First of all the native's in Quisqueya, present day Dominican Republic and Haiti where not one people, or a single cultural group. There was a complex set of people who had arrived in different waves from South-America, Central-america and likely even St. Augustine Florida. Per Anthropology the island has been inhabited for the last 10,000 years.
One of the biggest misconceptions is that the Taino died off in the 1500s, there are old books that quote things like "By 1548, the Taíno population had declined to fewer than 500" - Wikipedia . This is in fact false, there where pockets of native's throughout the island until relatively recent times.
Historical
In Boya, Monteplata around 1656 it was reported that this was an 'Indian' town with about 6 houses, and it states the reason for the few # of total people is that most of these natives had gone to neighboring towns for employment.
[villa que es de indios descendientes de los de esa isla; tendrá como seis casas de ellos, aunque es más sano, puesto que el de Monte de Plata. La causa de haber tan pocos es que se van a otras partes a buscarsu vida] - Domingo Fernandez Navarrete "Relacion de las ciudades y villas de Santo Domingo".
In the same town of Boya in 1712 you have mentions of 14 houses, 43 people mostly indians with a few mestizos.
[Boyá tenía 14 casas, 43 personas de confesión, indios e indias, y algunos mestizos]
In the same town in 1740 you have 65 indians and 11 unspecified slaves.
[Boya, por su parte, contaba con "65 personas indios y tiene once esclavos"]
Much of the Santana's in the Dominican Republic descend from Pedro Santana's father also called Pedro Santana. Turns out that Pedro Santana SR was a Mexican Native-American. So alot of people in D.R with the surname Santana have direct paternal-native ancestry. - El Caracter de Pedro Santana by Ramon Lugo Luvaton, Page 1. This is a clear case of a non-"taino" native in the D.R. These cases where not rare as there is evidence of native's from Mississippi, Brazil, Mexico and Curacao being taken to Quisqueya. Some of the Indians in Boya, Monteplata came from Mexico as well. These native's from other colonies would have reinforced and joined existing native-communities or just mixed with the general population. In fact Pedro Santana JR likely from himself having recent native ancestry gave a retirement pension to a few families in Boya who where proven descendants of natives. Here is the example of Ramona Gonzales whose grandmother was part of this government pension.
Keep in mind the limitations of the historical evidence are to travelers who often visited cities in a time when more then 90% of the population was rural, and by virtue of being travelers did not spend a lot of time venturing into inaccessible and remote areas.
Legal
In the 1768 ordenances written to regulate the behavior of the islands citizens a section says:
- "No neighbor (white man) can buy or sell anything from slaves, be them Indian or black without the consent of their master"
- "How many sailors have the habit of giving tasks to Indians and blacks, and after many days of servitude persuade them to leave their masters, It is proposed that for any of these sailors who uses the service of these slaves for a whole day or night outside the house of their masters that they (The sailor) be whipped 100 lashes given that they are of low class, if the person is a ship captain (high class) they'd just be fined 20 pesos of gold.
Genealogical Evidence based on surnames
Pedro Indio - Born in 1887 in Higuey
Juana India - Passes away in Santo Domingo in 1756 married to Andre Indio
Jose de Indio: - Passes Away in San Francisco de Macoris in 1825 at 70 Years old, Born: 1755
Francisco Manuel: Baptised in 1771 in Santo Domingo, son of Pedro Manuel Ortiz, Freed Moreno and native of Guinea(Africa), and Luisa de Ortiz, Indian, native of the town of Boya(Monteplata).
The "indio" "india" surnames where given by slave masters or colonizers much like "Congo" "Mina" "Carabali". Just as these did not survive into modern times neither did the "indio" "india" surnames as they would have been shameful to carry and after a generation or two their descendants would rebaptize with a Iberian-Christian surname.
Oral history and Religion
You also have the oral stories of many peoples across both sides of the island having recent native ancestors, my own great-grandmother for example would tell us how her mother Nicumela Pichardo from a place called Los Indios between Santiago Rodriguez and Dajabon, she would say that side of her line was gente india "Indian People" which is not the same as "color indio". You have similar stories from folks in Jaibon, Janico, San Juan de la maguana, Azua, Higuey, Cotui, Monteplata, etc. In all or most of these cases its not just remote stories of the past, but these families including my own tend to practice Dominican Vodoun (21 division) leaning strongly towards the Indian division of Vodoun, curing using spiritual assistance from ancestors, rocks, and even water.
In present day Haiti we have the survival of Zemi's being used in some families of Vodoun as well as other Taino elements. Native's where instrumental in the creation of Rara (known as gaga in Dominican republic) as well as integral parts of Bizango societies. In fact Anacaona's kingdom is most of present day south and central Haiti.
An example here and here, my grandmother speaking of Los Indios here
DNA Admixture
There are numerous countrywide or Dominican-specific DNA studies that quote the average native of Dominicans between 4-7%. Here are the examples of Dominicans well above the average.
Woman from Azua: 24% Native About 3x the Average
Man from Laguna Salada: 23% Native About 3x the Average
My Grandmother from Los Indios: 12% Native, about 2x the Average
Man from Janico: Coming in @ ~15% Native, also 2x the average
I will be posting example of Haitians with higher then average native results in the next revision of this post.
As these high native results are coming from all over the island they point to an island wide survival where it seems all Dominicans have some native ancestry from as recent as the late 1600s. While at the same time there are strong pockets of Native survival throughout the island in some rural areas such as Jaibon, Azua, San Juan de la maguana, Higuey, Cotui, Janico, Boya, etc. Generally speaking these families with higher then average native scores tend to have not just the DNA but oral stories and family traditions that point to this.
Direct Paternal and Maternal Lines:
Maternal: Most studies place the figure between 15-18% of Dominicans have a direct maternal ancestor that is Native-american.
Paternal: This one really shows sex-biased effects of the conquest where very few direct paternal ancestors are native, I have seen only 4 cases with some of my dna-relatives. Surnames Matias (jarabacoa), Santana (Puertoplata), Santana (Montecristi), Santana (Puertoplata).
Santana Ydna of Puertoplata and Montecristi: Q-M3*
Matias Ydna Jarabacoa: Q-M194 (has only been found in south-american populations)
I am from Jamaica where there seems to have been little or no island-wide DNA tests done except by some individuals like myself. I have been deemed "Tri-racial" with mostly European, next Sub-Saharan, and the third indigenous. There is a prominent sports announcer of Jamaican ancestry in Wales, who on the BBC program "Who Do You Think You Are", tested 6% Taíno. His facial features, like many Jamaicans exhibit typical Amerindian bone structure. However, this observation among the island's population could also be Chinese or African.
ReplyDeleteThere are certainly native renmants all over the carribean, without a doubt. Jamaica's maroons probably have a good amount because thei've been there the longest. We should try to not rely on features though. Anthropology/Facial features are not a good indicator of amerindian ancestry in afro admixed individuals because if you ever see some Senegalese, Nigerian ,Ghaniaan, Kohisan people of south-africa, you will find tons of folks who look "pseudo-native american". In fact there is the case of Cape verdeans and if you want you can look up pics of them and find some who can pass even in south-america! But.. no. there is zero native ancestry in CV.
DeleteGenetics is really the only sure way, and of course also family stories, alot of times our elders tell us things we take for granted or deem as maybe not true.
Thanks for such fascinating explanation of the complex origin of us, Caribbean island people.
ReplyDeleteI am Dominican but it is said my grandfather family migrated from Spain. Not sure on my mother's side. Would be interesting to know Taino % in my DNA, if any.
Regards,
Rodrigo