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THE ARCHIVE

The Most Comprehensive Collection of Resources Debunking the Taino Concept

Facebook Resouce Hub 
Taino Leadership Summit

https://www.facebook.com/Tainoleadershipsummit

TikTok Resource Hub
WhAt ThE tAiNo 🪇

Tainoism Awareness Guidebook (2025) 
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1aDLIpJBXgJDHJDSgtf64dHC1wnApMwWn4A1F7nIKG_E/edit?slide=id.g3a1c401285e_0_80#slide=id.g3a1c401285e_0_80

Tainoism Awareness Guidebook (2026)
TBA

 
Personal Essay Detailing #tainoharm and Disaffiliation from Tainoism
The Colonial Wound of Betrayal - The Real Story of the Taino Leadership Summit
https://medium.com/@tresrosa/the-colonial-wound-of-betrayal-a59f59cb91c8


 

THE ARCHIVE

​Sources

​PARES (National Archive, Spain)
https://pares.cultura.gob.es/inicio.html

BIBLIOTECA NACIONAL DE ESPAÑA/BIBLIOTECA DIGITAL HISPÁNICA
https://bdh.bne.es/bnesearch/Inicio.do

INSTITUTO de CULTURA PUERTORRIQUEÑA
https://www.icp.pr.gov/archivo-general/

Digital Library of The Caribbean University of Puerto Rico (UPR)
https://dloc.com/collections/iupr

Internet Archive 
https://archive.org/

Library Of Congress
https://www.loc.gov/

Project Guttenburg
https://www.gutenberg.org/

 

ISSUU

https://issuu.com/

 

HathiTrust

https://www.hathitrust.org/

 

Academia

Academia.edu

ResearchGate

https://www.researchgate.net/search

Centro Center for Puerto Rican Studies- Hunter College 
https://centroca.hunter.cuny.edu/Front/Index

Scribd

https://www.scribd.com/

 


BOOKS

 

Caribbean History Outside The Taino Propaganda Machine
 
La Historia De Las Indias, Bartolome De Las Casas (1875-1876) Published by Madrid, Impr. de M. Ginesta—Original text written in 1494 (SOURCE- Internet Archives Books 1-5) Books made possible by El Marqués De La Fuensanta De Valle and Y.D. Jose Sanchez Rayon (1875-1876)

VOLUME 1 (1875) 
https://archive.org/details/historiadelasind15casa/page/n5/mode/2up
VOLUME 2 (1875)
https://archive.org/details/historiadelasind15casa_0/page/n5/mode/2up
VOLUME 3 (1875)
https://archive.org/details/historiadelasind15casa_1/mode/2up?q=taino
VOLUME 4 (1876)
https://archive.org/details/historiadelasind15casa_2/page/n5/mode/2up
VOLUME 5 (1876)
https://archive.org/details/historiadelasind15casa_3/page/n5/mode/2up

Letter Honoring Cacique Guaybana/Comunicación al Cacique Guaybana, Archivo General de Indias, (1511)
Reference Code: INDIFERENTE,418,L.3,F.149V(3) (PARES)
https://pares.mcu.es/ParesBusquedas20/catalogo/show/246060?nm

Ordenanzas Para el Tratamiento de los Indios (Leyes de Burgos), Archivo General de Indias (1512)

Reference Code: INDIFERENTE,419,L.4,F.83R-96V (PARES)
Royal Provision issuing new ordinances regarding the treatment of the Indians on the island of San Juan de Puerto Rico. Composed of 35 chapters. It is a copy of the original Laws of Burgos (December 27, 1512) (No taino mentioned in document)

https://pares.mcu.es/ParesBusquedas20/catalogo/description/246509

Libro Copiador de Cristóbal Colón, Archivo General de Indias (1530)

Reference Code: ES.41091.AGI//PATRONATO,296B,R.1 (PARES)
Cristóbal Colón's "letters/cartas", link contains seven report-letters from his four voyages and two letters that can be considered of a personal nature, written to the Catholic Monarchs between March 4, 1493 and July 7, 1503. (One of the rallying cries of tainoism is: "Christopher Columbus said taino in his letters" The reality—he doesn't mention taino at all.)
https://pares.mcu.es/ParesBusquedas20/catalogo/description/132741

Historia General de las Indias Ocidentales, ò de los Hechos de los Castellanos en las Islas y Tierra Firme del Mar Oceano por Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, cronista mayor de su Magestad de las Indias y de Castilla. Madrid, Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas (1601)

