History tends to be written by the victor therefore; history states Christopher Columbus "discovered" the New World. What is not taught is how Columbus enslaved, killed, and in short, took over, the native peoples of the Caribbean Islands. As a result of his "discovery", the Taino Indians across all the Caribbean Islands have been long declared extinct. Modern science has claimed to have "re-discovered" other Indian tribes through DNA that were declared extinct but now the question remains; Where are the Taino Indians?
"The U.S. Government says they are extinct, but they are not. You most likely know them as Latinos, a Spanish speaking person of Latin American (the Spanish speaking part of the Americas, south …show more content…
According to the study on 800 people to determine how much, if any, Native American blood could still be found in the modern Puerto Rican people funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, 61 percent of all the Puerto Ricans tested have Amerindian mitochondrial DNA, 27 percent have African and 12 percent Caucasian. (Nuclear DNA, or the genetic material present in a gene's nucleus, is inherited in equal parts from one's father and mother. Mitochondrial DNA is inherited only from one's mother and does not change or blend with other materials over time.) Another test conducted revealed the sample set collected from people who claimed to have a maternal ancestor with Native American physiognomic traits had a statistically significant higher frequency of Native American mtDNAs (69.6%) than did the unbiased sample set (52.6%). This higher frequency suggests that, despite the fact that the native Taíno culture has been extinct for centuries, the Taíno contribution to the current population is considerable and some of the Taíno physiognomic traits are still present. As more studies are conducted, more people are claiming their native heritage. "Another historical moment that should receive more attention involves the story of a group of …show more content…
"Just who were those 'Indians' that discovered Columbus?" Web. May 2015. http://www.nativecircle.com/mlmRealColumbus.html
Kearns, Rick. Indian Country Today. "Indigenous Puerto Rico: DNA evidence upsets established history". October 06, 2003. Web. May 2015. http://www.indio.net/taino/main/dna.htm.
Guthmann, Laurie. CNN. "More Latinos identify as Native American, census shows". September 30, 2011. Web. May 2015. http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/09/30/latino.native.american/
Watts, Sheldon (2003). Disease and medicine in world history. Routledge. pp. 86, 91.ISBN