Puerto Ricans in the MainlandIncludes Brief PR History and Contributions of PR culture on American culture
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Sally Castro
Prof. Zappo
Geography
February 17, 2003
Puerto Ricans in the Mainland
For someone to say, "I am Puerto Rican," and understand where they really come from are two different issues. Someone who recognizes their Puerto Rican heritage cannot say they are only Hispanic, though this is how the United States classifies us. In actuality, Puerto Rican heritage and ethnicity is much more complex than that. Our heritage stems all the way back to the 15th century with the migration of Taino Indians from South America to the Caribbean islands. "The Tainos were bronzed-colored, median in stature and had dark, flowing, coarse hair. They had dark, large eyes, slightly oblique. Males and single women were naked while married women wore a cotton skirt" (Davila). When Christopher Columbus set out on his second voyage, in 1493, he sailed into the Caribbean island, with an approximate population of 50,000 Taino Indians. Soon after, Columbus and the Spanish fleet forced the Tainos into slavery, virtually annihilating the indigenous population who were unfamiliar with slave labor conditions and also were exposed to European diseases for the first time...