CHRONOLOGY OF THE TAINO INDIANS

The chronology outlined herein addresses the time and place of insurrection provoked by the
Spaniards by the abuses of working the Indian population from dawn to dusk. The Tainos were a
very patient and hospitable people. In fact, when the Spaniards arrived they lead them to the
gold mines and gave the gold away to the Spaniards because they did not know any better.
Moreover, the Spaniard settlers arrived without women and started taking the women from the
local population as concubines. The Indians were very annoyed by this action. The
extermination of the Indians was attributed to malnutrition and the European diseases that the
Indians were not immune to. For example, in 1511, an Indian insurrection occurred and
Governor Ponce de Leon ordered 6,000 Indians shot on the spot in the town square. Every time
the Indians revolted, the Spaniards retaliated by ordering a mass execution. In summary a
population of 60,000 was reduced to 4,000 in seven years.

200-500 BC: A distinct migration began when pottery-makers traveled down the Orinoco River
in present Venezuela and out to the Caribbean islands, populating islands from Trinidad to
Puerto Rico between 500 BC and 200 BC.

AD 200: The earliest Virgin Islands Ceramic Age dates known so far are close to AD 200.

AD 600-1200: From approximately AD 600 to 1200, archaeological cultures of the Virgin

AD 693: The Taínos, approximately 800 years before the discovery of Puerto Rico, had
constructed the "bateyes" or Ceremonial Parks. Here they used to celebrate their "Areytos" or
traditional festivities, their sports and other important events.

1393: About 100 years before the Spanish invasion, the Taínos were challenged by an invading
South American tribe, the Caribs. Fierce, warlike, sadistic, and adept at using poison-tipped
arrows, they raided the Taíno settlements for slaves (especially females) and bodies for the
completion of their rites of cannibalism.

1492: The Arawaks were met by Columbus in 1492, in the Bahamas, and later on in Haiti, Cuba,
Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. In a century and possibly for several centuries previously, the Indians
of Arawak stock occupied the Greater Antilles. The Taíno culture was the most highly
developed in the Caribbean when Columbus reached Hispaniola in 1492.

1493: On November 19, Christopher Columbus discovered the island in his second voyage to
the New World. He found the island populated by as many as 50,000 Taíno or Arawak Indians.
The Taíno Indians who greeted Columbus made a big mistake when they showed him gold
nuggets in the river and told him to take all he wanted. Originally the newcomers called the
island "San Juan Bautista," for St. John the Baptist and the town Puerto Rico because of its
obvious excellent potentialities. It was not until later that the two names were switched. Thanks
in part to the enthusiasm of ambitious Juan Ponce de León, a lieutenant to Columbus, the city of
Puerto Rico ("rich port") quickly became Spain's most important military outpost in the
Caribbean. The natives who fought against Columbus's crew in 1493 at the island commonly
identified as St. Croix are usually interpreted as Island Caribs (although there is not universal
agreement on any point related to the issue). The "Letters of Columbus" contain the earliest
information about the American Indians, and those described in his first letter, 22 February,
1493, were Arawaks.

1500’s: Taíno Indians inhabited the territory called the island Boriken or Borinquen that means
"the great land of the valiant and noble Lord" or "land of the great lords." Today this word (used
in various modifications) is still popularly used to designate the people and island of Puerto Rico.
The Taíno Indians, who came from South America, inhabited the major portion of the island
when the Spaniards arrived. The Taino Indians, lived in small villages, organized in clans and
were led by a Cacique, or chief. They were a peaceful people who, with a limited knowledge of
agriculture, lived on such domesticated tropical crops as pineapples, cassava, and sweet potatoes
supplemented by seafood.

In the 1500's the Jatibonicu tribal homeland consisted of three villages known as Yucayeques
(villages). These villages are known today as the local municipalities of Orocovis, Morovis,
Barranquitas and Aibonito.

1508: The report of Frey Roman Pane antedates 1508, and it is the first purely ethnographic
treatise on American Indians. The Spanish settlers arrived in Puerto Rico. The Indian population
was estimated between 20,000 and 50,000, but maltreatment, disease, flight, and unsuccessful
rebellion had diminished their number to 4,000 by 1515.

1510: Differences between the Spaniards and the Taíno Indians began. The Cacique Urayoán
ordered his warriors to drown Diego Salcedo to determine whether or not the Spaniards were
immortal, as they believed that Spanish colonizers had divine powers. It is told that after they
drowned Diego, they watched him for several days until they were sure that he was dead.

1511: The Taíno Indians' after learning through the drowning of Diego Salcedo, that the Spanish
were mortal, revolted against the Spaniards with no success. Ponce de León ordered 6,000 shot;
survivors fled to the mountains or left the island.

Fray Antonio de Montesinos had the honor of being the first to lift up his voice against the
servitude of the natives. As early as 1511 he preached to the colonists of Hispañola (La
Española) who surely believed they were not sinning when they arrived in strange lands and
forced the natives to serve them under the law of conquest.

The Taínos rebelled most notably in 1511, when several caciques (Indian leaders) conspired to
oust the Spaniards. Their traditional enemies, the Caribs, joined them in this uprising. Their
weapons, however, were no match against Spanish horses and firearms and the revolt ended
brutally by the Spanish forces of Governor Juan Ponce de León.

1512: The "encomienda" system was judged to be essentially just, although they supplemented
it with an ordinance code issued in Burgos on September 7, 1512.
1513: The aborigines not included in this decree remained allotted, but even these had a toehold
to complete liberty by way of the Complementary Declaration of July 28, 1513, that established
that those natives who were clothed, Christians, and were capable, could live their own lives. Of
course they had to remain subject to the same obligations sustained by the other vassals.

