Taino History

Aguaita29

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If you understand Spanish, you should check out the YT channel Kiskeya Life. They have done multiple videos on Tainos and MANY other DR related topics. They made a video 4 months ago about how the Tainos language sounded and that there are people trying to "revive" the Taino language.
If you do understand spanish you will LOVE this channel... HOURS worth of DR history!
Kiskeya Life: https://www.youtube.com/c/KiskeyaLifeTV/videos

Regarding DNA my Ancestry results gave me a 12% Taino DNA and im from the Cibao ( La Vega ).
Love Kiskeya Life. They make videos in English too.
 

keepcoming

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NALS knowledge on this subject is to be respected. I do hope he writes a book or publish information about this.
 
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Auryn

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I likely can find a lot on the Taino online or in existing books, as shared.

What I find interesting is the specifically Dominican angle regarding their history. Not all of that information is readily available, at least not without extensive research. I have 2 history minors but not enough time to do that justice at present.
 

Auryn

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This 2019 National Geographic article looks interesting, but it’s locked behind a paywall.

What is allowed to be seen for free states that the Taino were only wiped off the historical record in writing, and that they went into the mountains to hide.

NALs mention of the European ancestry on the Paternal Y DNA would be a given, considering that in any incidence of colonization that is how the ancestry pattern comes out in the wash.

Meet the survivors of a ‘paper genocide’
 

Auryn

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Here is another interesting article.

Taino: Indigenous Caribbeans

How common is it for modern day Dominicans (not living in the US) to identify as Taino, as this excerpt states?

Modern Taino Heritage

Groups of people currently identify as Taíno, most notably among the Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, both on the islands and on United States mainland. The concept of the “living Taíno” has been proven in a census in 2002. Some scholars, such as Jalil Sued Badillo, an ethnohistorian at the University of Puerto Rico, assert that the official Spanish historical record speak of the disappearance of the Taínos, but survivors had descendants and intermarried with other ethnic groups. Recent research notes a high percentage of mixed or tri-racial ancestry among people in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, with those claiming Taíno ancestry also having Spanish and African ancestry.


Goliath’s 12% is a lot, genetically speaking. Many on my husband’s mother’s side has a distinctive eye shape that her family attributes to Taino ancestry. They definitely don’t identify as Taino though.
 
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Auryn

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Came across this research article recently:

Origins and Genetic Legacies of the Caribbean Taino

For those interested in genetics, I thought the article as a whole provides interesting information. An excerpt states:

Modern DNA studies (5, 6) also point to South America, but they are complicated by the fact that modern Caribbean genomes are largely composed of African and European ancestry and that only relatively little indigenous Caribbean ancestry remains (57). Furthermore, it is unclear whether this native component reflects Taino ancestry or whether it reached the Caribbean as a result of later population movements and migrations. The key to solving these issues lies in ancient DNA, but so far ancient DNA studies in the Caribbean have been hampered by poor preservation (8), and the few studies that exist are limited to mitochondrial DNA and, therefore, lack in resolution (911).
 
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william webster

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I came across this elsewhere and thought it might fit here -
=======================================

Cuevas de Pomier.

Located in the foothills of the Cordillera Central north of San Crisobal is the Anthropological Reserve of Cuevas del Pomier which houses many paintings of historic signficance. They are also accessed through a working quarry for coralina stone and that causes some alarm for historians.

Yesterday the President by decree a commission to research this prehistoric site of significance:

Abinader appoints commission to convert Cuevas del Pomier into the prehistoric capital of the country

https://listindiario.com/la-republica/2 … a-del-pais

https://images2.listindiario.com/n/content/695/695307/p/680x460/202111032106391.jpeg


The President of the Republic, Luis Abinader, created a technical-scientific commission to direct the research work that supports the recognition of the Cuevas de Borbón or Pomier Anthropological Reserve, located in San Cristóbal, as the prehistoric capital of the Dominican Republic.

Through Decree 705-21, issued this Monday, the prime minister appointed several ministers to carry out these inquiries, which will be headed by the Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources, together with the Minister of Tourism and the Minister of Culture.

The commission was created in order to value the fauna and flora that the aborigines used as their food, as well as the extinct species whose remains have been located in the area of the Caves of Borbón or Pomier.

This reserve has petroglyphs and pictographs that should be valued, in addition to the investigation of their connection with other Mesoamerican cultures.