This webpage has a comprehensive list of Antonio Herrera y Tordesillas book Historia General from (1601- 1728) in all of its variations. (No taino mentioned)
http://www.conquistadeamerica.revistacruzdelsur.ar/LCDA-herrera-tordesillas.html

Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva - España (1632) (Cuba/Mexico)

http://bdh-rd.bne.es/viewer.vm?lang=en&id=0000078076&page=1

Historie del S.D. Fernando Colombo; : nelle quali s'ha particolare, & vera relatione della vita, & de' fatti dell'Ammiraglio D. Christoforo Colombo, suo padre: et dello scoprimento, ch'egli fece dell'Indie Occidentali, dette Mondo Nuovo, hora possedute dal Sereniss. (Key words Spagnuola, Caciqua, Cacique, Cuba, Giamaica (Jamaica), Occidentale

(ITALIAN) Listed as being published in 1571, however the book is an "Altered Copy" "Venice Edition (1709), Translated to Italian from Spanish by S. Alphonso Vllon
This book features Fra Ramón Pané's description of his experience with a specific tribe in Hispaniola (not the whole Antilles) embedded in the pages 122-145 (in book) pages 292-336 (scroll bar).  

https://archive.org/details/historiedelsdfer00coln/mode/2up
 

El Gíbaro, Manuel A. Alonso, Published in Barcelona by J. Oliveres (1849) 
Considered the first major literary work of Puerto Rico, El Gíbaro documents rural life and identity through the lens of the jíbaro. Notably, there is no mention of “taino” as a people or identity, offering strong evidence that the taino concept was absent from Puerto Rican consciousness in the mid-19th century—decades before its invention and popularization in the 20th century.

https://archive.org/details/elgibaro00alon/page/n7/mode/2up


Historia General y Natural de las Indias, Islas y Tierra-Firme del Mar Oceano, Captain Gonzalo Fernandez De Oviedo Y Valdez (1532-1535) translated by D. José Amador de los Ríos, Published by the Royal Academy of History Spain (1851)

https://archive.org/details/historiageneraly01fern/page/n7/mode/2up

Biblioteca Historica de Puerto-Rico, Alejandro Tapia y Rivera, (1854)

https://archive.org/details/bibliotecahistor00tapi/page/n5/mode/2up

Collection De Los Viajes Y Descubrimiento Tomo I, Martín Fernández de Navarette (1858)

https://archive.org/details/coleccion-de-los-viajes-y-descubrimiento-i/page/n7/mode/2up


​Historia Geográfica, Civil y Natural de la Isla de San Juan Bautista de Puerto-Rico / por Iñigo Abbad y Lasierra (1866)
https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra/historia-geografica-civil-y-natural-de-la-isla-de-san-juan-bautista-de-puerto-rico--por-inigo-abbad-y-lasierra/

 

​The Arawak Language of Guiana in its Linguistic and Ethnological Relations, Daniel Garrison Brinton, Published by the American Philosophical Society (1871)

Book criticizes the use of the term taino and its fabrication (Page 436) while also establishing Arawak as a Language, not a tribe or community (whole book). 

https://archive.org/details/arawacklanguageo00brinrich/mode/2up

Enriquillo, Leyenda Histórica Dominicana, (1503-1533), Manuel de Jesús Galván, Published (1882)

See Enriquillo in The Archive section: Books Bent to Fit the Taino Agenda

https://archive.org/details/enriquilloleyen00galvgoog/page/n10/mode/2up 


​Los Indios Borinqueños, Dr. A. Stahl (1889)
https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcscd.00158138785?st=pdf&r=-0.274%2C-0.127%2C1.548%2C1.548%2C0&pdfPage=4

Gobierno de Frey Nicolás de Ovando en la Española, Cándido Ruiz Martínez (1892)

Gives the history of Cristóbal Colón's arrest and how Ovando was placed as Governor

https://archive.org/details/b24882501/mode/2up

Puerto Rico y su Historia : Investigaciones Críticas, Salvador Brau, Published by Valencia : Imprenta de F. Vives Mora (1894) 

*See Salvador Brau in The Archive section: Books Bent to Fit the Taino Agenda*

https://www.loc.gov/resource/lhbpr.63582/?st=pdf&pdfPage=1

Prehistoria de Puerto Rico, Caytano Coll Y Toste (1897)

https://archive.org/details/prehistoriapepuertoRicocolltoste/mode/2up?q=taino

Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology/Smithsonian 
Institution, Jessie Fewkes (1903-1904)