1514: The Spanish Crown granted permission to Spaniards to marry native Taíno Indians.
Hernando de Peralta received permission to obtain two white slaves, possibly Arab or Arab
descent. Caribe Indians attacked settlements along the banks of the Daguao and Macao rivers
that had been founded by Diego Columbus.

1515: On July, a hurricane struck the island, killing many Indians. Las Casas completed
Montesino's work. In September 1515, he personally went to Spain to expedite the solution of
the "status" of the natives from the viewpoint of law theology, and environmental reality.

1516: The Jerome Fathers left Spain on November 11, 1516, and reached San Juan Bautista on
the 14 or 15 December of the same year, staying there a few days before leaving for the city of
Santo Domingo in La Espanola.

1517: The first step, taken in 1517, was to determine that those absent did not profit from the
encomiendas of the aborigines. This decree affected the King himself, since he, as well as other
powerful Court officials had natives under his command.

1520: The Royal Decree that collectively emancipated these natives is dated July 12, 1520, and
is directed to Judge Antonio de la Gama.

1521: Caribe Indians attacked the south coast. The city and the Island exchanged names, and
the City of San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico became the official capital. The Casa Blanca
("White House") was built. The house was owned by Ponce de León's family until the late 18th
century. The ever-arriving Spaniard settlers, many of them gold-seekers, brought no women on
their ships. To populate the country, the Spaniards took Indian women. With the arrival of
African slaves, other elements were added. This historic intermingling has resulted in a
contemporary Puerto Rico without racial problems. Juan Ponce de León organized an
expedition, setting out for Florida, where he suffered serious injuries. He took refuge on La
Habana, Cuba, where he died.

1530: Salvador Brau comments that since Governor Manuel de Lando's census in 1530 reports
the existence of one thousand, one hundred and forty-eight natives, it must be surmised that a
tremendous amount of deaths had taken place to explain this decrease in numbers.

1537: The Arawaks of the upper Amazonian region were probably met by Alanso Mercadillo in
1537 and may have been seen by Orellana in 1538-39.

1538: A Spanish officer, Perdro de Candia, first discovered them in 1538.

1542: The coconut tree was introduced to the island. The coconut is indigenous to the Indo-
Malaysian region. It spread by sea currents with the average maximum distance of 3,000 miles,
on which the coconut will remain afloat and still remain viable. Considering these limitations
there was little or no chance of a coconut seed reaching the New World. Most authorities agree
that the coconut was introduced to the New World by the Portuguese and Spanish traders.

1544: Since many of the encomenderos did not carry out the orders of the encomienda system,
the attacks on the institution continued. Therefore, in 1544, Carlos I of Spain and V of Germany
decided to abolish it. The decree declared the natives to be as free as any Spaniard.

1564: The Arawak tribes occupied almost exclusively the southern bank of the Amazon. They
were reached by the missionaries later than the tribes on the north bank. Missionaries
accompanied Juan Salinas de Loyola (a relative of St. Ignatius) in 1564.

1581: There are also traces that a Jesuit had penetrated those regions in 1581, more as an
explorer than as a missionary.

1608: The Arawaks made, previous to 1602, six distinct efforts to convert the Chunchos, from
the side of Huanuco in Peru, and from northern Bolivia, but all these attempts were failures.

1619: Fray Francisco Ponce de Leon, "Commander of the convent of the city of Jaen de
Bracacamoros," and Diego Vaca de Vega, Governor of Jaen, organized in 1619 an expedition
down the Marañon to the Maynas. In 1619 they founded the mission of San Francisco Borja,
which still exists as a settlement.

1620: The first baptisms of Indians took place 22 March, 1620.

1631-1635: The Franciscans entered from the direction of Juaja or Tarma, toward
Chanchamayo, in 1631 and 1635.

1637-1766: Conversions in these regions have cost many martyrs, not less than sixty-four
ecclesiastics have perished at the hands of the Indians of Arawak stock in the years between
1637 and 1766.

1640: Work was not interrupted, however, and three years later (1640) there were seven chapels
established about the salt-hill of Vitoc, each with a settlement of Indian converts.

1725: In 1725 the College of Ocopa was founded. All these gains (except the College of Ocopa
and the regions around Tarma and Cajamarquilla) were lost until after 1751 when the Franciscan
missions again began to enter the lost territory and added more conquests among the fiercest
Arawaks (Cashibos) on the Ucayali.

1742: But in 1742 the appearance of Juan Santos Atahualpa occasioned an almost general
uprising of the aborigines. Until then the missions had progressed remarkably. Some of the most
savage tribes, like the Canibos, became at least partially reduced to obedience, and led a more
sedate, orderly life.
1751: The report of Frey Roman Pane is found in the works of Fernando Colon, the Spanish
original of which has not yet been found. However, an Italian version was published in 1751.

1767: Those missions were, of course, abandoned after 1767. During the past century the
Franciscans have taken up the field of which the Jesuits were deprived, especially the missions
between the Pano, or Shipibo (Arawaks) tribes of the Beni region of Bolivia.

1778: In 1778 there was a contingent of 2,302 pure natives living in the country, which seems to
have settled in the Central Cordillera in those places known up to now as "Indieras."

1825: The village of Barros was officially renamed to Orocovis to honor the memory of
Principal Chief Orocobix in the year 1825.