Influence of the Spanish on Puerto Rican Society :: Puerto Rico History Historical Essays

figure out of the Spanish on Puerto Rican SocietyIn the histories of Colonial Latin the States there is one common aspect and that is the importation of slaves as a labor force. The takingsing consequences for the territory are vital if we are to understand the teaching of the society. In Puerto Rico these consequences deal mainly with African influence on the peasantry, the corrective measures taken thereafter to negate the African influence, and the results of these corrective measures.The Tainos, the natives of Puerto Rico, were huge agriculturalists as well as a highly organized people. They actual techniques, such as irrigation, which was new to agriculture and at the same date increased the productivity of their crops, like the yuca their main staple. Another unique frisk to the Taino society was the relationship between man and woman. The Tainos gender roles were markedly different from those of the European nations. For example the matrilineal arrangements allowed both men and women to exit the chiefs of their respective villages. Spanish settlers were critical, upon arrival, of the Taino lifestyle. Unfortunately Taino influence is rarely felt receivable to their rapid demise.Although the natives of Borikn were Taino, it is argued that the first Puerto Ricans were black Puerto Ricans. Spanish occupation just about eliminated Native influences by the manner of the decimation of the people as a result of disease brought across the atlantic by the Spanish settlers. In this way the Taino were minimally influential in forming a new cultural identity. The posterity of the first African slaves had already become black Puerto Ricans(Gonzlez 10) when Spaniards from the canary islands arrived to transpose those who had left in search of riches in Peru and Mexico. For this reason it is executable to accept the notion that the Puerto Ricans were in fact black Puerto Ricans. (Gonzlez 10) The African posture was more of a factor in the formation proces s of the Puerto Rican identity. Of the colossal numbers of slaves who survived the voyage there were those who were fortunate enough to escape into the hinterland. here(predicate) they found refuge from the hardship of plantation labor along with the probability to join the peasantry that also searched for refuge. The jbaros used the broken topography of the interior as an ally in its struggle with the expanding sugar plantations (Scarano 6) This intermixing of the two cultures forged several(prenominal) similarities.