Last Taino "Queen"

Loiza Aldea: Legend of Yuiza. Taino Cacique of Boriken

The Legends of Loiza are many but perhaps the most popular one is about the female Taino Cacique (chief) named Yuiza ( Yuisa, Loaiza, Luisa, Loiza).

When the Spanish Conquistadores invaded Puerto Rico and enslaved the Taino Indians the indians resisted. They never adapted to slavery, most of the Taino men were killed. Many of the women lived on as wives of the spanish sailors.

Legend has it (that to protect her people) Yuiza became the lover of mulatto conquistador Pedro Mejias and because of this she was killed by other Taino Caciques (who felt she was a traitor to have been with a spaniard). She actually was a hero and greatly admired by her own tribal people, even today. This may be the legend that gives meaning to the mix in Loiza of black Africans and Taino Indian, or it may, in fact be a historical truth. In actual fact, there are no historical documents to prove this, her marriage with Mejias.

History records show that the colonial government of Puerto Rico, by a crown decree from Spain in the 1600's, was instructed to place runaway slaves from the British colonies in what is today Loiza
Aldea. This area was chosen by the Crown because it was the weakest flank of defense of the island, and they hoped that the freed slaves would help defend the island against British invaders. It is said
that the majority of these Africans were from Nigeria.

Somewhat inexplicable would be the great quantity of fishermen among the people of Loiza Aldea. Fishing by escaped slaves was considered an aberration because slaves were traditionally taught a fear of the sea as a way to keep them enslaved. Historians argue that the Africans of Loiza developed their fishing skills through direct contact with the Tainos of Puerto Rico. The presence of Amerindian
mtDNA in Loiza, supports this hypothesis. Loiza is populated by the largest community of African descendents on the island of Puerto Rico.

In later years Inigo Lopez de Cervantes y Loayza, a prestigious Spaniard, had great extensions of land in this region. His second last name could have been used to name this territory.

Foundation: In 1692 Loiza was appointed as an urban section because it had approximately 100 houses and 1,146 inhabitants. In the year 1719 the Spanish government recognized its importance by declaring it an official town. Its founder was Gaspar de Arredondo. It wasn't declared a municipality until August 16, 1970.

The Catholic congregation of Loiza is the oldest established congregation in Puerto Rico. The church has been rebuilt, but is still significantly old.

"…The legend is that the name Loiza was that of a Taino woman, Chief Loiza or Yuisa, who governed a territory called Jaymanio in the margins of the Cayrabon river now named the Rio Grande de Loiza."

Source: http://bohioatabei. blogspot. com/2007/ 12/last-taino- queen.html

We Are An Adaptable People

"The Taino were neither conservative nor tradition-bound. In their arts as well as their political structure, they eagerly tried new things, combining old themes with new media. In the century preceding the Spanish conquest, their society enjoyed a period of artistic florescence in a variety of media, including music and dance (Arrom 1989; Tavares 1978)."

~From the book, Taino: Pre-Columbian and Culture from the Caribbean The Monacelli Press: 1998

Letter to the Editor: One Hometown, Two Communities by CFT

An educational moment… "Claudia's Thanksgiving" series… Take a moment to sit and ponder, "When was the FIRST Thanksgiving?" and "What does it mean to Native Americans now?"

Like MOTHER, like DAUGHTER - What else can I say?
http://www.thebedfordcitizen.org/2013/11/28/letter-to-the-editor-one-hometown-two-communities/
Letter to the Editor: One Hometown, Two Communities
2013 November 28

Submitted by Cheyenne Fox Tree McGrath

Cheyenne Fox Tree McGrath 

– Courtesy image

The town of Bedford is mainly known for its historical ties to the United States’ legendary beginning. In fact, it is hailed as the first US flag to have flown during the American Revolution. But what most people are not aware of is Bedford’s Native American past and how deeply embedded the history of the first peoples is rooted in the land. It is important for me to introduce myself as a member of the Arawak nation, the indigenous tribe Christopher Columbus encountered when he landed in the New World. My parents chose the town of Bedford as an ideal place to raise a family because this land is surging with Native American presence. This land is where my ancestors were buried, where oral traditions were created and have stayed strong for centuries. The food and animals that are indigenous to this region appear in our creation stories and thus, are familiar to me. With a unique ethnic connection to my hometown, I am not only an ordinary Bedford citizen but also a part of the legacy of this land.

When I moved to Bedford, Massachusetts at the age of five, I could not begin to imagine what an integral part of my life my community would become. It is a very special upbringing to see a whole township raise its young and I had the opportunity to experience that kindness. As a small municipality, Bedford is very focused on fostering a close-knit feeling amongst its inhabitants. Town-wide events, such as ‘Bedford Day’ and ‘Concerts on the Common,’ are attended by all. School-natured events such as the ‘Senior Prom Stroll’ always draw the majority of the town whether or not they have any kids participating. Such camaraderie is distinctive especially given the social climate of our times where community building is not necessarily reinforced in all cities and townships. That kind of intimacy stays with you and helps you grow as a person. It has made me not fearful of trusting strangers because I genuinely understand what the word ‘neighbor’ means.

Simultaneously, as I was being raised in a communal social structure, I was being brought up as a Native American. The common proverb “it takes a village to raise a child” was the way I was raised. Everyone in my Native American community was kin to me, whether biological or not, and had a hand in educating me. Despite Bedford’s colonial history, the sentiment toward expelling Native American culture is not found in present-day Bedford. There are annual powwows (Native American people’s way of meeting together) held in Bedford and Native Americans of all tribes living in Massachusetts flock to this area to renew their friendships and create bonds that ensure our continuity into the future. The Native American definition of community taught me the importance of giving back to my community and also taught me the value of staying active and connected with my heritage. In comparing my two communities, that of my fellow “townies” and the Native American populace that live in Bedford, it is evident that what both communities prescribe as the number one priority in creating togetherness is teaching everyone to count on the community’s members as friends rather than strangers.