Phil Lehman, from the DRSS Foundation (Dominican Republic Speleological Society); Manuel García Arévalo, from the García Arévalo Foundation; Clenis Tavarez María, anthropologist at the Museum of the Dominican Man and Juan Almonte, paleontologist at the Museum of Natural History.

The Caves of Borbón or del Pomier, located in the Borbón section of the San Cristóbal province, have more than 6,000 prehistoric paintings and approximately 500 cave engravings.

In addition to having tourist potential, the Cuevas de Borbón or del Pomier Anthropological Reserve constitutes an archaeological and anthropological heritage, which is why they are of great interest for the study of the Amerindian groups that inhabited the Caribbean islands.

Tours can be found starting in nearby Santo Domingo for those interested in visiting such sites.
 

NALs

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Rather than create a new thread, might as well put it here.

A few days ago I went to my 23andme account and apparently they updated the part of "Indigenous Americans." now is able to differentiate between indigenous DNA inputs from DR, Cuba, and PR. This is in addition to Southern Caribbean and various places in the USA.

Taino ancestry most likely corresponds to most indigenous DNA still present in the three Spanish-speaking places in the West Indies.

In my case it only show one country, but I guess if someone has indigenous DNA from more than one country or area it would show multiple places. Notice on the map whatever country you have indigenous DNA from is in a larger font.

Also notice that Europe, North Africa & the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa have different hues vs the light gray of the rest of the world. perhaps that pinpoints to the origin of the rest of my DNA? Have to compare this with an Asian or something.
IMG_9400.jpeg


New is that the DR comes up in the map and is highlighted. They do a decent description, but even the Tainos had several names for the island and not just Ayti. There is also a controversy that has been going on forever which implies Ayti, which means highland, was only applied to one area of the island (ironically, the are now protected by the Los Haitises National Park; haitises is plural dor Haiti and that area has always been named like that, even before it became a national park) and it was the Spanish chroniclers that in an attempt of figuring out what the Tainos called the island, that was one of the names they applied to the whole island and then it stuck along with other Taino names. Why 23andme choose it was Ayti as the only one only they know, but it's an American company. :)
IMG_9398.jpeg


I guess that further puts weight to the validity of this indigenous DNA input as oppose to simply being noise. I guess that adds a few thousand years of a part of me being present on Hispaniola. Who knows, maybe a Taino ancestor or two were the ones that were there greeting Columbus et al in 1492.
 
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AlterEgo

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Interesting. I just checked Mr AE’s on Ancestry, and his 7% is identified as “indigenous Haiti & Dominican Republic”, with the map showing DR outlined.

IMG_2495.jpeg
 

NALs

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In that one Puerto Rico is highlighted too. Perhaps there's isn't able to more precisely pointout where it's from or maybe he has a mixture of indigenous DNA. It's known that for a short time in the 1500's the Spanish introduced indigenous people to Hispaniola from the surrounding islands to work in the mines. There was also a small influx of Mayans (out of their own will) from Mexico in the 1600's.
 
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AlterEgo

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In that one Puerto Rico is highlighted too. Perhaps there's isn't able to more precisely pointout where it's from or maybe he has a mixture of indigenous DNA. It's known that for a short time in the 1500's the Spanish introduced indigenous people to Hispaniola from the surrounding islands to work in the mines. There was also a small influx of Mayans (out of their own will) from Mexico in the 1600's.

Ah, my fault for not noticing he has 1% “Indigenous Puerto Rico”.
 
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NALs

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Another way of introducing some indigenous DNA from other countries in Dominicans is simply migration. If a Puerto Rican moves to the DR, chances are high he will have some indigenous DNA native of PR. If he has a kid with a Dominican woman, then...

I think that type of flow has been greater from PR to DR than from Haiti to DR on the basis of size. The Osorio Devastation of 1606 basically depopulated the western part of the island (now Haiti) by forcing the relocation of the inhabitants nearer Santo Domingo. Except a few people that must had been successful getting away and hiding in the mountains, during that time most of the Taino DNA present there was further reduced as almost all of it ended up eastward. No such thing has happened between PR and DR. On the contrary, with the multiple mass emigrations of Dominicans to PR due to the Haitian invasions, the French Era, and the post-Trujillo influx lead by economic conditions; most likely there is a greater percentage of Puerto Ricans with at least some Dominican indigenous DNA than Dominicans with Puerto Rican indigenous DNA.
 
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