Effect of Diseases on Spanish Settlement in the Caribbean?

[8Deer]

This is a sort of random and quite specific question. I know that disease and Spanish rule decimated the populations of the Cuba, Hispaniola and the other Carribean islands that the Spanish settled very early in their New World adventures, to the point that pretty much all the native ethnicities of these islands are extinct, IIRC. What I'm interested in knowing is if these diseases had as large of a factor in the Spanish conquest as they did in Mexico and Peru.

Basically, did disease make the Spanish invasion easier, or was their conquest already pretty much a given by the time the diseases came into effect? Any answers would help me greatly with a TL I'm planning. Thanks.

 

[pa_dutch]

First, the idea that the indigenous Taino and Ciboney peoples of the Caribbean were driven extinct is a myth, started by Bartolome de las Casas in order to help save the remaining population that still existed during his time. First, many of the first Spanish colonists came without wives and took indigenous women as brides. These wives instilled elements of their own culture into the upbringing of their children, which have persisted in the hybrid mainstream cultures of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba. DNA studies have confirmed strong presence of maternal Amerindian heritage in many parts of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, especially in Puerto Rico.

Other indigenous people persisted by hiding out in remote parts of the islands, in the mountains and the forests, beyond awareness of colonial census takers. These communities took in fugitive African slaves and sympathetic Spaniards, developing "tri-racial isolates" similar to the ones that exist in the rural United States like the Red Bones, Brass Ankles, Carmel Indians, and Melungeons. One example is the "Yateras Indians" in Cuba, a rural society in the mountainous regions that has continually been identified as "indios" by mainstream neighbors.

In same cases, preservation of Taino culture was vital to the survival of the Spanish themselves. The first Spanish colonists needed to feed themselves, and the crops of temperate Spain weren't going to grow very well in the tropics, necessitating the adoption of Taino agriculture in the years before the arrival of African slaves. A look at Spanish Caribbean cuisine will show a fusion of indigenous ingredients and cooking techniques with African and European elements.

I suggest this fascinating book on the subject:

http://www.amazon.com/Indigenous-Resurgence-Contemporary-Carribean-Maximilian/dp/0820474886

 

[8Deer]

First, the idea that the indigenous Taino and Ciboney peoples of the Caribbean were driven extinct is a myth, started by Bartolome de las Casas in order to help save the remaining population that still existed during his time. First, many of the first Spanish colonists came without wives and took indigenous women as brides. These wives instilled elements of their own culture into the upbringing of their children, which have persisted in the hybrid mainstream cultures of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba. DNA studies have confirmed strong presence of maternal Amerindian heritage in many parts of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, especially in Puerto Rico.

Other indigenous people persisted by hiding out in remote parts of the islands, in the mountains and the forests, beyond awareness of colonial census takers. These communities took in fugitive African slaves and sympathetic Spaniards, developing "tri-racial isolates" similar to the ones that exist in the rural United States like the Red Bones, Brass Ankles, Carmel Indians, and Melungeons. One example is the "Yateras Indians" in Cuba, a rural society in the mountainous regions that has continually been identified as "indios" by mainstream neighbors.

In same cases, preservation of Taino culture was vital to the survival of the Spanish themselves. The first Spanish colonists needed to feed themselves, and the crops of temperate Spain weren't going to grow very well in the tropics, necessitating the adoption of Taino agriculture in the years before the arrival of African slaves. A look at Spanish Caribbean cuisine will show a fusion of indigenous ingredients and cooking techniques with African and European elements.

I suggest this fascinating book on the subject:

http://www.amazon.com/Indigenous-Resurgence-Contemporary-Carribean-Maximilian/dp/0820474886

Thank you very much. That pretty much confirms what I was thinking.

As for the Taino being extinct, I think it is still fair to say so. There are no pure-blooded descendants and whatever culture is left has been filtered through European culture through 500 years. Maybe their descendants who continue to practice some kind of indigenous culture are more akin to the Metis; as in they have mixed Euro-Native American origins? Of course, there are people trying to revive Taino culture and hope they have some success. I guess this whole topic is controversial though...

