Maria Bruno

                        

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In his essay Puerto Rico: The Four Storeyed Country, José Luis González develops a wonderful simile between the construction of a four storeyed building and the reconstruction of Puerto Rican history. González’ simile suggests that the history of Puerto Rico consist of layers or floor from which you must build. This is an excellent interpretation of how Puerto Rican identity has been formed because of it is divided into sections which makes it easy to follow the development of Puerto Rican culture. Through out time Puerto Rican elite’s have reconstructed their history by taking from and rearranging its foundation or early history in order to explain their interpretation of the islands historical and cultural development. In the process the foundation of the building or earlier periods have become obscured by the passing of time and the influence of the elite. The following pages will be my own construction of "The four storeyed country" concentrating on Spanish colonialism and it’s effects on the island.

In order to understand the cultural effects of Spanish colonialism on the history of Puerto Rico we must consider the state if the island of prior to the arrival of the Spaniards in 1493 versus what it has ultimately evolved into. Long before the Spaniards renamed the island on which they arrived to Puerto Rico, there was an island named Borinquen. On this island there was a flourishing population of native Arawak Indians, which have come to be known as Tainos. The Taino society was very different from most cultures in the world today. One of the biggest differences has been that the Taino culture was a matrilineal one in which the heads of villages or Caciques were followed through maternal lines. In many cases there were even female Caciques. In addition to having females in such high positions in their society, male and female Tainos worked side-by-side in most, if not all aspects of daily life.

In order to truly comprehend the enormous effect of Spanish colonialism on the history of the island we must understand the Tainos original form of life. The Tainos were semi-nomadic people that utilized a slash and burn form of agriculture. When the soil was no longer productive in the area where they currently resided the community would move to other areas within the same region of the island in order to find fertile land (Figueroa, Sept 24).

The beginning of Spanish colonialism in 1508 immediately began to radically change the way of life on the island. The Spanish brought with them their own culture which, they instantly tried to impose upon the natives, with a great deal of success. Firstly, the lack of a difference in gender roles within the Tainos was drastically changed. Today the island of Puerto Rico is infested with a "machista" mentality where, women are looked upon as inferior. Secondly, as we will see in the next few pages the Spaniards made various efforts to steer the natives away from their semi-nomadic ways in order to utilize them as slaves.

The early years of Spanish colonialism proved to be very difficult for the natives. They were being captured and forced to work as slaves to mine gold for the Spaniards. Once they were done completely exploiting the precious natural rescue the Spanish find other ways to exploit the Tainos. During the early 1520’s through 1600, the Spanish shift into cash crop agriculture, with a particular emphasis on sugar production. They begin to utilize the natives as slaves for the mining of gold and production of sugar. This enslavement of the natives greatly influenced the evolution of the culture which, developed in the upcoming years.

Many Tainos recognized the fact that it was wiser to run away and live in isolation where they could continue to live the kind of lives that they were accustomed to. There they did not have to give up their freedom, work longer hours, more days, for another man’s benefit. In effect the Tainos were "Cojiendo el montè," or fleeing to the hinterland to hide. As a result of the migration to the interior of the island, the culture that the Tainos developed was very self-reliant and anti-authoritarian. As we will see these cultural characteristics will continue to survive for years to come and develop into a form of resistance against Spanish colonialism.

The enslavement of the Tainos also resulted in the rapid spread of illnesses brought from the outside world that the Tainos were not immuned to. "The indigenous population of Puerto Rico was wiped out in a matter of mere decades by the genocidal brutality of the Spanish conquest" (González 9). In an effort to find a new source of labor for their Sugar industry the Spaniards begin to import slaves from Africa in the early 16^th century. The Spanish have in effect brought another ethnic group to the island, which will also influence Puerto Rico’s culture. African begins to have a huge affect on the culture of Puerto Rico as they begin to integrate into the society. In many cases run away slaves were able to hide and live their lives in the hinterland of the island just as the Tainos had been doing (Figueroa, 9/24). The slaves formed communities that played a huge role in the cultural development of Puerto Rico.

"As for the white campesinos or countrymen of those early times, in other words the first ‘jíbaros,’ the truth is that this was a poor peasantry that found itself obliged to adopt many of the life-habits of those other poor people already living in the country, namely the slaves" (González 11). Gonzales goes on to give the traditional "jíbaro food and dress" as examples of this adaptation of life-habits. "Plantains, rice, and codfish" are closer to black food than anything else. As far as the daily dress, jíbaros had to adopt those clothes being worn by the blacks simply for economical reasons.

These new community as well as all of the peasants or jíbaros found in the interior of the island have escaped and developed into isolated societies. These communities develop a way of skirting the law in a covert manner so as to make the authority believe that you are always following the rules. This passive form of colonial resistance is called "Jaiberia." This mentality which originated with the Tainos who first "cojieron el monte," portrays and attitude of "No me jodas!" or " Don’t bother me, leave me alone!" The Spaniards are demanding labor from the jibaros, descendents of the Tainos and African slaves to work agriculture, building fortresses, churches, monasteries and pay taxes to the church (Figueroa Sept. 24). This forced even more of the peasantry to move into the hinterlands in order to escape all these problems.

The mind frame of Jaíberia and self-reliant community that has developed is now intensifying. The people are now living in a state of illegal consensual unions, amancebamiento. This is because the trip down to the coast to find a church is too difficult and the fee charge by the church to perform a wedding is too high for these peasants or jibaros. They are also now performing bautisos de agua or "water baptisms" because again the trip to the church is far too costly and out of their way.

A great example of how the jibaros will continue to use jaiberia as a form of resistance for years to come is in 1838 and 1849 when Vagrancy Laws were implemented. Under the vagrancy laws anyone who could not prove that they own and worked on their own land of at least three acres, or who could not prove that a legal employer employed them was considered a vagrant. These people were put to work building roads or doing other civil jobs. In order to fight this the people who had large quantities of land would sell there land on paper to other who did not but the seller and buyer who were usually relatives, would have an understanding that it was only to avoid having issues with the vagrancy laws.

During the late 1840’s the value of Puerto Rican sugar begins to dramatically plummet. This caused economic instability within the island. The Spanish government tries to address the problem by encouraging foreigners to invest in Puerto Rico in their new coffee economy. This begins the second storey, where a large wave of European immigrants particularly Mallorcan, Catalonians and Corsicans come to the island with the intentions of accumulating wealth and returning back to their homes( Bergad, 163).

However, many did not return to their homeland once they acquired abundant wealth from the coffee boom. The Corsicans for instance, "remained in Puerto Rico rather than returning to Corsica… they had long term interest in the development of the island’s economy rather than transferring capital to Europe" (González 188).

This period of influx of immigrants had both cultural effects on Puerto Rico which, is often referred to as the "whitening" of Puerto Rico by González. In addition to numerous cultural changes brought by the European immigration also resulted in economic changes to the island. Those like the Corsicans who made Puerto Rico their permanent home set up prosperous coffee business that resulted in jobs for Puerto Ricans and the recycling of capital in the Puerto Rican economy.

Spanish colonialism has obviously played an important role in the cultural development of the island. They decimated the indigenous people of the island while bringing in new cultures, such as the Africans slaves and European immigrants. Most important to me is the fact that Spanish colonialism forced the inhabitants of Puerto Rico to develop isolated, anti-authoritarian communities that have produced the a mentality of jaiberia. This attitude of "no me jodas" may be one reason why Puerto Ricans did not join together in the 1800’s to expel the Spanish colonial government.