This idea of friendship resonates with my life in such a personal way, it is hard to recount in this essay but I do so with the intent of showing just how much my hometown has molded me into the person I am today. The greatest lesson I have been taught by my environment is a lesson of love. Last February, my childhood home burned down to the ground. While no one in my immediate family was hurt, my entire house was gutted and we lost everything. Overnight, my family of six, had to basically to start over. We would have not been able to survive this difficult time were it not for the people of Bedford.

Within an hour of the fire happening, people were calling us asking what they could do to help.  A high school friend set up a fundraising drive and in less than 24 hours, my town collectively reached the fundraising goal of $5,000. Beyond donating money, people in Bedford donated furniture, toiletries, sheets, clothes, and other various items that were necessary to helping us live. Members of the Native American community volunteered their time and energy to help salvage and move what we could out of our house into storage. Although all the tangible items and assistance were crucial and eased our pain, I will never forget the outpour of emotional support. All of this goodwill helped motivate me through a challenging academic semester and despite all my tribulations, I managed to make the Dean’s List. What this experience has taught me about our environments is that an environment built upon love will always carry you through times of hardship.

I am grateful for having the two communities I associate with represented in my hometown and I see myself as a reflection of their greatest strengths. Bedford has shown me the beauty of coexistence, where everyone lives in harmony and with the sincere intent to better serve their neighbor no matter their background. While I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in the way the rest of the country does because of its strong association with and misrepresentation and stereotyping of Native Americans, I do honor it in the Native American tradition of ‘The First Thanksgiving,’ that is, being thankful for the sun, water, plants, animals, friends, and family.

Columbus Day Proclamation 2012

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

"As dawn broke over the Atlantic on October 12, 1492, a perilous 10-week journey across an ocean gave way to encounters and events that would dramatically shape the course of history. Today, we recall the courage and the innovative spirit that carried Christopher Columbus and his crew from a Spanish port to North America, and we celebrate our heritage as a people born of many histories and traditions.

When the explorers laid anchor in the Bahamas, they met indigenous peoples who had inhabited the Western hemisphere for millennia. As we reflect on the tragic burdens tribal communities bore in the years that followed, let us commemorate the many contributions they have made to the American experience, and let us continue to strengthen the ties that bind us today.

In the centuries since that fateful October day in 1492, countless pioneering Americans have summoned the same spirit of discovery that drove Christopher Columbus when he cast off from Palos, Spain, to pursue the unknown. Engineers and entrepreneurs, sailors and scientists, explorers of the physical world and chroniclers of the human spirit -- all have worked to broaden our understanding of the time and space we live in and who we are as a people. On this 520th anniversary of Columbus's expedition to the West, let us press forward with renewed determination toward tomorrow's new frontiers…"

New Video with Taíno History

Santa Clara, CA (UCTP Taino News) - Raindrop Games has launched a new historical game entitled “Arrival: Village Kasike” for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Arrival: Village Kasike is the first game in the planed Arrival series, which focuses on the history of the indigenous Taíno peoples. Players will lead an ancient Taíno village to thriving prosperity or a struggling existence with challenges including hurricane preparation, food cultivation, village defense, and morale management, etc.  

Arrival: VillageKasike presents the story of Naniki, a Taíno woman, who, through fate, must lead a struggling village somewhere in the Caribbean. The iOS game was developed in collaboration with the United Confederation of Taíno People with Roberto Múkaro Borrero, President of The United Confederation of Taíno People as project’s lead consultant. Borrero reviewed the various aspects of ancient Taíno life portrayed - from clothing, farming techniques, and socio-ceremonial presentations – in an effort to provided the highest standard of accuracy in this setting. In his personal capacity as a renowned Taíno musician, Borrero also provided Taíno music and speech to create a more immersive and authentic experience.

OPEN LETTER TO THE COMMUNITY

To Roberto Borrero, Members of the UCTP and the Greater Taino Community,

On behalf of Raindrop Games, I am writing this letter to answer some of the more common questions about the Taino-themed video games we are building.

"Why do you want to make games about the Taino people?"
Our goal is to use video games to help create a better world. We believe one of the best solutions to the world's problems is to inspire people to be better. We specifically chose the Taino as an historical exemplification of this spirit, having persevered and survived a cultural clash that brought them close to extinction. We hope that by educating people about who the Taino are will help provide a more accurate glimpse into their history. We believe when people understand a culture that is foreign to them, it expands their empathy and provides a deeper insight into humanity's broader issues.

"Why make a video game? Why not a movie or book? Wouldn't a video game trivialize the subject matter?"
Games have one strength that no other entertainment medium has, they are interactive. Interactivity allows the player to become more involved in the story as an active participant. What happens to the main character in a story happens directly to the player. In the long run, our plan is to use this unique property of games to create deeper emotional experiences for players. Video games are an upcoming medium with vast potential and we are doing our part to create games used for good.

"Arrival: Village Kasike" gives the player some exposure to the Taino culture before the arrival of Europeans. The player is put in charge of building a village while dealing with threats such as hurricanes, etc. Players will engage in traditional farming and fishing techniques as they provide for their village while informative texts share aspects of historical Taino life. Through the narrative of Naniki, the player can experience the connection between a Village Kasike and her people.

