Spain's 400-Year Lie: Why Puerto Ricans Denied Their Taíno Roots (Part 2/5)

Описание: Spain told Puerto Ricans for 400 years: "The Taíno are extinct."

They weren't.

They were your grandmothers, your great-grandfathers. Living right there. But Spain needed them to disappear.

Why?

Because Indigenous ≠ Catholic
Catholic = Spanish
Spanish = Protected

If you weren't Catholic, you weren't Spanish. If you weren't Spanish, you weren't protected under colonial law.

So Puerto Rican families made an impossible choice: Bury your Taíno roots. Claim Spanish Catholic identity. Survive.

Generations passed. The erasure worked so well that by 1898, when the United States took control and sent Puerto Rican children to Carlisle Indian Industrial School, those children couldn't answer a simple question:

"What is your tribal affiliation?"

Spain had already destroyed the answer.

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📺 THIS IS PART 2 OF 5:

Part 1: They wrote "Puerto Rican" where it said "tribe" - Watch on this channel
Part 2: Spain's 400-year erasure (this video)
Part 3: Two empires, two erasures (coming soon)
Part 4: Coming home to not belonging (coming soon)
Part 5: Why we remember (coming soon)

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📚 CONTEXT:

Between 1898-1920s, at least 60-193 Puerto Rican children were sent to Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania — the same school designed to "Kill the Indian, save the man."

This series explores how Spanish colonization (1493-1898) set the stage for American colonization (1898-present), creating a unique form of double erasure that still shapes Puerto Rican identity today.

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🔍 SOURCES:

• Spanish colonial records documenting "extinction" claims
• Catholic Church conversion records, Puerto Rico
• Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center
• "The Taíno: Rise and Decline of the People Who Greeted Columbus" by Irving Rouse
• National Archives records on Puerto Rican students at Carlisle

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⚠️ NOTE:

This is a test series on my personal channel. If it resonates with people, I'm considering expanding it into a full channel dedicated to untold Latin American history.

Your engagement (likes, comments, subscriptions) helps me understand if there's an audience for this kind of deep-dive historical content.

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💬 DISCUSSION:

• Did you know about Spain's role in erasing Taíno identity?
• How does this change your understanding of Puerto Rican history?
• What other stories from this era deserve to be told?

Drop your thoughts in the comments. I read and reply to every one.

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#PuertoRico #Boricua #PuertoRicanHistory #TaínoHistory #IndigenousHistory #SpanishColonialism #ColonialHistory #CarlisleSchool #BoardingSchools #CulturalErasure #LatinAmericanHistory #IndigenousErasure #HistoricalTruth #UntoldHistory #EducationalContent