Puerto Rico History - Early Colonists
On August 12, 1508, 15 years after the discovery of America, the first group of Spanish settlers, proceeding from Santo Domingo, arrived at the southern coast of Puerto Rico. Following the Conference of Guaynia with the Indian Chief Agueybana, the Spaniards moved up to the north coast where, after preliminary exploration, they started a small settlement on the southern bank of the bay of San Juan, which they called Caparra. An additional group of settlers came a year later, bringing the first white women to the island, including the wife and daughters of the founding captain as well as some of the first women to settle in Santo Domingo immediately following Columbus' third trip.
Although the Guaynia conference represented an act of cordial co-existence, rather than one of territorial surrender, the Spaniards immediately proceeded to establish a general government headed by Ponce de León, with the idea of controlling the island as a whole. They also established a local or municipal government in order to protect the interests of the small settlement.
The nature and extent of the powers of the first governor and the first municipal government have yet to be estimated. But if the prerogatives of the governor were extensive and inclusive, those of the municipium must have been very limited, considering that its establishment coincided with the beginning of the absolute personal regime of their Catholic Majesties, and with them, of the first rulers of the House of Austria in Spain.
Using the small settlement of Caparraas a basis of operations, the Spaniards went out to seek that vital soil which would assure their welfare and means of livelihood. If gold extraction was the main objective of the majority, there were others who cultivated the land or raised cattle from the stock imported years before by Captain Garcia Alonso and his assistant Martin Garciade Salazar, and by Ponce de Leon himself, according to the instructions of the colonist Vincente Yanez Pinzón.
During the initial process of expansion, the colonists clashed frequently with the Indians, with whom Columbus and his followers had not achieved a basis for communication. In order to fulfill the needs of labor in the insular wilderness, the settlers were authorized by the King to make use of Indian labor following the "encomienda" system claimed by some to be derived from the medieval "comenda" or "commendati" by which the services performed by knights and nobles were rewarded.
This system was adopted by the Spaniards during the War of Reconquest, and was used in their first experiment at colonization in the Canary Islands in 1475. From the Canaries their ships sailed across the Atlantic to America, the islands serving as a supply center of soldiers and farmers for the new lands, as well as for the colonization of Santo Domingo in 1496.
By royal decree the Indian was to be considered a free person and respected as such ; as has so often happened throughout history, however, passion proved stronger than right. Lust for wealth and the prejudice of racial superiority led the settler to judge the native as pagan, irrational, and barbarian. The colonist used the royal order in Puerto Rico, as had been done in the Canaries and in Santo Domingo, to separate the Indian from his natural environment.
Forced to labor beyond his physical strength, ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, deprived of his wife and children, the native population was subject to countless abuses, injuries, and mistreatment. Unwilling to sacrifice his birthright, the Indian turned to warfare in an attempt to preserve his rightful culture. The battle proved bloody and harsh ; the Indian, despite his intimate knowledge of the territory, his numerical superiority, and other resources, was overpowered by his enemy's use of more advanced weaponry, including the sword, armor, the lance and pick, the roundshield and knife, and the harquebuse, as well as the horse and the dog.
The decisive factor was the Spaniard's military experience derived from his campaigns in the peninsula, the Canaries, and Santo Domingo. The Indian was thus defeated, and driven to seek shelter in the heart of the island's forests, a traditional habitat and refuge since the beginning of time. In the forest expanse [writes Schwidetezky] primitive tribes found refuge when displaced from better regions. The forest, particularly in the tropics, offered means of survival, especially to small groups with few demands. Its density is an obstacle for those who try to go through it, but it is also a barrier against pursuers, who would have the advantage on clear territory.
But the tropical forest of Puerto Rico, given its small proportions, offered the Indian only partial protection. Deprived of an easier means of subsistence and in the face of urgent needs which he could not satisfy, the Indian was constantly forced into poorer regions, pursued by the conquerors.
The King decreed the death penalty for the principal Indian rebels; Ponce de Leon ordered that the captured fugitives be made slaves, branded on the forehead with an "F" and sold to the highest bidder. Caught in a cycle of persecution and punishment, the Indian sought an escape from a life that had become a living hell. Many left the island ; others resorted to suicide.
The triumph of the conquerors destroyed the political and social organization of the Indian, putting an end to the development of the Indian state. Notwithstanding, the Indian population did not disappear. On the contrary, many factions resigned themselves to a life of submission or scattered throughout the island, thus preserving the purity of Indian blood until the beginning of the 19th century.
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