The Tainos no longer lived in the “Land of the Noble Lord”. They lived in San Juan Bautista, land of the Spanish conquerors. They were forced to work long hours, under terrible working conditions, in gold mines and fields. The Spaniards enforced laws on the Indians, broke up tribes and separated families.
The Tainos were afraid of the Spaniards. They were reluctant to fight back because they believed that the Spaniards were like Gods and that they made a pledge of friendship to them. When the Tainos finally decided to fight back, they realized that the Spaniards were like human beings and they could be killed
Many indians fled in their canoes to other islands, or hid in the mountains. Those who did not escape were treated like slaves. Other Tainos chose death over slavery. They killed their families and then themselves. While many of them were dying out, the number of foreigners in Puerto Rico was increasing. Many young Spaniards continued to come to the island hoping to become rich overnight. They expected to find gold on the ground in the streams.
The
newcomers
soon discovered that they had to dig deep for the gold. The weather was very hot, and the men soon grew tired. Many of them got sick. Some even died from tropical diseases. They soon discovered that Puerto Rico had little gold. The lack of gold made Puerto Rico less important to Spain.
The country folk of Puerto Rico were called the
Jibaros.
During the early days of Spanish
colonization
of the island they were the
colonists
who were given land in the interior. The Jibaros were a group of people who lived in
isolation
and had a simple way of life.
The Spaniards on the island soon began to look for other ways to make a living. Many of them became farmers. It was the Indians who taught them how to grow corn,
yucca,
sweet potatoes,
yams,
pineapples, and peanuts. They picked island fruits such as the
mamey,
the
quanabana
and the
quenepa.
The Spaniards experimented with different kinds of crops. They bought in new plants—coconuts, bananas,
guavas, papayas
which grew well in Puerto Rico’s climate. Coffee was very successful, but
sugar cane
became Puerto Rico’s principal source of
trade,
on which the Spaniards counted mainly to make money.
Activities
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1.
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Introduce new vocabulary.
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1. Yucca
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7. Sugar cane
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13. mamey
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2. yams
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8. coffee
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14. colonization
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3. quanabana
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9. Jibaro
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15. isolation
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4. quenepa
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10. slavery
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16. colonists
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5. guavas
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11. foreigners
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17. interior
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6. papayas
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12. trade
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18. newcomers
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2.
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Discuss the reasons for conflicts which arose between the Spaniards and the Taino Indians.
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3.
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Have students develop a
Recipe Book
(Such as; paella, chicken with rice, gazpacho, pasteles, sancocho, mofongo, alcapurria, bacalito etc.). Recipes will be found in recipe books. Parents will assist students.
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4.
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Discuss the contributions of the Spaniards to the Puerto Rican culture as reflected in the language, religion, traditions, customs, music and art. Students will utilize resources from bilingual office.
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5.
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Invite parents or community members to visit the class to discuss the influence of Spanish culture on Puerto Rican culture.
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