 

[eschaton]

First, the idea that the indigenous Taino and Ciboney peoples of the Caribbean were driven extinct is a myth, started by Bartolome de las Casas in order to help save the remaining population that still existed during his time. First, many of the first Spanish colonists came without wives and took indigenous women as brides. These wives instilled elements of their own culture into the upbringing of their children, which have persisted in the hybrid mainstream cultures of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba. DNA studies have confirmed strong presence of maternal Amerindian heritage in many parts of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, especially in Puerto Rico.

Other indigenous people persisted by hiding out in remote parts of the islands, in the mountains and the forests, beyond awareness of colonial census takers. These communities took in fugitive African slaves and sympathetic Spaniards, developing "tri-racial isolates" similar to the ones that exist in the rural United States like the Red Bones, Brass Ankles, Carmel Indians, and Melungeons. One example is the "Yateras Indians" in Cuba, a rural society in the mountainous regions that has continually been identified as "indios" by mainstream neighbors.

In same cases, preservation of Taino culture was vital to the survival of the Spanish themselves. The first Spanish colonists needed to feed themselves, and the crops of temperate Spain weren't going to grow very well in the tropics, necessitating the adoption of Taino agriculture in the years before the arrival of African slaves. A look at Spanish Caribbean cuisine will show a fusion of indigenous ingredients and cooking techniques with African and European elements.

The average Puerto Rican is only around 15% indigenous judging from nuclear DNA (around the same as Argentines). Now, it's true that looking at just mitochondrial lines around 60% of Puerto Ricans have indigenous maternal ancestry.

What it looks like happened is that the founding population in Puerto Rico was mestizo, but further immigration didn't change the maternal history much. There are two reasons for this. One, more men tend to migrate than women. The other is that random familial drift wipes out small mitochondrial lines. E.G., when you factor in childlessness, or mother's having sons, it's pretty likely that a maternal line will die out.

As an example, let me use my own family. My maternal great-grandmother came from a large family that migrated to the U.S., but all of her sisters were sterile. She had four daughters and five sons. Out of her four daughters, one was sterile, one had two sons, one had two daughters (my grandmother), and one had six sons and two daughters. All of the daughters had only sons. So despite my great-grandmother easily around 50 great-grandchildren, none of them have direct maternal ancestry.

Thus it's possible for immigrant MT-DNA lineages to die out within a few generations. However, the founder population in a territory is much more difficult to wipe out, because at any given time they will comprise the majority of the population. Random drift wouldn't cut it - only genocide.

 

[pa_dutch]

The average Puerto Rican is only around 15% indigenous judging from nuclear DNA (around the same as Argentines). Now, it's true that looking at just mitochondrial lines around 60% of Puerto Ricans have indigenous maternal ancestry.

I'd argue that imagining an "average Puerto Rican" gives a very skewed and oversimplified picture of the actual situation, though. In reality, the genetic make-up of Puerto Rico's population varies from region to region as well as across socioeconomic class. Some sections of the island probably have very little indigenous element in the population at all, while some remote, rural villages probably maintain a very indigenous nature.

The comparison with Argentina is interesting, as it seems to me that even 15% indigenous ancestry would be pretty high for the average resident of the Buenos Aires metropolitan area. Does that statistic average Buenos Aires together with areas like Tucuman Province?

 

[pa_dutch]

As for the Taino being extinct, I think it is still fair to say so. There are no pure-blooded descendants and whatever culture is left has been filtered through European culture through 500 years. Maybe their descendants who continue to practice some kind of indigenous culture are more akin to the Metis; as in they have mixed Euro-Native American origins? Of course, there are people trying to revive Taino culture and hope they have some success. I guess this whole topic is controversial though...

I'd compare the "Taino descendents" in Puerto Rico to many Native American tribes in the eastern United States. The remaining populations carried on life as usual, absorbing many outsiders into their societies, adopting new ideas and abandoning old ones, and speaking English instead of their ancestral languages. Many of these groups may not have even overtly identified themselves as "Indians," but then again, neither did their pre-contact ancestors. The movement toward asserting a "Taino" identity is simply a small-scale birth of nationalism - It's not really reasserting the idea that they're a distinct group called the Taino because most Taino subsistence farmers probably didn't have such a solidified ethnic consciousness in the first place.

There's also the Lesser Antilles, where several groups of Caribs have maintained their own separate identify from the majority population even to this day. There's also Aruba, which was historically neglected by colonial powers due to its poor agricultural potential, thus preserving a very strong indigenous genetic impact even without direct cultural one.