Hemispheric Journal: Boriken Trails

http://blog.nmai.si.edu/main/2013/03/hemispheric-journal-boriken-trails.html

Blog by Jose Barreiro (Taíno) is head of the Office of Latin America within the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

Dr. Osvaldo Garcia-Goyco

Las Colecciones Arqueológicas Caribeñas del Smithsonian 

El Proyecto Smithsonian de Legado Indígena del Caribe

The Smithsonian’s Caribbean Indigenous Legacies Project explores the culture, history and legacy of the Native peoples of the Caribbean.

Dr. JUAN MARTINEZ CRUZADO, Geneticist

"Our study showed there was assimilation, but the people were not extinguished. Their political and social structure was but the genes were not.”

WATCH VIDEO BELOW

 

 

 

 

 

“An 80-90% loss is a significant and horrifying loss. It is so horrifying that it obscures the fact that 10 to 20% of the Taínos survived.” 

Dr. Lynne Guitar, Independent Scholar
“Reclaiming Indigenous Heritage in the Dominican Republic”

Proyecto Smithsonian de Legado Indígena del Caribe

Beyond Extinction: Caribbean Indigeneity

(WATCH VIDEO BELOW)

 

 

 

 

 

 

(SEE VIDEO BELOW)

"It is an appropriate time to spotlight the need for research about ourselves as Caribbean people." - Dr. Joseph Palacio shares insights about the Garifuna, the Taino and the myth of extinction as part of the Caribbean Indigenous Legacies Project-Proyecto Legado Indígena en el Caribe being conducted by the Smithsonian Latino Center,  National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution.

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8IzmX4SpOU

Aug. 10, 2010 Thank you to my supporters & to all who were able to attend the film screening it was a great success!! UN Headquarters Celebrates Indigenous Filmmaking. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (fourth from right) and Sha Zukang (fourth from left), Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, pose for a group photo with participants of UN Headquarters' event to celebrate indigenous filmmaking, in honour of the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. Pictured from left: Roberto Múkaro Agueibana Borrero, Kevin Tarrent, Andrew Okpeaha MacLean, Reaghan Tarbell, Alex Zacarias, and Per-Josef Idivuoma.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35572&Cr=INDIGENOUS&Cr1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwIciuusT94&feature=player_embedded

JAYUYA 2010 - The Borikén 2010 Peace and Dignity Run began on the 17th of July with the sounding of many guamo (conch shell horns) at sunrise in the Yunke Rainforest.

From UCTP Taino News : The Borikén 2010 Peace and Dignity Run began on the 17th of July with the sounding of many guamo (conch shell horns) at sunrise in the Yunke Rainforest. A spiritual event, the run is being undertaken to raise awareness about the condition of indigenous scared sites on the island as well as connect native Taino islanders with their mainland relations. At the special opening ceremony, runners received the blessing of elders and other community members as they began an historic journey that would take them to sacred sites all around the island.
The runners -- who are representing community members residing on and off the island - have the responsibility to carry a number of sacred staffs representing the "prayers of the people".

Gabriel Saspe, a representative for "Peace and Dignity Journeys", traveled from Arizona to Borikén to connect the continental run with the islands. Peace And Dignity Journeys has been hosting spiritual runs since 1992. Saspe will receive a sacred Guaraguao (hawk) staff from the Taino community which will be added to the Peace and Dignity Journey's bundle of staffs from throughout the hemisphere. The Guaraguao staff was prepared by the Consejo General de Tainos Borincanos.

Desde CUPT Noticias Tainas: La Carrera por la Paz y Dignidad de Borikén 2010, comenzó al amanecer del día 17 de julio con el sonar de varios guamo / botutu/ fotutu (trompetas de conchas de caracol), en el Bosque Nacional del Caribe, El Yunke.

Considerado un evento espiritual, esta carrera se ha realizado con el propósito de crear concientización sobre las condiciones de lugares sagrados indígenas en la isla, y a la vez establecer lazos de unidad entre los Taínos nativos de la isla con aquellos hermanos fuera de ésta y con el movimiento de Naciones Indígenas en el continente en general.

Alex Zacarías, director de la película - Producción: Rocío

Una película sobre la extinción del pueblo Taíno, oriundo del Caribe, explora el tema de la autodeterminación de la identidad indígena y las raíces de la población en Puerto Rico.

Pero además reflexiona sobre la negación de los orígenes indígenas, un problema actual inspirado en el racismo y la exclusión de esos pueblos.

radio entrevista click - http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/spanish/detail/160471.html

The summer of 2009 while filming at the Taino Festival in Jayuya, P.R. I had the opportunity to listen in on a lecture (in Spanish) that was given by Dr. Juan Martinez Cruzado, a geneticist from the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez who designed an island-wide DNA survey. According to the study funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, 61 percent of all Puerto Ricans have Amerindian mitochondrial DNA, 27 percent have African and 12 percent Caucasian. (Nuclear DNA, or the genetic material present in a gene's nucleus, is inherited in equal parts from one's father and mother. Mitochondrial DNA is inherited only from one's mother and does not change or blend with other materials over time.) His conclusion is that the majority of Puerto Ricans have Native blood.