For over four years we have had the great pleasure of working with Roberto Borrero, President of the UCTP, to create video games about the Taino. Roberto's knowledge and insights have made it possible for us to complete our first Taino-themed game. The whole team is grateful for his help and willingness to see the large potential good of this project.

If any members of the community have any questions or concerns about what we are doing, please feel free to reach out to me via our web site (http://www.arrivalgame.com/content/contact.htm).

Josh Samuels
Project Lead on the Arrival Video Game Series
www.arrivalgame.com
Founder and CEO of Raindrop Games, Inc
www.raindropgames.com

Wiki Article Read Aloud on YouTube

Arawak Peoples.

Taino Culture and Art

My friend  is starring in another video.  He is here with his daughters at home in his garden telling singing a family song.  As he sings, they ask questions, and learn about their culture and ancestors.

A beautiful artist:  http://vimeo.com/3nvideopro/review/84523074/052a20df6c
Daniel 'Guayacan' Silva Pagan de Bieke (Vieques), Boriken (Puerto Rico) shares his story and work as a Taino artesan. (Video en Español)

Endangered Garifuna Language & Arawak Language

Graduate students in linguistics leaving legacy for speakers of endangered language of Garifuna http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2012/04/17/students-study-document-little-known-central-american-language-of-garifuna/
by Kathleen Maclay, Media Relations
April 17, 2012

Under the guidance of Michael and native Garifuna (pronounced Ga-RIF-foo-nah) speaker Philip Tim Palacio of Rocklin, Calif., nine students have spent the fall and spring semesters studying the complex and little understood indigenous language of the approximately 200,000 Garinagu living in Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala as well as within Diaspora communities in Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago and New York City. “This is groundbreaking work that we are doing, and it will leave a lasting legacy for the world, and for everyone who has an interest in learning Garifuna,” said Palacio. The Garifuna people, also known as the Garinagu, are descendants of West African, Carib and Arawak people and trace their origins to a wrecked African slave ship that washed ashore in the Caribbean in 1675, and the Calinago, Carib and Arawaks who inhabited Eastern Caribbean Islands including St. Vincent. Intermingling of the Caribs, Africans and indigenous Arawaks resulted in the Garifuna language, which also was influenced by English, Spanish and French. Garifuna belongs to the Arawak linguistic family, whose members are mostly found in the Amazon Basin.

Palacio acknowledged that Garifuna can be challenging to translate. “For example, when my dad used to see any of his seven children were wasting time and not working as hard as they should, he would tell us that we were ‘ataha gañé’ (drinking eggs), ‘éleha mesu’ (peeling cats), or ‘adimureha dabarasi’ (talking pan). These expressions are similar to the English expression of ‘being in la-la land.’”

DNA Research (We Are Not Extinct!)

This article (erroneously) says the Taino are extinct.On average, the genomes of Puerto Ricans contain 10 to 15% Native American DNA, which is largely Taíno, says Bustamante.
*  Comments from many of my friends, Robert, Licy, and Vanessa are on the bottom.
*  This is SO EXCITING - the COMMENTS from UCTP and my friends CAUSED THE ARTICLE TO CHANGE

As a result of the feedback from community members, thetitle of the article in question has been changed from "Breathing life into an extinct ethnicity' to "Rebuilding the genome of a hidden ethnicity". All references to "extinction" have been removed. At the end of the article there is now a corrective statement that reads:

"Corrected: This article originally stated that the Taíno were extinct, which is incorrect. Nature apologizes for the offence caused, and has corrected the text to better explain the research project described."

The original article appeared on Oct. 14, 2011 and was corrected on Oct. 17, 2011. It took three days from the time of the first post to not only receive apologies from one of the scientists leading the project but also from the magazine itself.

While it is still not a "perfect article", I have left a message on the site to thank the editor Brian Owens and Professor Bustamante for the public apology and the corrections. I felt it was the Taino thing to do…

In achieving these corrections and apologies, I feel we accomplished something historic. Think about the alternative if we did nothing at all. 

This article demonstrates the sad consequences of DNA testing
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/10/13/bitter-fight-determine-who-american-indian-turns-dna-testing-57165
People interviewed for this story, whether they are for or against the use of DNA testing, agree there is already a litmus test—for you to be considered Indian any of the following statements are true:
A) Your family/people experienced a traumatic history with disease, displacement and death;
B) Your family/people endured generations of intense poverty and disenfranchisement;
C) That you are alive means your family/people survived repeated attempts by various governments to exterminate them—physically, culturally, spiritually.
“Really, the measure of being Indian should be a pain index,” Alexie says. “You know, how many funerals have you gone to?”

DNA results that reveal unpleasant surprises about parentage are a frequent occurrence in Indian country, where grandmothers or aunties often care for infants born into bad domestic situations. “That’s one of the things about DNA testing—it is letting all of the skeletons out of the closet,” says James Mills, president of Creating Stronger Nations, a consulting firm that works with tribes to create policy documents on a range of governance issues, including enrollment. “The moment you draw a line in the sand on enrollment, the moment you have rules, there is going to be some unfairness. There is no perfect system. There just isn’t one.”

But even that test is subjective. “It comes down to who is a tribal member,” says Mills, pointing to the authority granted by Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, a landmark 1978 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that notes sovereign Indian nations determine their own membership. “Tribes have rules about membership and for many years, many tribes were very lax about their rules. [But now], if you are a successful per-capita tribe, people will come out of the woodwork,” clamoring to be members. “Tribes began to get stricter about the enforcement of their rules…and thus you have this disenrollment phenomenon.”