Page 26, Fewkes states, "The designation taino has been used by several writers (does not add a footnote to cite the "several writers" in this excerpt) as a characteristic name for the Antillian race. Since it is both significant (as a classification) and euphonious (pleasant to the ear), it may be adopted as a convenient substitute for the adjective "Antillian" to designate a cultural type." 
This report by Fewkes was the cornerstone of standardizing all artifacts found in the Greater Antilles as taino. The erasure (paper genocide) is evident in the lack of specific tribal names in relation to the artifacts depicted in the report. Also to note, there are some great references about Puerto Rican Indigenous heritage which identified Borinqeños from the island of Boriquen. Taino is not used to identify the Indigenous peoples of Puerto Rico in the report.
https://books.google.com/books?id=QUtBAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Antología Puertorriqueña: Prosa Y Verso Para Lectura Escolar, Manuel Fernandez Juncos (1913) 

Originally Published in 1895, this school reader reflects Puerto Rican identity through patriotism and literature—long before the taino narrative was invented and imposed. 

https://archive.org/details/antologiaportorriquenaprosayversomanuelfernandezjuncos/mode/2up?q=taino

​Legendary Islands in the Atlantic, William H. Babcock (1922) (Antilla and the Antilles)

https://dn790001.ca.archive.org/0/items/legendaryislands00babcuoft/legendaryislands00babcuoft.pdf

Elegías de Varones iIustres de Indias, Juan de Castellanos (1522-1607) Republished in Madrid, Spain: Ediciones Atlas (1944) - Key words: Boriquen, Cubagua

https://archive.org/details/elegasdevarones00castgoog/mode/2up


Academic Papers and Articles Debunking the Taino Concept​

 

El Censo De Lando (1530) :Historiografia Y Critica, Francisco Moscoso (1995)

https://rcm1.rcm.upr.edu/demografia/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/04/Francisco-Moscoso-1995-El-censo-de-Lando-1530-historiografia-y-critica.pdf

 

The Texts of Peter Martyr's De Orbe Novo Decades (1504-1628): A Response to Andrew Hadfield, Michael Brennan (1996/97)

https://www.connotations.de/article/michael-brennan-the-texts-of-peter-martyrs-de-orbe-novo-decades-1504-1628-a-response-to-andrew-hadfield/

Rejoinder to Roberto “Mukaro” Borrero’s A Taíno Response to “The Myth of Taíno Survival the Spanish-Speaking Caribbean” by Gabriel Haslip-Viera (December 14, 2011)
http://www.prdream.com/wordpress/topics/2011/12/3376/


THE “INDIGENOUS” OR “NEO-TAÍNO” MOVEMENT IN THE SPANISH-SPEAKING CARIBBEAN AND ITS DIASPORA AND THE RETURN OF THE OLD ANGLO NEO-IMPERIALIST SCHOLARSHIP?  (2015) Gabriel Haslip-Viera 
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273887335_THE_INDIGENOUS_OR_NEO-

 

TAÍNO: NATIVE HERITAGE AND IDENTITY IN THE CARIBBEAN at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Gabriel Haslip-Viera (2018)

https://www.academia.edu/37619103/TA%C3%8DNO_NATIVE_HERITAGE_AND_IDENTITY_IN_THE_CARIBBEAN_at_the_Smithsonian_National_Museum_of_the_American_Indian

 

Terms and Terminology Conflicts of Social Quandaries Engendered by the Taino Native Fixation a Cultural Crisis Analytical Study in Caribbean Contemporary History, Randle Sloan (2019)
https://www.academia.edu/128314489/Terms_and_Terminology_Conflicts_of_Social_Quandaries_

 

Caribbean History and Heritage Crisis Resulting from Generic Standardization and Substitution of the Native Borinqueños, Boriquans or Boricuas of Puerto Rico Subsequent to Suspicious Taino Research, Randle Sloan (2019)

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331358152_Caribbean_History_and_Heritage_Crisis_Resulting_from_Generic_Standardization_and_Substitution_of_the_Native_Borinquenos_Boriquans_or_Boricuas_of_Puerto_Rico_Subsequent_to_Suspicious_Taino_Research

"Sole Property and Domain”: Intellectual Property Law and the Contemporary Puerto Rican Taíno Indigenous Movement, Spencer Dew (2019)
https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/article/811679/pdf
 

The Cultural Erosion of Borinqueños: Heritage Crisis in Puerto Rico Following Questionable Taíno Research, Emily Johnson, Robert Smith (2023) Advances in Aeronautical Science and Engineering, ISSN: 1674-8190
https://aaseresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/Volume-14-Issue-8-4.pdf


