Puerto Rico Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Pre-Columbian era=== [[File:Taino Village.JPG|thumb|A 20th-century reconstruction of an 8th-century [[Taíno]] village, located at the [[Tibes Indigenous Ceremonial Center|spot]] where their ballpark and remains were discovered in 1975, in the aftermath of [[Hurricane Eloise]]<ref>Carmelo Rosario Natal. ''Ponce En Su Historia Moderna: 1945–2002.'' Secretaría de Cultura y Turismo. Gobierno Municipal de Ponce. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 2003. p. 141.</ref>]] The ancient history of the archipelago which is now Puerto Rico is not well known. Unlike other indigenous cultures in the New World ([[Aztec]], [[Mayan civilization|Maya]] or [[Inca]]) which left behind abundant archeological and physical evidence of their societies, scant artifacts and evidence remain of the Puerto Rico's earliest population. Scarce archaeological findings and early Spanish accounts from the colonial era constitute all that is known about them. The first comprehensive book on the history of Puerto Rico was written by [[Fray Íñigo Abbad y Lasierra]] in 1786, nearly three centuries after the first Spaniards landed on the island.<ref>{{cite book |last=Abbad y Lasierra |first=Iñigo |title=Historia Geográfica, Civil y Natural de la Isla de San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico|url=https://archive.org/details/historiageografi00abba |year=1866 }}</ref> The first known settlers were the Casimiroid. They were followed by the relatively more well-known [[Ortoiroid people]] who were an [[Archaic period in the Americas|Archaic Period]] culture of [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Amerindian]] hunters and fishermen who migrated from the South American mainland. Some scholars suggest Ortoiroid settlement dates back about 4,000 years.<ref name="Rouse">Rouse, Irving. ''The Tainos : Rise and Decline of the People Who Greeted Columbus'' {{ISBN|0-300-05696-6}}.</ref> An archeological dig in 1990 on the island of [[Vieques, Puerto Rico|Vieques]] found the remains of a man, designated as the ''[[Puerto Ferro Archaeological Site|Puerto Ferro Man]]'', which was dated to around 2000 BC.<ref>{{cite news |author=Mahaffy, Cheryl |title=Vieques Island – What lies beneath |date=28 January 2006 |newspaper=Edmonton Journal |url=http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/travel/story.html?id=eb3c0119-8328-4b52-96ed-4a63763160f7 |access-date=11 February 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011092855/http://canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/travel/story.html?id=eb3c0119-8328-4b52-96ed-4a63763160f7 |archive-date=11 October 2007 }}</ref> The [[Ortoiroid people|Ortoiroid]] were displaced by the [[Saladoid]], a culture from the same region that arrived on the island between 430 and 250 BCE.<ref name=Rouse/> The [[Igneri]] tribe migrated to Puerto Rico between 120 and 400 AD from the region of the [[Orinoco]] river in northern South America. The Archaic and Igneri cultures clashed and co-existed on the island between the 4th and 10th centuries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Machlan |first=Morgan D. |date=1990 |title=Archeology and the Ethno-Tyrannies |journal=American Anthropologists |volume=92 |issue=615}}</ref> Between the 7th and 11th centuries, the [[Taíno]] culture developed on the island. By approximately 1000 AD, it had become dominant. At the time of Columbus' arrival, an estimated 30,000 to 60,000 Taíno Amerindians, led by the ''[[cacique]]'' (chief) [[Agüeybaná (The Great Sun)|Agüeybaná]], inhabited the island. They called it ''Boriken'', popularly said to mean "the great land of the valiant and noble Lord".<ref>{{cite web |author=Pedro Torres |work=Taíno Inter-Tribal Council Inc. |title=The Dictionary of the Taíno Language |url=http://members.dandy.net/~orocobix/tedict.html |access-date=11 February 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060213164808/http://members.dandy.net/~orocobix/tedict.html |archive-date=13 February 2006 }}</ref> The natives lived in small villages, each led by a cacique. They subsisted by hunting and fishing, done generally by men, as well as by the women's gathering and processing of indigenous [[cassava]] root and fruit. This lasted until Columbus arrived in 1493.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/travel/story.html?id=eb3c0119-8328-4b52-96ed-4a63763160f7 |title=Vieques Island: What lies beneath |author=Cheryl Mahaffy |date=30 January 2006 |newspaper=Edmonton Journal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011092855/http://canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/travel/story.html?id=eb3c0119-8328-4b52-96ed-4a63763160f7 |archive-date=11 October 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newberry.org/exhibits/PuertoRico.html |title=500 Years of Puerto Rican History through the Eyes of Others |publisher=The Newberry Library |website=Newberry.org |date=12 July 2008 |access-date=30 October 2011 |archive-date=11 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011191138/http://www.newberry.org/exhibits/PuertoRico.html }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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