This site has some information on Native American DNA testing.
Over the past few weeks a number of agencies have contacted one or more editors of the Caribbean Amerindian Centrelink (http://www.centrelink.org/) with news and details concerning DNA testing services for those interested in verifying or documenting their Taino or other Amerindian biological parentage.

And this site talks about cultural survival - The Taino of the Caribbean: the People Who are Not Supposed to Exist

Here is another article, The Perils of Human Genomics (with a lot of sarcasm in the comments), about reclaiming/identifying as Taino.  Scroll down to read these two comments:

16.   Kolibri Carrillo Says:
October 26th, 2011 at 6:52 am

The more I read about this topic, the more I am compelled to address this issue of the so called Taino extinction. I am Taino by blood and culture. I do not need a DNA test nor recognition from any faction political or cultural. I am not from a poor or disadvantage life, I am educated and do not need any financial assistance from government as reparation. I am retired from a government agency in NYC and on full pension. I pay taxes like everyone else. Why do I identify myself to the indigenous culture of my home island called Boriken (Puerto Rico)? My mother’s birth certificate says so. Why do I claim to be of both indigenous culture of the Caribbean? I am Taino and Carib because my Mother told me so. I do not need the Smithsonian study or the speculations of scientist to tell me who I am. I do not need a card from my country’s government to tell me who I am. I am Taino and Caribe mixed with Spanish. Thus I am mestizo like my own Mother. My post here does not come from a need to have some form of identity, I am an American; born and raised in the United States of America. That is my citizenship. I am a Taino and Carib woman, that is my identity. I am not looking for any social or economic advantage at claiming my identity as Taino. I do not need anyone’s approval to know who I am. Mr. Onur whoever you are, I am not a Taino identity activist. I am Kolibri Carrillo daughter of a Taino/Carib woman. I am entitled to self identity.

17.   Maurice Travers Says:
October 26th, 2011 at 7:14 am
Sirs
I am one of those so called “taino ” activists whose lies onur goes on about . I am a white anglo / saxon british male who is blessed to be friends with many of these “extinct ” people . Dr Bustamente and the authour of the article graciously admitted that they had made an error of Judgement when presented with facts that dispelled the Columbian myth of extinction . For the information of onur a study carried out over a wide spectrum of inhabitants of Boriken (Puerto Rico ) in a sample of 700 61% showed Mitrochrondial DNA indicating Amerindian (Taino ) decendency The reasearch was carried out by prof Vasesquez of the university there as to the fact that he claims greek origin he should read his history the Greeks are extinct as is every other race in this world .There is no pure anyone left today. I am minded to remind Everyone here of a greeting used by the Lakota soiux Tribe of North america .
Miyakuye Oyasin WE ARE ALL RELATED
Blessings to all
M

Rejoinder to Roberto Mucaro http://www.prdream.com/wordpress/?p=3376
Mr. Borrero is correct in pointing out that the number of people in Puerto Rico who self-identify as “Indian” has increased 49 percent from 13,336 in the year 2000 to 19,510 in 2010. But this is still only less than 1 percent of the total Island population of 3.7 million.

There are other NeoTaíno organizations and subgroups that are sometimes in conflict with each other, such as the Jatibonicu Taíno Tribal Nation of Boriken, the Taíno Turabo Aymaco Tribe of Puerto Rico, and the Consejo General de Taínos Borincanos, with the issue of purity coming up in statements on occasion. For example, the “Tribal Charter” of the Taíno Turabo Aymaco Tribe of Boriken states that their tribe “is made-up of: documented and non-documented, pure blood, and non-pure blood descendants of the Taíno Turabo and Aymaco Tribes,” and “pure and non-pure blood descendants of other various Taíno Tribes from the entire Caribbean.”

A little more to think about here: http://voxxi.com/2011/12/12/taino-ancestry-goes-beyond-dna-its-cultural/ Advocates for Taíno people say their culture is passed down through oral traditions, not solely DNA. Taíno supporters have a problem with academic scholar Dr. Gabriel Haslip-Viera’s recent paper where he says Taíno advocates are using a DNA study to claim “a pure indigenous pedigree.”

They say they never made that claim and have challenged Haslip-Viera to prove it. According to the United Confederation of Taíno People (UCTP) the concept of a “degree of Indian blood” was not set by them, but by those whose ultimate goal is to eliminate indigenous tribes. Taíno advocates say Haslip-Viera omits any reference to oral tradition as a form of community and national history.

Roberto “Múkaro” Borrero, president of UCTP said in a statement:
“It should be further noted that Taíno descendants do not require the approval of Dr. Haslip-Viera or others to be Taíno. This position is also affirmed by the world community as per the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

Should your ancestry be based on how you see yourself or how much DNA you have of that ethnicity?

This article shows why There is no DNA test to prove you're Native American
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4318236742527300206#editor/target=post;postID=6841055636249105922

DNA testing is changing how Native Americans think about tribal membership. Yet anthropologist Kim Tallbear warns that genetic tests are a blunt tool. She tells Linda Geddes why tribal identity is not just a matter of blood ties

New Discoveries:  http://nativeamericanresources.blogspot.com/2014/05/new-discovery.html

Single Ancestral Group:
http://www.geneticarchaeology.com/research/Native_Americans_descended_from_a_single_ancestral_group_DNA_study_confirms.asp
For two decades, researchers have been using a growing volume of genetic data to debate whether ancestors of Native Americans emigrated to the New World in one wave or successive waves, or from one ancestral Asian population or a number of different populations.