Go to the videos section and watch excerpts 1 through 5 of his lecture.

Dé una conferencia por Dr. Juan Martinez Cruzado un genetista de Puerto Rico explica que la población boricua tiene sangre indígena.

Vaya a la sección de los vídeos y mire los extractos 1 a 5 de su conferencia.





Professor Gabriel Haslip-Viera shares his academic insights on indigenous genetic identity as it applies to what he terms as the "Neo-Tainos".

The Emmy Award winning team - Producer/Director Alex Zacarias and videographer Ray Ibsen first took to New York and then to Puerto Rico to begin work on The Lost Taino Tribe documentary. Included here are photographs and video clips of the making of the documentary trailer.

First a huge thanks to all for the support and friendships made in both these magical places. Our first impression is that the Taino story is beyond the facts and truths (which is very important) but it is also the unrelenting passion for self identity. We met many folks on both sides of the issue. Each person - each group - shared similiar and different ideas, thoughts and beliefs - added together makes for a powerful story.

We were able to get enough film footage and information to continue to pursue the funding needed for the making of this important contemporary documentary. The truth is much larger than any one person or place. We will be back to New York, Puerto Rico and to all the Caribbean Diaspora.

Primero gracias a todos por la ayuda y las amistades hechas en esta ciudad maravillosa ques es Nuevo York y en La Isla del Encanto - Puerto Rico. Nuestra primera impresión es que la historia del Taino está más allá de los hechos y de las verdades (que es muy importante) pero es también la pasión implacable para la identidad del uno mismo. Encontramos a mucha gente en ambos lados de la edición. Cada persona - cada grupo – tienen ideas y pensamientos similares y tambien diversos - juntos hace para una historia de gran alcance.

The map above is an incomplete list of known Taínos, some of which were Caciques (Male tribal chiefs) or Cacicas (Female tribal chiefs) and the locations are not specific but general areas. Taíno society was divided into two classes: naborias (commoners) and nitaínos (nobles). Both were governed by chiefs known as Caciques (male) or Cacicas/Caciquesa (female), who was the maximum authority in a Yucayeque (village). The chiefs were advised by priests/healers known as bohiques.

El mapa demuestra una lista incompleta de Taínos conocidos, algunos cuyo eran los caciques (jefes de la tribu de sexo masculino) o Cacicas (jefes de la tribu de sexo femenino) y las localizaciones son áreas no específicas sino generales.

Below Incomplete List of Caciques de Borikén/Puerto Rico
Lista de Caciques de Borikén

Agüeybaná: Puerto Rico's head cacique who was chief over all the other caciques of Boriken at the time of discovery. His yucayeque or village was on the Guayanilloa Bay area.
Abey: yucayeque in Salinas
Alonso: minor cacique in Otoao (Utuado).
Aramaná: yucayeque around the río Coa (Toa)
Arasibo: yucayeque in the area of río Abacoa (río Grande de Arecibo)
Aymamón: yucayeque on the río Culebrinas/Western Puerto Rico
Cacimar: of Caribe ancentry, his yucayeque was in Vieques.
Caguax: yucayeque by the río Turabo
Canóbana: yucayeque by the río Cayniabón (río Grande de Loíza)
Cagüana: minor cacique in Utuado area
Cayey: yucayeque in Cayey
Dagüao: yucayeque at río Santiago (Naguabo)
Doña María: daughter of cacique Bagnamanay , her Taíno name is unkown
Güamaní: yucayeque possibly around Guayama o Manatí
Güarionex: One of the more important caciques, his yucayeque was in Utuado.
Güaybaná: Fought the Spaniards with Güarionex
Güaraca: yucayeque in Güayaney
Jayuya: yucayeque near present day Jayuya.
Jumacao: cacique for the village of Macao. The area is nowadays the town of Humacao, named after the cacique.
Orocobix of the Yucayeque in Jatibonicu
Mayagoex from the Mayagüez area.

TAINO NAMES OF ISLANDS 

The maps of the time of the discovery and subsequent ones, were not very precise due to the rudimentary cartography in those times. Some of the islands, specially those of the archipelago of the Bahamas, were known by different names, which tends to confuse. Still, there is diversity of opinions with regard to these and to their geographic positions between the cronologists and writers of the conquest. 

Abacoa. Island of Andros, the largest of the Bahamas.

Abaco. The island of Gran Abaco, one of the greater ones of the Bahamas.

Abaque. Island next to Cape Shark in Española.

Abeyanay. Island named for its coffin shape, to the south of Ponce.