The Taino Lie: How a Fake Tribe Rewrote Caribbean History: An Exposé of Modern Ethnohistorical Manipulation in the Caribbean, (2025) Tanya Rodriguez
https://www.academia.edu/143275827/The_Taino_Lie_How_a_Fake_Tribe_Rewrote_Caribbean_History_An_Expos%C3%A9_of_Modern_Ethnohistorical_Manipulation_in_the_Caribbean

The Conversion Code: An Exposé on How Tainoism Uses Psychological Programming to Recruit and Control, Tanya Rodriguez (2025)

https://www.academia.edu/144698279/The_Conversion_Code_An_Expos%C3%A9_on_How_Tainoism_Uses_Psychological_Programming_to_Recruit_and_Control


Genetics/DNA

Debunking The Unbroken Bloodline Narrative of Tainoism

 

The Politics of Taíno Revivalism: The In Significance of Amerindian mtDNA in the Population History of Puerto Ricans. A Comment on Recent Research,” Centro Journal 17: 1 (Spring) Gabriel Haslip-Viera (2006)

https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/377/37718114.pdf
​​
​Genomic Insights Into the Early Peopling of the Caribbean, Schroeder et al. (2020)
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aba8697
 
The Genome Grift: An Exposé on How "Taino DNA" Became a Gateway to Indigenous Identity Fraud, (2025) Tanya Rodriguez 
https://figshare.com/articles/preprint/The_Genome_Grift_An_Expos_on_How_Taino_DNA_Became_a_Gateway_to_Indigenous_Identity_Fraud/30297016?file=58544479
​​


Videos Debunking Tainoism

Interview with Gabriel Haslip-Viera on January 12, 2017, Segment 2, Part 1
https://centroca.hunter.cuny.edu/Detail/objects/3913

Interview with Gabriel Haslip-Viera on January 12, 2017, Segment 2, Part 2
https://centroca.hunter.cuny.edu/Detail/objects/3912

Interview with Gabriel Haslip-Viera on January 12, 2017, Segment 2, Part 3
https://centroca.hunter.cuny.edu/Detail/objects/3911

 


Maps of the Antilles/Caribbean

Zuane Pizzigano Map (1424) - Said to be oldest existing map that documents the island Antilla.
​​https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pizzigano_1424_map_(Antilia_islands_detail).JPG


Toscanelli Map (1474) - It said to be the map Colón used on his second voyage. All documentation from his first voyage have been lost to time.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carte_de_Toscanelli.jpg


Behaim's Erdapfel (1492) - Map could quite possibly be the origin of the Colón sailing to Asia narrative as per the Protestants (La Layenda Negra)
https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~291871~90063392:Composite--Robinson-Projection--Mar?mi=2&trs=12&qvq=w4s:/who%2FBehaim%2C%2BMartin%2C%2B1459-1507%2Fwhen%2F1492%2F;lc:RUMSEY~8~1

Juan de La Cosa Map (1500)

https://acm5.blogs.rice.edu/color-plate-4/

Petyr Martyr Map - Approx (1511)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Martyr_map#/media/File:Peck_correction_2003.tif
Also: 
https://oshermaps.org/browse-maps?id=110388#?c=&m=&cv=&xywh=-4417%2C-1%2C14315%2C8192

Freducchi Map (1514-1515) Showing "Ponce De Leon's Florida just north of Cuba
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/rrc/blog/early-spanish-visits-to-southwest-florida/

Description De Las Yndias Del Norte, Antonio De Herrera (1601)
https://maps.museumofthebigbend.com/map/descripcion-de-las-yndias-del-norte/


Maps of Puerto Rico through the Centuries 
https://caribbeantrading.com/then-and-now-puerto-rico-maps/
​​


DIVEDCO (1949-1991)—Operation Serenity (EST 1949)

The Tainoizing of Puerto Rico 

The Bard of Bootstrap TIME MAGAZINE (1958)
https://time.com/archive/6612683/puerto-rico-the-bard-of-bootstrap/

The Meaning of Community Development, Fred Wale, Carmen Isales (1967)
https://issuu.com/coleccionpuertorriquena/docs/the_meaning_the_communities_develop

**Meaning of Community Development in Spanish (1967)
https://icaa.mfah.org/s/es/item/804865#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-1001%2C-94%2C3275%2C1833

The Community Education Division: Part II Field Program (1967) Community Development Bulletin