Risks to Tribes (Who Owns Native Culture?):  http://web.williams.edu/AnthSoc/native/

What do Mormons think about our DNA?  http://www.mrm.org/dna

Smart New Ways to Trace Your Native Ancestry

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/08/13/3-native-american-genealogy-sources-you-may-not-know-about-156357

 

Taino DNA isn't accounted for in "land-based" studies…
http://www.councilforresponsiblegenetics.org/GeneWatch/GeneWatchPage.aspx?pageId=562 

DNA evidence is immperfect
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/article/can-dna-determine-who-is-american-indian%3F-45442
It cannot determine blood quantum or cultural knowledge, among other things.

Books Surrounding the 1492 Events

How to Tell the Difference (analyzing books about Native Americans for bias)

To use when presenting multiple perspectives and doing critical analysis. I DO NOT agree that all of these are respectful or even "good" at telling the story. However, they are all resources in illustrating the variety of views and seeking out truths and realities.

* My personal favorites

Traditional (Pro) Columbus Perspective

Pelta, Kathy. Discovering Christopher Columbus: How History is Invented. Lerner Publications Company. Minneapolis, 1991.

Scott, William. The Log of Christopher Columbus' First Voyage to America in the Year 1492 As Copied Out in Brief by Bartholomew Las Casas, One of His Companions. Linnet Book. Hamden, CT, 1989.

Ventura, Piero. 1492: The Year of the New World. G.P. Putnam's Sons. New York, 1991.

AMAZING CULTURE

Arawak/Taino Perspective and Culture

Alvarez, Julia. The Secret Footprints. Dell Dragonfly Books. New York 2000.

Barreiro, Jose. 2012

Crespo, George. How the Sea Began. Clarion Books. New York, 1993. *

Danticat, Edwige. Anacaona: Golden Flower, Haiti, 1490. Scholastic, Inc. 2005.

Delacre, Lulu. Golden Tales. Scholastic, Inc. New York, 1996.

Dorris, Michael. Morning Girl. Hyperion Books for Children. New York, 1992.

Fontanez, Edwin. On this Beautiful Island. Exit Studio. 2004.

Fontanez, Edwin. TAINO: Guanin's Story. Exit Studio. 1996.

Jacobs, Francine. The Tainos: The People Who Welcomed Columbus. G. P. Putnam's Sons. New York, 1992.

Jaffe, Nina. The Golden Flower: A Taino Myth From Puerto Rico. Simon and Shuster Books for Young Readers. New York, 1996.

Lee, Alfonso. My Island and I/Mi Isla y Yo: The Nature of Puerto Rico. Pangaea. Saint Paul, MN, 2002.

Luby, Brittany. Encounter. 2019.

Muckley, Robert. Stories from Puerto Rico. Passport Books. Chicago, IL, 1999.

Ramirez, Michael. The Legend of the Hummingbird. MONDO Publishing. New York, 1998.

Reid, Basil A. Myths and Realities of Caribbean History. The University of Alabama Press. Tuscaloosa, AL, 2009

Rohmer, Jesus, Rea, and Castillo. Atariba and Niguayona: A Story from the Taino People of Puerto Rico. Children's Book Press. 1987.

Yolen, Jane. Encounter. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. New York, 1992.

DEVASTATED CULTURE and RESISTANCE

Alternative (Con/Against) Columbus Perspective

Chicago Religious Task Force. Dangerous Memories: Invasion and Resistance Since 1492. Chicago Religious Task Force. Chicago, IL, 1991

De Las Cases, Bartolomé. The Devastation of the Indies: A Brief Account. The John Hopkins University Press. Baltimore, MD, 1994. *

Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne. An Indigenous People's History of the United States. Beacon Press. 2015. *

Hawke, Sharryl. Seeds of Change: The Story of Cultural Exchange After 1492. Addison-Wesley. Reading, MA, 1992. *

Konig, Hans. Columbus: His Enterprise: Exploding the Myth. Monthly Review Press. New York, 1991. *

Loewen, James. The Truth About Columbus. New York Press. New York, 1992. *

Mann, Charles C. 1491. Vintage Books. 2006 (but NOT his other book 1493). *

Norman, Alma. The People Who Came, Book 1. Longman Group. United Kingdom, 1986.

Ricci, Michael. Was It Worth It? A Collection of International Cartoons About Columbus and His Trip to America. WittyWorld Publications. North Wales, PA, 1992.

Riley, Sandra. The Lucayans. MacMillan. Hong Kong, 1991.

Small, Deborah. Monthly Review Press. New York 1991.

Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States. Harper Perennial Modern Classics. Originally published in 1980, updated in 2005 http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html and just about the Arawak: http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html

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1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann

From Amazon.com
Timeline for 1493
200,000,000 B.C.: Geological forces begin to break up the world’s single giant continent, Pangaea, forever separating the hemispheres. After this, Eurasia and the Americas develop completely different suites of plants and animals.
1493 A.D.: Columbus sails on second voyage, establishing the first consequential European settlement in the Americas. Without intending to, he ends the long separation of the hemispheres—and sets off the ecological convulsion known as the Columbian Exchange.
1518: In the first environmental calamity of the modern era, accidentally imported African scale insects in Hispaniola lead to an explosion of fire ants. Spaniards flee the ant-infested island in droves; colonists in Santo Domingo hold procession in honor of St. Saturninus, praying for his aid against the insect plague.
1545: Spaniards discover the world’s biggest silver strike in Bolivia. In the next century, the world’s supply of this precious metal will more than double, giving Europe an economic edge that will help it colonize Africa, Asia and the Americas.
1549: Initial appearance of tobacco—the addictive American drug that becomes the first global commodity craze—in China. That same year, Hernán Cortés inaugurates the human part of the Columbian Exchange by signing the first contract to import large numbers of Africans to the American mainland.
1571: Miguel López de Legazpi colonizes Manila and establishes continual trade with China—Columbus’s life-long, never-fulfilled dream. Knitting the entire inhabited planet into a single web of trade, Legazpi’s actions are the beginning of today’s economic globalization.
~1615: Earthworms come to northern North America in English ship ballast. During the next three centuries, they will re-engineer forests from Ohio Valley to Hudson Bay.
1630-60: The gush of American silver finally causes its price to collapse, setting off a the world’s first global economic calamity.
1644: Collapse of Ming dynasty. Long struggle between remaining Ming in south and incoming Qing dynasty in north leads the latter to forcibly evacuate most of the southern coast; millions of dispossessed people pour into the mountains, where they grow maize and sweet potatoes, American crops first smuggled into China from Manila and other European bases.
1775: France’s Flour War, set off by high bread prices, persuades King Louis XVI to allow the pioneering nutritional chemist Antoine-Augustin Parmentier to stage a series of publicity stunts to persuade farmers to grow potatoes, a distrusted foreign species from Peru. Parmentier’s PR is so successful that broad swathes of northern Europe are soon covered with a monoculture of potatoes.
1781: Britain’s “southern strategy” pushes Gen. Cornwallis’s army into North America’s malaria zone, an area dominated by malaria parasites introduced from Europe and Africa. Defeated by malaria, the British army surrenders to a general it never fought: George Washington. This ends the Revolutionary War.
1845: Europe’s potato monoculture, which is unlike anything ever seen in Peru, turns out to be especially vulnerable to another Peruvian import, the potato blight. Ravaging the continent from Russia to Ireland, the blight causes a famine that kills an estimated two million people, half of them in Ireland.
~1867: Léopold Trouvelot, French amateur entomologist, smuggles gypsy moths to Medford, Mass., hoping to breed them with native silk-producing moths to produce a more robust silk-producer. Their almost immediate escape sets off an invasion that continues today. Trouvelot hurriedly returns to France before the dimensions of the problem can be known.
1880-1912: Industrializing nations, desperate for the elastic belts, pliable gaskets and the aborbent tires needed by steam engines and vehicles, buy every scrap of rubber they can get from the Amazon’s rubber trees, the sole source of high-quality latex. The ensuing rubber boom collapses after an Englishman smuggles rubber trees out of Brazil. Soon much of southeast Asia is covered with this foreign tree.
1979: The golden apple snail is sent from Brazil to Taiwan to launch an escargot industry there. It escapes, proliferates, and becomes a major menace to the island’s rice crop.

ANOTHER TIMELINE
Civilizations of North America

The Bering Strait Myth - MOST COMPLETE LIST ON THIS SITE

March 2018 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/03/30/the-oldest-footprints-in-north-america-are-right-where-native-historians-said-they-should-be/?utm_term=.822ab159e0f0

The oldest footprints in North America are right where native historians said they should be 
Archaeological material and genetic studies suggest that people first ventured into the Americas via a land bridge between Asia and Alaska. Further travel would have been blocked by the two massive ice sheets that covered most of Canada until about 10,000 years ago, yet scientists keep finding signs of human presence many thousands of years before that: in Washington, a mastodon rib with a stone point buried in it; in Chile, chipped tools and burned bones; in Oregon, fossilized feces containing ancient human DNA.


Did Native Americans Discover Europe?  

Before Columbus came to America?  There is evidence that supports the idea that Native People circumnavigated the globe, or at least went out far on the ocean in their own "ships."

 

The Bering Strait Theory is also losing credibility.  Native People could have come to the western hemisphere in many ways. First, listen to one of the "great flood" stories told by Native People. Then, read a summary of Red Earth, White Lies by Vine Deloria, Jr. where he offers evidence against this one theory.  

"At the Ceno-Catastrophism convention in Portland a year ago, Deloria said that he had been researching a major project, a compendium of Indian oral traditions and folklore. He said that for many years, he had been out speaking with nearly every chief, shaman, medicine man, storyteller, and keeper of oral traditions of nearly every tribe in North America. He noted the extent to which virtually every one of these tribes retained descriptions of pliestocene megafauna and, more often than not, dinosaurs. If any of that is true, than much of what scientists think they know about the history of our Earth is certainly wrong." Ted Holden, The Emerging Science of Catastropism.

In case you don't know.  The Bering Strait Theory proposes the idea that all Native Americans are descendant from people who crossed a "land bridge" following animal herds during the last ice age, approximately 18,000 years ago.  The video below dramatizes where the land bridge was formed, and how it disappeared again under the water.  The main problem with supporting this theory are:

1. It eliminates all other ways people came here and denies Native People their creation stories.
2. It negates the artifacts and evidence which support earlier settlement and denies the cultural/historical significance of those findings.  Even if you believe the B.S. Theory, it denies that the land bridge opened 40,000 years ago, so people could have traveled at that time up until 12,000 years ago.
3. It supports oppressive political ideology by calling Native People "newcomers" who don't really have that much claim on the lands of the Americas. 

 

What about the human-genome project? DNA? Evolution? Funny, you should ask.  Here are some videos suggesting very different origins.  The top one on the left shows how current research supports the "all humans came out of Africa" theory.  The one on the right shows new DNA research which supports interbreeding with Neanderthals whose DNA is ABSENT from the African gene pool, meaning they originated (and stayed) outside of Africa.  The next videos underneath shows a third human type that lived alongside Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal whose DNA was extracted from bones found in Siberian caves.  The next videos discus what happens when archaeologist "dig deeper than Clovis" and find ice-age European explorers.