Amona. The island of La Mona, populated by the Taínos at the time of the discovery.

Ay, Ay. The island Santa Cruz, Southeast of Puerto Rico. From here, the Caribs sent their expeditions and attacks against Vieques and Puerto Rico.

Babeque. Great island of Inagua, located north between Cuba and Española.

Bahamá. Island to the north of the archipelago of the same name. Nowadays the name is written without accent in the last vowel.

Baneque. Name of an island (Boriken), mentioned in the diary of Columbus of 1492, who the lucayos mentioned as being located east-southeast of its archipelago and where gold abounded.

Bieke. The Island Municipality of Vieques, Southeast of Puerto Rico, also well-known as Small land. Bi means small and ke is earth, land: the small Earth. Several Carib caciques, who attacked Puerto Rico frequently settled here.

Biminí. Small island near Miami in Florida, also well-known as Baminí. It was discovered and explored by the expedition directed by Ponce de Leon in 1513. The fountain of youth, mentioned in an indigenous fable; was not found in Biminí.

Bohio. The oldest written reference on the Caribs is in the diary of the first trip of Christopher Columbus. Here, the words caniba and Carib were registered and directions given to him by some
Indians in the sense that to the East of the Caribbean Sea was an island inhabited by ferocious cannibals, well-known as Bohio.

Borriken, Borrigal. Breton mentions this island in his dictionary of 1665- 1666 as the name given to Puerto Rico by the Arawak women of the Caribbean.

Boyuca. Another possible indigenous name for the island of Biminí.

Camito. Island from 3 to 4 leagues of length located North of Española, between Guaonabo and Cabo Rojo.

Caobana. Indigenous name of Cuba, composed by the root word Coa - place and bana - big, large, or great.

Cayman. Various small islands South of Cuba.

Cayri. The island of Dominica, important caribbean bastion.

Cicheo. Oviedo mentions this name as the name of the island of Desecheo.

Cuba. The largest island of all in the Antilles. The name Cuaba and Cuba were derived from the name Caobana.

Cubagua. Small island south of the island Margarita, in Venezuela.

Curateo. The island of Guana.

Exuma. Island of the Bahamas and name of a reef north of it.

Guanabo. Island east of Haití, probably the island of Gonave.

Guanaja. Island of Pinos, south of the occidental part of Cuba.

Guanahaní. Name of the island which was the first place where Christopher Columbus arrived on in his first voyage to the new world in 1492. He named it San Salvador and it is acutally known as Cat Island of the Bahamas and not Watling Island.

Guanay. Island North of Española, the first to be discovered by Columbus in the Antilles.

Guanimá. The island Eleuthera in the archipelago of the Bahamas.

Haití, Aytí. Indigenous name of Española. Means rough earth.

Iabaquen. The island of New Providence, where Nassau is located, the capital of the Bahamas.

Inagua. The large island of Inagua, also known as Babeque.

Jamayca. Large island South of Cuba. The name means: place with water.

Kiskeya, Quisqueya. Ancient name for Española, also known as Aytí. Also, the oriental region of the island. Means: high land, large.

Lucaioneque. In Door Roggeveen's map, it is the island of Abaco or Lucaya.

Lucayas. The islands known today as the Bahamas. Lucayas is a corruption of Yucayas.

Maguelles. Small island in the zone of La Parguera, Puerto Rico.

Manegua. Possible name of the island Watling and also of Cayo Ron.

Matininá. The island of Martinica.

Mayaguana. Small island of the Bahamas, situated between the island of Acklin and those of Caicos. In some maps, named as Mariguana.

Mayaguón. Name of the island of the Lucayas.

Ocamanirí. The round island.

Ojuna. Another name for Rum Cay.

Oribá. The island Oruba.

Oubao Moin. Means: Island of Blood; and it was how the caribs called Puerto Rico.

Saba. Small island of Barlovento, south of St. Martin.

Sabana. Name of the archipelago North of Sagua Grande in Cuba.

Samaná. Cay Atwood, Northeast of Crooked Island in the Bahamas.

Saometo. Another name for Crooked Island. According to Navarrete it is Inagua Grande. Columbus called it Isabela.

Saona. Small island South of the orient of the Dominican Republic.

Sibukeira. The island of Guadalupe, principal dwelling of the caribs in the Lesser Antilles.

Sikeo. Mountenous island East of Rincón, Puerto Rico, known as Desecheo. Si for ti; high; ke for earth; o for mountain.

Siguatío. The large island of Abaco.

Toeya. Catalina Island, South of Española.

Yabaque. The island Acklin in the Bahamas, South of Watling Island.

Yaguna. Another name for the island Mayaguana.

Yucayas. Original indigenous name for the Lucayas, actually known as The Bahamas.

Yucayú. The small island of Abaco.

Yuma. Crooked Island.

Yumeta. Name of Long Island, named Fernandina by Columbus.