Vol. 15, No. 4/5 (Sept./Dec. 1964), pp. 147-159 (13 pages) Published By: Oxford University Press (Not full article Jstor)

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44279449searchText=Puerto+rico&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3Fscope%3DeyJwYWdlTmFtZSI6ICJDb21tdW5pdHkgRGV2ZWxvcG1lbnQgQnVsbGV0aW4iLCAicGFnZVVybCI6ICIvam91cm5hbC9jb21tZGV2ZWJ1bGwiLCAidHlwZSI6ICJqb3VybmFsIiwgImpjb2RlcyI6ICJjb21tZGV2ZWo6Y29tbWRldmVidWxsOm1hc3NlZHVjYnVsbCJ9%26Query%3DPuerto%2Brico%26so%3Drel%26pagemark%3DeyJwYWdlIjoyLCJzdGFydCI6MjUsInRvdGFsIjo0N30%253D%26groupefq%3DWyJjb250cmlidXRlZF90ZXh0Iiwic2VhcmNoX2FydGljbGUiLCJzZWFyY2hfY2hhcHRlciIsImNvbnRyaWJ1dGVkX2F1ZGlvIiwicmV2aWV3IiwiY29udHJpYnV0ZWRfdmlkZW8iLCJtcF9yZXNlYXJjaF9yZXBvcnRfcGFydCIsInJlc2VhcmNoX3JlcG9ydCJd&ab_segments=0%2Fspellcheck_basic_search%2Ftest&refreqid=fastly-default%3Ad338210f7a9af9c94b1b4c332939c532

VISUAL AIDS AND GOOD THINKING IN COMMUNITY EDUCATION IN PUERTO RICO, K. M. HARRISON, Community Development Journal Vol. 2, No. 5 (January 1967), pp. 30-41 (12 pages) Published By: Oxford University Press (Excerpt, full paper is by request from Oxford University Press)

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44254978


Poetic Pragmatism: The Puerto Rican Division of Community Education
(DIVEDCO) and the Politics of Cultural Production, 1949-1968, Mariam Colón Pizzaro (2011)
https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/84541/colonm_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

 

DIVEDCO Movies - YOUTUBE

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzlF-GHhEnGDMcVa8jYdh6bpLO8bYY6pD&si=U0PegzZ31QGtkvSg


Academic Standardization of the Taino Concept

(1836-Present)

Books

 

Coleccion. De los viages y descubrimientos que hicieron por mar los españoles desde fines del siglo XV con varios documentos inéditos concernientes a la historia de la Marina Castellana y de los establecimientos españoles en Indias / coordinada é ilustrada por D. Martín Fernandez de Navarrete (1825-1837) (V. 1-5)
On page 611 volume 1 in this series of books from Navarrete, this quote appears:
"The boats that had been in Guarico returned, whose population was the most well-organized among those they had seen. The Spaniards were very well treated by the cacique and his people: Nitaino, the name of a principal lord." This specific quote is one that appears in a couple of books rewritten in this time period. As you can see, Nitaino was the name of a person, possibly a title—NOT a community, nor a tribe, nor a "peoples." This evidence of linguistic sleight of hand is one of the most damming for tainoism, as it shows how a word has been distorted to fit a completely fabricated concept of indigenous identity.

 Another interesting aspect of this book is the mention of "Cipango" on page 608 which opens the chapter the term "Nitaino" is found. It is important to note the word "Cipango" is not mentioned in any of Colóns original letters to Santangel or any documentation of first contact. The Cipango narrative came in later as an artifact from La Layenda Negra to paint Colón in a negative light. The reality, Colón was seeking out the island of Antilla I confirmed the Pizzigano map (1424) and the Toscanelli map (1475) which documents Antilla. In the Toscanelli map, the American continent is ommitted—indicating the whole of the Americas was yet to be officially documented thru cartography.

https://bnedigital.bne.es/bd/card?id=fc0b655a-19c6-4b67-9c07-da0d6d00069e



The American Nations Constantine Rafinesque Schmaltz (1836)

*Book that COINED the word "Taino"
https://archive.org/details/americannations02rafigoog

The Early History of Cuba, I.A. Wright (1916)
https://ia601303.us.archive.org/1/items/earlyhistoryofcu00wrig/earlyhistoryofcu00wrig.pdf
 
Diccionario de Voces Indígenas de Puerto Rico, Luis Hernández Aquino (1977)
https://archive.org/details/diccionariodevoc0000hern/mode/2up?q=taino

Relación Acerca De Las Antigüedades De Los Indios, Jose Juan Arrom (1988)

https://archive.org/details/pane-fray-ramon.-relacion-acerca-de-las-antiguedades-de-los-indios-ocr-1988/mode/2up

The Tainos : Rise & Decline of the People who Greeted Columbus, Irving Rouse (1992)

https://tiboko.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/irving-rouse-the-tainos-.pdf



Articles/Curriculum

 

Standardizing The Taino Concept/Examples of Academic Dishonesty

Curriculum Submission by Milagros Carrero (1972/3)
TITLE 
Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans; A Teaching and 
Resource Unit for Upper Level Spanish Students or Social Studies Classes.

