The Taino people were declared extinct in 1565, but a DNA study last year found that 61% of all Puerto Ricans and roughly a third of Cubans and Dominicans have Native American mitochondrial DNA.

The average proportion of Native American ancestry in the veins – 8% nationwide – climbs to 15% in eastern provinces (and far more in some individuals). It’s almost exclusively derived from ...

For some scholars and laymen alike, the only authentic Indian is an extinct Indian. Owning a computer, listening to reggae or salsa, or playing baseball or cricket is enough to call into question ...

On average, the genomes of Puerto Ricans contain 10–15% Native American DNA, which is largely Taíno, says Bustamante. At a presentation at the 12th International Congress of Human Genetics in ...

Three Taíno Indian sisters pose during a family pig roast in eastern Cuba, where there’s a small but growing movement to explore the indigenous culture that Columbus encountered in 1492.

Scientists were aware of its presence but haven’t been sure if most of that DNA was Taino or if it came from Native American populations who later migrated to the islands. To find it ...

This practice was also applied to Taíno Indians. Then, after 1533, when Indian slaves were “granted” their freedom by the Spanish monarchy, any Spaniard who was reluctant to let their Taíno ...

Taíno (Chican Ostionoid) cemí carved to represent a human head, AD 800–1500, San Pedro de Macorís Province, Dominican Republic. Stone Purchased in 1941 from A.E. Todd. (20/3511) ...

Kacike Roberto Mukaro Agüeybana Borrero, president of the United Confederation of Taino Peoples and a member ... is a way to trace the amount of Native American blood an individual has.

It’s been 514 years since the Taíno people, one of the major indigenous groups in the pre-Columbian Caribbean, first rebelled against the Spanish Conquistadors. By that time, the Spanish had ...