 

 

More information and video compilation here. 

DNA Evidence  More here: http://nativeamericanresources.blogspot.com/search?q=dna

The Bering Land Bridge is just one part of the equation. DNA provides more information, but not all of it. Did European mitochondrial DNA emerge in the Native American gene pool because Native People traveled to Europe or because Europeans traveled to the Americas? There are so many points of view.  There is so much controversy.  There is so much we don't know.  One thing we do know is that immediately preceding European contact, there were people in the Americas.  These people developed complex societies, spoke over 200 languages, created roads, domesticated plants, established new technologies for hunting and farming, and used complex medicines and medical techniques (just to name a few things).  

While there are many differences among Nations, there are also commonalities in culture related to the plants, animals, seasons, weather, and other ecological systems that only exist in the "Americas" and therefore influenced the unique culture that developed stories, traditions, foods, and technology in response to this eco-system and its resources, and no other eco-systems in the world.  What is the "take-away" from this?  Research is ongoing and we can't rule out that Native Americans are accurate when we say, "We've always been here."

January 2018 Evidence from ancient ice age baby Beringian.

Linguistic Evidence

http://nativeamericanresources.blogspot.com/2014/03/how-linguists-are-pulling-apart-bering.html

Over the past few weeks, new scientific discoveries have rekindled the debate over the Bering Strait Theory. Two of the discoveries were covered recently in Indian Country Today. The first “More Reasons to Doubt the Bering Strait Migration Theory,” dealt with the growing problem of “science by press release,” as scientific studies hype their conclusions to the point that they are misleading; and the second, “DNA Politics: Anzick Child Casts Doubt on Bering Strait Theory,” discussed how politics can influence science, and the negative effects these politically-based scientific results can have on Native peoples.

Nichols’ paper used six independent linguistic methods for calculating American Indian antiquity and she determined that it would have taken a minimum of 50,000 years for all of the American Indian languages to have evolved from one language, or 35,000 years if migrants had come in multiple waves. She concluded that, “The unmistakable testimony of the linguistic evidence is that the New World has been inhabited nearly as long as Australia or New Guinea.”

Bering Strait Theory Series of Articles

Bering Strait Theory, Pt. 1: How Dogma Trumped Science

https://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/06/13/bering-strait-theory-pt-1-how-dogma-trumped-science-155284

and an excerpted version:  http://nativeamericanresources.blogspot.com/2014/06/how-dogma-trumps-science-part-1.html
Bering Strait Theory, Pt. 2: Racism, Eugenics and When Natives Came to America

https://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/06/20/bering-strait-theory-pt-2-racism-eugenics-and-when-natives-came-america-155406

Bering Strait Theory, Pt. 3: The Theory Becomes a Religious Crusade

https://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/06/27/bering-strait-theory-pt-3-theory-becomes-religious-crusade-155429

Bering Strait Theory, Pt. 4: The Indisputable Facts in the Artifacts

https://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/07/04/bering-strait-theory-pt-4-indisputable-facts-artifacts-155659

Bering Strait Theory, Pt. 5: The Theory Comes Crashing Down

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/07/11/bering-strait-theory-pt-5-theory-comes-crashing-down-155774

Bering Strait Theory, Pt. 6: DNA, Blood Types and Stereotypes Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/07/19/bering-strait-theory-pt-6-dna-blood-types-and-stereotypes-155920

Before the Ice Age
http://nativeamericanresources.blogspot.com/2014/04/before-ice-age-research-on-early.html

Native American Origins May Be West Asian and European
Nearly one-third of Native American genes come from west Eurasian people linked to the Middle East and Europe, rather than entirely from East Asians as previously thought, according to a newly sequenced genome.  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/11/131120-science-native-american-people-migration-siberia-genetics/?sf5616090=1#at_pco=cfd-1.0&at_ab=-&at_pos=5&at_tot=4&at_si=545a6eb8c67bf75f?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_fbge20141105nativeamericans&utm_campaign=Content

Two Studies Find Ties Between Native Americans and Australia: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/07/24/two-studies-find-ties-between-native-americans-and-australia-disagree-everything-else

Flora and Fauna Evidence:
Indeed, if anything, the study findings set the Beringian Standstill theory back. According to a review in Scientific American, “This kind of vegetation would not have supported the large, grazing animals – woolly mammoth, woolly rhino, Pleistocene horses, camels, and bison.” It had previously been presumed that Beringia was covered in grass, and that the large animals were what the Paloeindians had lived on, but the shrub tundra would have only supported small mammals, “perhaps some bighorn sheep,” and possibly elk.

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/03/08/more-reasons-doubt-bering-strait-migration-theory

 

To use when presenting multiple perspectives and doing critical analysis.
* My personal favorites


Articles: 
* The Bering Strait Myth by John Two Hawks
Letter I wrote


East or West Coast Migration?
The find doesn’t change any minds in the debate between the West Coast-Bering Strait experts or the East Coast-Solutrean experts, as they argue over discoveries and evidence. Discoveries along either coast are bound to push back dates, as these were the favored migration routes but they are hard to find and test. These sites encounter many other modern issues like development and rising waters.

