Haitians, the Spanish, the French, and the Americans each time any of these tried to impose their rule on these rebellious and fiercely independent provinces. If you dig in your books, you will find that many French landowners fleeing Haiti, eventually settled in the easternmost part of the island in the direction opposite that of the Haitians. People from Corsica, Portugal, Canarias, Puerto Rico and Cuba also were there as small ranchers and small merchants. The large numbers of African-descended people in these areas ocurred when sugar became a lucrative but labor intensive commodity late in the 19th century. Prior to that it was all a very modest enterprise. That's all I will comment on your ethnographic divagations. The whole racial issue is overemphasized in your thesis and it borders on the irrational.

Regarding the age of towns of the east compared to your Santiago:
Salvale?n de Higuey was founded in 1502 by Juan Ponce de Le?n (first Spanish governor of Puerto Rico and of Florida fountain of youth fame);
Santa Cruz de Icayagua (el Seybo) was founded in 1506 by the conqueror of Jamaica, Juan de Esquivel. The city of Santiago de Los Caballeros was founded in 1504 by Bartolom? Columbus ( brother of the Admiral don Cristobal). So in terms of "age" some of your arguments are invalid since all of these belonged to the pioneering group of conquistadores.

Salud!

- Tordok

 

[FuegoAzul21]

Damn , thats alotta books , and if u read them all entirely , thats crazy , i never read an entire book unless its that interesting .

 

[Pib]

Nals, I say you are wrong. These are my sources:

The Bible
Avesta
The Code of Hammurabi
The Bhagvad Gita
The Koran
Kabbalah
The Egyptian Book of the Dead
Vedas
Upanishads
The National Enquirer




Chiri just explained that what you have provided, an impressive list of books as it is, has nothing to do with what we asked for. Nals, you have a great chance to educate us. Or not.


BTW, I merged both threads for the sake of continuity.

 

[FuegoAzul21]

thats a smart thing to do