Taino indians, the original Puerto Ricans..

Posted by admin on October 24th, 2008 at 02:30pm

Christopher Columbus claimed the island of Puerto Rico for Spain during his second trip in 1493, the island at that time was inhabited by Arawak and Taino Indians who were friendly compared with other Carib tribes inhabiting other islands of the Caribbean.

The Taino Indians were quickly enslaved and put to the task of digging for gold which didn’t last long and in 1511 there was an uprising. The peaceful Tainos up to this point believed that the Spanish were gods, then took a soldier and dunked his head in a river for several hours to see if he would die, just in case they had prepared a feast for him if he came out alive!

Most of the Tainos and Arawak Indians gradually died out but not at the hands of the Spanish, it was the diseases brought from Europe against which they had no defences. The Indians were later replaced by African slaves to work the fields growing primarily sugar cane. Puerto Rico remained Spanish until Spanish-American war in 1898 when it was ceded to the United States.

Some Puerto Ricans hope the island will become the 51st state of the union but many prefer status quo and move between the island and the US to get the best of both worlds. The island has prospered with a variety of industrial and commercial activities in addition to the now vibrant tourist industry.

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Beautiful tourist resorts have been recently created, one of them is Wyndham Beach and Golf Resort. You can visit the resort and potentially stay there for free in a luxurious 2 bed 2 bath apartment with golf and sea views by joining Select Exchange! For details please access www.selectexchange.co.uk

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