Culture+1B.+People+of+Puerto+Rico

People  Puerto Rico was discovered in Christopher Columbus' second voyage to the new world in 1493. At the time of the discovery the island was inhabited with Arawakans Indians known as [|Tainos]. The Although the Tainos were killed off shortly after the arrival of the Spaniards, their culture is still evident in many traditions of Puerto Rico. There are still artifacts that have been preserved in Puerto Rico's museums.



 Around the sixteenth century the Spaniards began trafficking slaves to Puerto Rico to have them labor on the large tobacco and sugar plantations. Due to the fact that Africans were slaves their history seems to be missing from many fountains of information. Although it is difficult to find their stories in history books,we can still hear it orally from people that have made it a point to carry the stories from generation to generations. We can see the African influence in the music, food, art, and dance.



The contributions of these two ethnic groups are extremly important. The Puerto Rican culture would not be what it is without the influences of the Tainos and Africans. This topic is a sensitive one on the island. Many Puerto Ricans do not want to accept the history, and through out their educational careers they are taught that their bloodlines are predominately European, but there has been a change in the recent times; many people have began researching and writing papers about the rich Indigenous and African culture of Puerto Rico.

[|Indigenous and African DNA evidence in Puerto Rico]