cont.
HISPANIOLA AS A SEASONING, PROVISIONING AND PROVING GROUND FOR SPAIN'S EXPANSION INTO THE AMERICAS

Seasoning of People on Hispaniola
There were also thousands of multiethnic criollos among the "Spanish" conquistadors and settlers who left Hispaniola to conquer and settle the other Caribbean islands and mainland regions. Being able to slip fluidly between and among cultures, they were better able to understand, negotiate with, manipulate and control the new peoples and new conditions they encountered than were their pure Spanish counterparts, especially those who came directly from Iberia.(53) When Juan Ponce de León left Hispaniola to settle the island of Puerto Rico in 1512, for example, he took his family members, friends and fellow soldiers with him, as did Miguel Díaz, who replaced him. Their family members, friends and fellow soldiers included ladinoized Africans, Indians and mixed-blood criollos.

The conquistadores and settlers who left Hispaniola for other New World colonies also took along some of their commended Indians, and slaves of Indian, African and mixed descent.(54) These peoples were already "seasoned." That is, they were at least somewhat accustomed not only to the climate, diseases and foods of the Americas, but to living with and working for Spaniards, thus they provided not only their labor, but served as models in the new regions. Another benefit of taking seasoned slaves was that the "weakest" among them had already died off. A letter to the Emperor from Governor Cerratos dated July 15, 1546, explained these benefits as he described how "negros bozales" were first brought to Hispaniola, where they were "instructed and then sold" as workers for the colonies of Tierra Firme.(55)

Hispaniola's oidores complained in 1528 that the above scenario happened repeatedly. In the settlement of Cuba, for example, they claimed that Diego Velázquez took along with him most of the populace of seven of the island's pueblos.(56) Seasoned peoples of all ethnic backgrounds from Hispaniola also settled New Spain, a region that included much of today's U.S. southwest. They went to Jamaica with Juan de Esquivel. They went on the expeditions of Diego de Nicuesa, Alonso de Ojeda and others to settle Tierra Firme. They went with Gil González and Diego López de Salzado to settle the Capes of Honduras and Higüeras. They went to Nicaragua, to Colombia, to San Miguel de Gualdape in today's South Carolina with Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón and Fray Antonio de Montesinos, and to the pearl island, Cubagua (today's Isla Margarita). And they went to Peru.(57)


Hispaniola as Provisioning Grounds
Hispaniola was not only a seasoning grounds for the people who settled and built the other New World colonies, it also was a provisioning grounds. Conquistadores leaving Hispaniola for new territories took cassabe with them. They were accustomed to eating it, and it did not go wormy or moldy as did bizcocho (ships' biscuits made from wheat). And they took horses and cattle, pigs and chickens that were initially imported to Hispaniola, but over time had adapted to the local conditions, hence survived better than animals carried directly from Spain--not to mention that they were much cheaper and easier to get because they were less distant. After new regions were conquered, Hispaniola also provided such things as fruit trees, vegetable seeds, and sugar cane stock for the new colonies.(58)


Hispaniola as a Proving Ground
Needless to say, the conquistadors and settlers of the new Spanish-American colonies also took with them their basic infrastructures: economic, governmental, judiciary, labor and tribute systems, including the systems of encomienda and slavery as they had evolved and been refined on Hispaniola. They took along their concepts of proper social hierarchy, too. Europeans were at the top of the list of the elites, of course. They took along their concept of proper socio-economic goals: get title to lots of land, Indians and slaves, and thus get rich, but do so using favors accrued through kinship and patron-client linkages, and other peoples' labor. Finally, they took along with them their values and concepts of proper cultural traditions, including dress and personal adornment, property and material possessions, the structure and use of time, religious worship, agriculture and foodways, architecture and use of space, art and artisanry, kin and non-kin relationships, reciprocity and social behavior, and work regimes.

The infrastructures, patterns, values and beliefs that the Spanish residents of Hispaniola took with them to the new colonies throughout the Caribbean, South America, Central America and North America had their origins in Europe, but they could not be implanted intact in the new lands. Although the Europeans were politically, socially and economically dominant, Indians and Africans outnumbered Europeans from the outset. And very quickly, mixed-blood peoples, too, outnumbered Europeans.

