Puerto Rico’s history is not studied thoroughly in the states, and many important events are not widely known by Americans in general. Ask friends about the Taino Rebellion of 1511 and you are likely to meet blank stares. It’s worth knowing about, though.
The Taino
The Taino people were the first recorded inhabitants of what is now Puerto Rico. Columbus met them when he arrived in 1493, and wrote back to the Spanish rulers who were sponsoring him, “I discovered many islands inhabited by numerous people. I took possession of all of them for our most fortunate King by making public proclamation and unfurling his standard, no one making any resistance.” Columbus wrote of the people he met there, “They are destitute of arms, which are entirely unknown to them, and for which they are not adapted; not on account of any bodily deformity, for they are well made, but because they are timid and full of terror.”
Columbus and the Spaniards who followed him quickly decided that the indigenous people would be easily overcome and enslaved. This was their goal, and it was accomplished with brutality as well as the use of weapons technology unavailable to the Tainos. But the idea that the Tainos were timid and cowardly took hold. Their peaceful culture was misinterpreted as meek and helpless. They were often described by the Spanish as “natural servants.”
The rebellion
In fact, faced with violence from the Spanish, the Taino soon responded with violence. Their technological disadvantage allowed the Europeans to overcome and enslave the Taino, but there were instances of resistance from the beginning. The Taino were, along with being forced to work in gold mines and on plantations, also forced to convert to Catholicism. Tradition says that they were impressed by the story of the resurrection of Jesus and thought the Spaniards were claiming that they could return to life after three days if they were killed.
In 1511, the leader of the Taino, Agüeybaná, died of natural causes and his nephew came to power. He wanted to free his followers from the Spanish, but the belief that they could not be permanently killed cause hesitation. As a first step, a group of Taino men killed Diego Salcedo, a soldier with the conquistadors. They ambushed him near a river, according to oral tradition, to use him as a test case. After drowning Salcedo, they waited for three days. Once they were certain that the Spaniards could be killed, the Taino chieftan Agüeybaná II called upon other chiefs to lead their men in an uprising against the colonizers. They banded together and attacked the village of Sotomayor, killing the Spanish leader there as well as most of the other inhabitants.
Juan Ponce de León retaliated with attacks on Taino villages, and the war between the two groups culminated in the Battle of Yaguecas. At this battle, Agüeybaná II was killed, and the remaining chiefs retreated. In 1513, the last battle took place with an attack on Caparra by the Tainos. The conquistadors won the final battle and the war ended. No further attacks from either side have been recorded.
The result
Soon after the rebellion ended, an epidemic of smallpox further reduced the number of Taino people living in Puerto Rico. Having lost many of their enslaved laborers, the Spanish imported Africans to work the mines and plantations. It was often claimed that the Taino had “disappeared.” Among modern Puerto Ricans, though, there is genetic evidence of the Taino and of the African immigrants.
The Taino Rebellion of 1511 is not a story with a happy ending, but it is an important part of Puerto Rico’s history, and information that corrects the idea that the Taino meekly accepted slavery under the Spanish colonizers. It is also an important part of U.S. history, one that should not be overlooked as we think more about our beginnings in this 250th anniversary year of the Declaration of Independence.
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