INSTITUTION 
Prince George's County Board of Education, Upper 
Marlboro, Md.
This is the first documented introduction of "taino" into the American education system outside of Puerto Rico. 
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED085988.pdf


Puerto Rico — 500 Years Of Oppression, Piri Thomas and Suzie Dod, Published in Social Justice (1992)

This paper is one of the most cited in academic papers appearing as, (Thomas & Dod). It is also one of the earliest overt taino propaganda pieces in the formation of taino high control groups/nonprofits in the 1990's.
https://cooperative-individualism.org/thomas-piri_puerto-rico-500-years-of-oppression-1992-summer.pdf

 
Luis Hernández Aquino: Apuntes en Torno al Tema Taíno en Puerto Rico, Mario Cancel Sepulveda (2012)
https://lugaresimaginarios.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/luis-hernandez-aquino-apuntes-en-torno-al-tema-taino-en-puerto-rico/

Resistance and Revolt Handout Scribd (No Date Available)
https://www.scribd.com/document/271171432/Resistance-and-Revolt-Handout

Grades 10 & 11 - Social Practices of The Tainos Handout, Scribd (No Date Available)
https://www.scribd.com/document/629624811/Grades-10-11-Social-Practices-Of-The-Tainos-Handout

The Taínos of Puerto Rico: Rediscovering Borinquen, Elsa María Calderón, Published by, Yale- New Haven Teachers Institute (2025)
https://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/curriculum/units/1998/3/98.03.04/4


Books Bent to Fit the Taino Agenda

Taino Language Origins


Tainoists misuse Breton’s Dictionaire François-Caraibe as a core source in the fabrication of a taino language. Despite the fact the book documents Island Carib speech from the Lesser Antilles specifically Guadalupe—not the Greater Antilles—taino language bookpreneurs have glommed onto Dictionaire, and have used it to create a "taino language" adding words that have been made up from whole cloth, or "borrowed" Indigenous words that may have stood the test of time in the whole of the Caribbean.​ Tainoists also misconstrue the contextual meaning of "female language" (the language of women) to suggest a mystical feminine "Indigenous" knowledge. This dismisses the very real differences in linguistics of feminine and masculine throughout humanity. 

Dictionaire Francois-Caraibe, Révérend Raymond Breton (1666) 

https://archive.org/details/dictionairefranc00bret

 

Brevisima Relacion De La Destruccion De Las Indias

Published in Barcelona by Casa de Antonio Lacavalleria in 1646, this reprint of Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias is the closest version to the original 1552 Seville edition still in circulation. Originally written by Bartolomé de las Casas to Prince Philip II, the Brevísima was intended as a moral appeal for reform—urging the Crown to abolish Indigenous slavery and protect Native peoples throughout the Antilles, South America, and Mexico.

Far from being an indictment of “Spanishness,” Las Casas’s original text helped inspire the Leyes Nuevas de las Indias(1542–43)—royal decrees issued by Emperor Charles V and drafted by jurists of the Council of the Indies to safeguard Native populations and prohibiting any new encomienda's. These laws were conceived as instruments of protection and justice, not further subjugation, reflecting a pivotal moment when Spain attempted to legislate ethical governance in its overseas territories.

 

Las Leyes Neuvas in modern times is often mistakenly labeled as La Leyenda Negra. Both are two vastly different things—from two different countries meant for different purposes, Nuevas (Spain) was created to protect the native Antilles people. Layenda Negra (Germany) was created to demonize the Spanish during the Protestant/Catholic wars. 