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/08/26/22000-year-old-mastodon-and-tool-discovery-raise-questions-156580

 

Popular theory on how humans populated North America can't be right, study shows
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/ice-free-corridor-north-americans-1.3715397
Human archeological sites as old as 14,600 years old have since been found south of the ice sheet, in Oregon, Florida, Texas and even as far south as Chile.Sediment coreSediment cores were drilled at Charlie Lake and Spring Lake during the winter because the frozen lake surface provided the researchers with a solid platform for drilling into the sediment. (Mikkel Winther Pedersen/University of Copenhagen)Meanwhile, no Clovis sites have been found in Alaska or Yukon, although one dating to around 13,000 years ago has been found in Charlie Lake, B.C., raising the possibility that it could have belonged to people who came through the ice-free corridor from the north.

Books about Bering Strait and population of the world.
Dickason, Olive P. Canada's First Nations:  A History of Founding Peoples from Earliest Times, 2nd Ed.  Oxford University Press.  Toronto, 1997
 
Jones, Mary Ellen.  Seeds of Change:  Readings on Cultural Exchange After 1492. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. Reading, MA1993.

* Mann, Charles C.  Before Columbus:  The Americas of 1491.  Antheneum Books.  New York, 2009. 

Waldman, Carl.  Atlas of The North American Indian.  Checkmark Books.  New York , 2009.

In the News - Issues Involving Arawak & Columbus…

Issues involving other Native People…

Why AIM Opposes Columbus Day - Care2 News Network
By Kat Yazzie
When Taino Indians saved Christopher Columbus from certain death on the fateful morning of Oct. 12, 1492, a glorious opportunity presented itself. The cultures Europe and the Americas could have merged, and the beauty of both races ...

Refusal to Pledge Allegiance Lands Lawyer in Jail
To some it could evoke a certain vision of American promise: a classroom full of towheaded youngsters standing beside their arched desks, left hands over their precious hearts and right ones raised in open-palmed salute, reciting in unison the vow popularized by a Baptist minister in a 19th-century edition of "The Youth's Companion."

Possible Pyramid in Puerto Plata
A local Dominican newspaper reported the discovery of a possible ancient pyramid. The so-called pyramid is in the form of a large pile of stones that was found by the property owner who is deciding to remain anonymous at this time. The owner also claims to have alerted local authorities who he feels are ignoring an important archeological find. Another community member, Vanessa Inarunikia said that “As Taino, we know exchanges took place with Mesoamerica but [if this claim is true] this would confirm our oral tradition as fact for the academics and others who usually tend doubt everything unless they say it was so.”

Reactions from the Taino community have been mixed as there is caution over the report which could turn out to be a hoax.

Taino community member Miguel “Sobaoko Koromo” Sague states “I am skeptical concerning the possibility that our ancestors were so influenced by Maya and other Mesoamerican cultures that they would have begun to build pyramids". Sague continued stating that in spite of the doubts “it is a little exciting to allow myself to imagine that maybe... this man is really saying the truth.”

Ghost of Taino by Mike Toner Mystery and controversy haunt a pre-Columbian ceremonial site in Puerto Rico. These images of Taíno gods, carved at least 500 years ago, have caused the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to radically alter dam construction plans on Puerto Rico's Portugues River. (Courtesy David Diener)  Archaeologist Chris Espenshade's instructions were clear: excavate a marginally interesting settlement (designated only as PO 29) along Puerto Rico's Portugues River that had once been occupied by the Taíno people, recover artifacts, record useful data, and get out. The bulldozers were waiting. After more than 20 years of budget delays, escalating costs, and engineering challenges, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was finally ready to build the last phase of a $580-million flood-control project that would protect Ponce, the island's fifth-largest city, from the devastating floods that sweep down the valley after heavy rains. Indigenous People of Suriname await land rights.

Legal rights and recognition for the diverse indigenous peoples of Suriname have lagged behind those in other South American countries. Despite pressure from the UN and binding judgments by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Suriname has yet to recognize indigenous and tribal land rights, a situation that has disconnected local communities from decisions regarding the land they have inhabited for centuries and in some cases millennia. A new report, Securing Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in Conservation in Suriname: A Review outlines how this lack of rights has alienated indigenous communities from conservation efforts in Suriname. Instead of having an active say in the creation of conservation reserves, as well as their management, decisions on indigenous lands have traditionally been imposed from the 'top-down' either by government officials or NGOs.

U.S. Embassy returns Taino artifacts seized by agents
NEW YORK.- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) agents in Florida, Puerto Rico and Memphis confiscated 66 pre-Columbian Taino artifacts, many dating back 2,000 years, arrested the smugglers, and returned to Dominican Republic authorities. NEW YORK.- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) agents in Florida, Puerto Rico and Memphis confiscated 66 pre-Columbian Taino artifacts, many dating back 2,000 years, arrested the smugglers, and returned to Dominican Republic authorities.

Taino Burial
Interesting forum on artifacts and burial among the Taino.

Fountain of Youth

Summarized from a few sources:
“The native stories about the curative spring were related to the mythical land of Bimini or Beniny (hence Bimini), a land of wealth and prosperity. The spring was purportedly located on an island called Boinca. Although subsequent interpretations suggested the land was located in the vicinity of the Bahamas, the natives were referring to a location in the Gulf of Honduras. The islands of Bimini in the Bahamas were known as La Vieja during the Ponce expedition. According to legend, the Spanish heard of Bimini from the Arawaks in Hispaniola, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. Sequene, an Arawak chief from Cuba, had purportedly been unable to resist the lure of Bimini and its restorative fountain. He gathered a troupe of adventurers and sailed north, never to return. Word spread among Sequene’s more optimistic tribesmen that he and his followers had located the Fountain of Youth and were living in luxury in Bimini. Bimini and its curative waters were widespread subjects in the Caribbean.”

More information here.

Myths and Misconceptions in downloadable pdf here.