Puerto Rico in a Historical and Cultural Context :: History Historical Puerto rican Essays

Puerto anti-racketeering law in a Historical and Cultural contextBy tracing the roots of Puerto Rican development from the Spanish onslaught to today, matchless can see the influence of the dominant power in the fundamental interaction between different break aways of Puerto Rico, effecting how they viewed each other, and themselves. Isabels family, which is composed of Spanish and Corsican immigrants, reflects the attitudes that helped form Puerto Rican racial divisions. While she speaks from the point of view of a division of the upper word form, there is a great deal of history canful the attitudes that influence the House on the Lagoon that she only lightly touches upon. Although Puerto Rican federation has been racially mixed, issues such as class, imperialism, and outside prejudices have created a illogical between the different races. Although Isabels record of her familys background begins oft later, the roots of racial division in Puerto Rico started with the Span ish invasion of the island. Before the Spanish invasion in the 1500s, Puerto Rico was populated by the native commonwealth known as the Taino. Once Puerto Rico was invaded by Spain, the Taino were marginalized by the Spaniards, thus creating the first racial conflict. According to Piri Thomas They brought soldiers, money-hungry businessmen, priests, and opportunists. who burned with the fever only gold could cure. They brutally reduced the native tribe to near extinction by means of slavery, cruelty, and murderous extermination. Men, women, and children were set to head for the hills digging for the yellow metal, the precious gold. (Thomas)This shows that the first stage in race relation was motivated by the dominance of the invaders over the invaded. In this way, separatism in the early years of Puerto Rican development under Spanish approach pattern was based on the fact that the Spanish population exploited the islands people and resources, setting up a situation where the n ative population was marginalized. In other words, the marginalization of the native population was rooted in the economic desires of Spain. This created both a racial and class segregation, for the upper class Spaniards had control over the island, while the native population was forced to wing or be forced to work for the invaders. The Spanish occupation of Puerto Rico also brought another aspect of race relations to the island. Unable to utilise the native population to their liking, they brought African slaves to work for them. This added to the racial mixture on the island.