Las Obras del Obispo D. Fray Bartolome de las Casas, o Casaus, Obispo que fue de la Ciudad Real de Chiapa en las Indias, de la Orden de Santo Domingo ...Casas, Bartolomé de las (1474-1566)
Lacavallería, Antonio (fl. 1646-1700), impresor  (1646) En Barcelona : en casa de Antonio Lacaualleria
Breuissima Relacion de la Destruycion de las Indias Occidentales por los Castellanos

https://bnedigital.bne.es/bd/es/card?id=70ecbada-b946-4301-b13e-97b9edb6c2e3
 

Las Layes Neuvas, Laws and Provisions, November 20, 1542

Real Provisión Dando Ordenanzas Para el Consejo de Indias y Para el Buen Gobierno de las Indias (en 40 capítulos) Archivo General de Indias

Reference Code: ES.41091.AGI/22//INDIFERENTE,423,L.20,F.606V-615R 
https://pares.mcu.es/ParesBusquedas20/catalogo/description/255830?nm

 

The (1664) German edition of Brevísima shown here was part of a Protestant-led anti-Spanish propaganda campaign known as La Leyenda Negra (The Black Legend), in which Protestant states republished and reinterpreted Las Casas’s work to vilify Catholic Spain. In other words, the book that tainoists use to demonize Spanish ancestry is itself a political fabrication—a highly edited reinterpretation far removed from Las Casas’s original text. What tainoists neglect to mention is the (1664) edition was among the main sources for promoting the “Spanish were horrible” narrative, a legacy that still surfaces today—often to justify the ongoing dehumanization of Latino and Caribbean peoples. 

The sensationalized woodcut images included in this German printing were produced in Amsterdam for Protestant audiences and do not appear in the 1646 Seville edition (shown above), which was printed in Spain as a counter-narrative meant to closely mirror the 1542 original. The link below is misattributed to Bartolomé de las Casas and represents a propagandized version of his writing, not an authentic historical account.

 

No taino is mentioned in this book or in any of the Brevisima books

Regionvm Indicarum per Hispanos Olim Devastatarum Accuratissima Descriptio, insertis Figuris æneis ad vivum fabrefactis, Germany (1664) 

https://archive.org/details/regionvmindicaru00casa/page/n5/mode/2up

 

This next version of Las Casa's Brevisima was written in (1881) and published out of Philadelphia. It reflects post-enlightenment and early colonial critiques of the Spanish Caribbean. it is not a full translation and was written in a time where colonialism, abolition, and national identity were being debated in colonial America. The book serves as a lighthouse for the trend of 19th century American publications that serve ideological aims and political motives regarding Spanish colonial history. Book is misattributed to Bartolomé de las Casas in link.

Breve relacion de la destruccion de las Indias occidentales, (1821) PUB by J.F. Hurtel, Philadelphia 

https://archive.org/details/breverelaciondel00casa/page/n5/mode/2up

Published in Cadiz, Spain in 1821, this particular Brevisima quite possibly could be the most trustworthy modern reprint of the original Brevisima from (1542/1646). There are no references to "taino, tayno, or boriken" in the book. There are however, names of Caciques in Hispaniola. Book is misattributed to Bartolomé de las Casas in link.
Brevissima relación de la destrucción de Indias, CADIZ (1821)

https://archive.org/details/HFA901243/page/n3/mode/2up


ENRIQUILLO

The story of Enriquillo offers a clear example of how tainoists retroactively impose the taino classification by replacing historically continuous tribal identities with a fabricated one. The absence of the word “taino” in this pre-taino standardization account, underscores how 21st-century texts have been rewritten to insert taino into places it never existed. This is a textbook example of linguistic imperialism—the reframing of history to serve the taino agenda.


Enriquillo, Leyenda Histórica Dominicana,(1503-1533), Manuel de Jesús Galván, Published (1882)

https://archive.org/details/enriquilloleyen00galvgoog/page/n10/mode/2up 
 

Enriquillo Distorted by Tainoism 

Enriquillo on Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enriquillo

Rebelión Taína de Enriquillo, J
acinto Peña Flores, Scribd (No Date Available)

https://www.scribd.com/document/430373496/caciques-pdf

Enriquillo, Rimairy Zapata, Scribd (No Date Available)
https://www.scribd.com/document/504981090/Enriquillo_gl=1*2b58fx*_gcl_au*MjAxNDYxOTMwMC4xNzYwODM5MDM4

Taino: A Novel, Jose Barreiro (2012)
https://archive.org/details/tainonovel0000barr/mode/2up

 

GUAROCUYA. EL TAÍNO QUE DERROTÓ AL IMPERIO ESPAÑOL, Fran Zabaleta (2020)
https://estebanmiracaballos.com/2022/02/27/guarocuya-el-taino-que-derroto-al-imperio-espanol/

SALVADOR BRAU

The Salvador Brau book listed in the above section, "Resources Debunking Tainoism" predates the (1904) speech by Jesse Walter Fewkes at the Smithsonian, in which he declared "Taino" a suitable replacement for "Antilles" to classify all artifacts found in the Greater Antilles. Below, I’ve listed three books commonly used by tainoists to “prove” historical continuity—each of which unscrupulously reframes Salvador Brau’s original work to fit the taino agenda.

