Hispaniola, or the Dominican Republic: The idyllic Caribbean island that Christopher Columbus named "Hispaniola" , the same Island he wrote to Ferdinand and Isabella "Esta es la tierra mas bella bajo los cielos! " ("This is the fairest land under heaven! " ) after stepping to Dominican coasts. The place where Spaniards first introduced Christian civilization to the Americas has a unique position geographically occupying the Eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola which it shares with the Republic of Haiti. As the Center of the Caribbean, it is the most accessible of all islands to both North America and South America. Here the sea has enormous depth (deepest known spot in the Atlantic Ocean ), 4,561 Fathoms or approximately five and a half miles, lies off Puerto Rico and the Eastern Dominican Coast. Aside from the Bahamas, all of these islands are located within the Tropic of Cancer. The Dominican Republic is classified as a greater Antilles, a group formed by Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Jamaica. The contemporary Antilles are a great example of different cultural roots producing a common history of a cultural mosaic of Indian, African and European heritage blending into a local identity.

A conservative estimate is that there were approximately one million Indians in the Dominican Republic at the time of discovery. That number was reduced to 50,000 within fifteen years and continued to diminish, with only 11,000 Indians remaining by 1517. Descriptions indicate that the Indians were identical in appearance to those of Amazon tribes existing today. Sketches show them as short and muscular, having bronzed-colored skin with broad faces, full lips, high cheekbones, splayed nostrils, oriental eyes and straight, lank hair. Their teeth were discolored, apparently from tobacco. Some used bija seeds (red dye) extracted from herbs to decorate themselves. The men were judged ugly by the Spaniards and the women attractive. The Taino Indians ( meaning good / common man in the Arawak language) were considered to be the most highly developed indigenous civilization by far and were a branch of the Arawak tribes of South America.

We can only guess that the evolution of race in Hispaniola dates back to 1492 when the Taino lifestyle was threatened by the Spaniards and also through the incursions of another fiercer Indian of the Arawak civilization, "The Carib." These Indians had similar physical features and culture and lived in Guadeloupe and on Venezuela’s northern coast. By 1511, in less than 50 years, Hispaniola’s indigenous population became virtually extinct as the Tainos organized insurrections and, in most cases, collective suicides rather than being taken away from their wives and forced into slavery by the Spaniards.

The Spaniards replaced their lost labor by importing slaves from Africa’s Guinea Coast. These Africans were at the time thought to be animals without souls. Tribes from north and east of the Sierra Leone were Mohammadens and Mandingoes thought to be superior to other Africans because their hair was silkier and softer, and they didn’t have the thick lips and flat nose of the other Southern tribes. Negroes from Angola and Congo were better fitted for domestic services than field labor. 1552 was the year of the arrival of the first African slaves to the island. There were a total of 80,000 blacks by 1568. The slave trade became a major industry, dominated by the Dutch, British, French, Danes and Portuguese, and slavery endured until 1822 when the Dominican Republic was conquered by the Republic of Haiti. Contact between Tainos, Black slaves and Spaniards lasted only 50 years in our island.

The fusion of Indian, Spanish and African blood formed a new Creole civilization-the ethnic basis and origin of the national identity for the Dominican people, who still retain most of the Taino ways. Decisions regarding race issues and grading laws of mixed children went into effect with the arrival of the Spaniards to the country. Back then Blacks were treated more leniently than Indians because they were purchased for money and therefore had more value. Black slaves were accompanied by women and used specifically for breeding, but the most attractive women were taken as mates by the Spaniards. There was also a mixture of Negro, white and Arawak blood that produced many exotic types. These were samboes, mulattos, mestizos, quadroons and octoroons, each having their legal rights. The "Droit de Seigneur" was the right of a white man to take a desired Negress as a concubine. The results of mating with Spaniards often produced offspring, particularly women of outstanding form and beauty. This is how a legal system of grading such mixture was developed in the Island.

The effects and consequences of these laws still affect Islanders 500 years later, with our current social class conflicts: the way Dominicans perceive looks, color, culture, marriages, social status , economy etc. When the Spaniards came, they stole all their wealth in gold, massacred the indigenous population and brought slaves to take the place of the extinct Tainos. Thus, economically speaking, the wealth in Hispaniola is concentrated among a scarce 5 percent of the population, comprised of those few descendants from Spanish blood who forever remained in our land. They are the rich of today’s Hispaniona because they owned all the land they stole from the Tainos. In the early days it was illegal for both the Tainos and the Africans to buy land. Therefore wealth was distributed quite unevenly, and it still affects the present Dominican population as whites own most of the private sector of the country.

Some Dominicans, perhaps misguided and moved by romanticism, but with very little genetic evidence, exaggerate Taino heritage. This is possibly to justify the genocide of the race or, maybe worse, to undermine the African influence for prejudicial reasons. Taino heritage can’t be exaggerated in our culture, as genetic factors alone indicate the heavier influences of the Spanish-African in the origin of our culture. Still, today, when a Dominican fills out an employment or passport application and is asked "what color?" he immediately puts INDIO Claro / Oscuro which means light / dark Indian rather than saying Black.