All of the imported European infrastructures, patterns, values and beliefs were tempered and modified--in some instances only slightly, in others much more noticeably--by the conquistadores' and colonists' experiences with other peoples, and vice versa. Hispaniola was a vast "proving ground" for the first-ever meeting and blending of Indians, Spaniards and Africans--and of their cultures.


HISPANIOLA, MOTHER OF THE OTHER ISLANDS
In a very real sense, then, Hispaniola was the birthplace of what would come to be called “Americans” and of “American” culture—a people and a culture that are tripartite: Indo-Afro-European. Although he did not live beyond the initial conquest of the Caribbean, Peter Martyr D'Anghiera's sobriquet for Hispaniola proved to be very accurate. He called Hispaniola "mother of the other islands."(59)

Yumnuk great article! I have heard and read similar information before and resist to completely believe it, just like I never believed that the Tainos were extinct.

"However, the story gets more complex! As I said, for a long time archeologists believed that all Native Americans were descended from people from Siberia who crossed over to Alaska about 11,500 years ago. They traveled on a land bridge under what is now the Bering Strait. These people were called the Clovis People after an archeological site near Clovis, NM. They first colonized the uninhabited lands of North America. Later they migrated to Central and South America."

A question for Baracutei,
if the above hypothesis is the case, why would the Mayan, Aztecs, Incas and other Pre-Columbian cultures who supposedly later migrated to Central and South America excelled at edifying colossal Architectural structures that became wonders of the world?
If the above hypothesis is the case, wouldn't make sense that all the scientific advances of the Incas like mummification, astronomical observation, and even city building happened in North America first for the first Native American established themselves in North America first? What do you think about this?

A question for Baracutei,
if the above hypothesis is the case, why would the Mayan, Aztecs, Incas and other Pre-Columbian cultures who supposedly later migrated to Central and South America excelled at edifying colossal Architectural structures that became wonders of the world?
If the above hypothesis is the case, wouldn't make sense that all the scientific advances of the Incas like mummification, astronomical observation, and even city building happened in North America first for the first Native American established themselves in North America first? What do you think about this?

That’s a good question. I think the most logical answer would have to be the regions and valleys where these civilizations arose. When groups of people begin subsisting primarily from farming, villages expand, populations explode. In North American you had groups such as the “Mound Builders” create huge structures and form complex societies as well. The lands of the Inca, Maya and Aztecs were very fertile. When corn was developed these people saw a rise in populations and went from simple villages to city-states. Also I think that natural resources in these regions allowed them creativities that are not easily obtained in other areas.
Thank you for the question!
Jorge

To reiterate Baracutei's point, agriculture is one of the single biggest steps in building complex societies. Many, but not all, of the North American Amerindians were hunters/gatherers, horticulturalists, or small scale agriculturalists. As opposed to the 3 big Amerindian societies of South America which practiced large scale agriculture and transforming their land. This of course leads to population boom and bigger settlements as as Baracutei already mentioned which allows for "wonder" building and generally impressive cities. But one must note that their are negatives to such a turn in societal life style changes.

Thank you Baracutei.

Yes, indeed. But it takes more of a complex mind and experience to build such cities with rudimentary tools.
My point being that, in my humble opinion the 3 big Amerindian societies flourished more than the North American ones in spite of the first ones to be the latest to inhabit the southern part of the Americas, and that is why I wonder about this theory.
We can see in Cuzco and Macchu Picchu the precision in which the indian masons cut the huge boulders to build the city walls and temples. The cuts are so precised, clean and the stone blocks immaculately put together that many wonder if they were done by human hands in such height and remote location.

I was sifting through this thread and found this post by Ciby. I saw a commercial for this and then went to the website about it. While this can be interesting and cheap relatively speaking, once I realized it will not tell you admixture I lost interest I guess. Does anyone know of or can provide a link to admixture testing?

post moved to better pastures.

The test that gives you biogeigraphical percentages is an Autosomal Nuclear DNA test. The best company for this is DNAPrint.
All the best
Baracutei