La colonización de Puerto Rico, desde el descubrimiento de la isla hasta la reversión á la corona española de los privilegios de Colón, Slavador Brau (1907)

https://www.loc.gov/resource/lhbpr.19425/?sp=37&st=image

HISTORIA DE PUERTO RICO Por Salvador Brau (1917)

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=txu.059173018403760&utm_source=chatgpt.com&seq=7&q1=taino

HISTORIA DE PUERTO RICO (1904) de SALVADOR BRAU (Rewritten in 1966)
https://issuu.com/iatr/docs/iatr_1966_ecq_historia_de_puerto_rico_1904_de_s

 

DR. DIEGO ALVAREZ CHANCA

 

Dr. Chanca is one of the most distorted narratives within the confines of tainoism. The actual writings detailing Dr. Chanca's experience is majority lifted out of La Historia de las Indias written by Bartolome De Las Casas.  

 

The original "translation" of Dr. Chanca's "letters" is found in Washington Irving's book, A history of the life and voyages of Christopher Columbus (1828). Since Irvings book was written before the word taino was coined, the word taino does not make an appearance in the book.

So when did the taino version of Dr. Chanca's letters first appear?

 

RH Major's Select Letters of Christopher Columbus was first printed 1847, published in January 1848, and republished in 1870. The majority of the book is populated with content from La Historia (see above) retroactively adding the word Tayno of which is not present in earlier copies of La Historia. The word "Taino" specifically is not present in the Select Letters. Both the 1800's versions of La Historia and RH Major's Select Letters were published by the Haklyut Society. On Internet Archives, the book is misattributed to Christopher Columbus and Dr. Diego Chanca, not, Richard Henry Major. 

Select letters of Christopher Columbus, With Other Original Documents, Relating to His Four Voyages to the New World , RH Major, Published by the Haklyut Society (1870)

https://archive.org/details/selectlettersofc00colurich/mode/2up

The Haklyut Society
https://www.hakluyt.com/


Following Select Letters, in the year 1883, a Cuban scholar named Antonio Bachiller Y Morales wrote the book, Cuba primitiva. Origen, Lenguas, Tradiciones e Historia de los Indios de las Antillas Mayores y las Lucayas. This is the first traceable book where tainoism's Dr. Chanca narrative of "Taino, Taino" appears. 

Cuba Primitiva. Origen, Lenguas, Tradiciones e Historia de los Indios de las Antillas Mayores y las Lucayas, Antonio Bachiller Y Morales (1883) Published in joint combination with Cuba, America

https://archive.org/details/cubaprimitivaori00bachuoft/page/2/mode/2up?q=taino

Colón en Puert-Rico Disquisiciones Histórico-Filológicas, Caytano Coll Y Toste (1893)

Features the words Tayno Tayno specifically relating to the island of Guadalupe, not Hispaniola or Cuba. (in footnotes) Page 47.
Book also features original Antilles island names.

https://books.google.com.ec/books?id=zjK1sbrcbDMC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

The "Taino Taino Dr. Chanca" narrative was firmly established in the circles of academia with the publishing of Jessie Walter Fewkes Twenty‑Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology titled The Aborigines of Porto Rico and Neighboring Islands , Smithsonian 1903-4)

https://archive.org/details/aboriginesporto00fewkgoog/page/n8/mode/2up

Every subsequent publication featuring Dr. Chanca's "taino taino" derives from this lineage of an academic sleight of hand, turned repeating taino concepts, evolving to a core tainoism narrative.

THE LETTER OF DR. DIEGO ALVAREZ CHANCA, DATED 1494, RELATING TO THE SECOND VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS TO AMERICA, A. M. FERNANDEZ DE YBARRA. A.B., M.D (1904)

https://repository.si.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/a0dcd5e1-2ad8-451a-b5ee-6f8fbf063009/content

BOOK REVIEW Duke University Press (1969) 

Dr. Diego Álvarez Chanca (Estudio Biográfico) By Tío, Aurelio, Puerto Rico (1966) Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico. Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña

https://read.dukeupress.edu/hahr/article/49/1/132/157273/Dr-Diego-Alvarez-Chanca-Estudio-Biografico

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