what were puerto ricans originally?

Question

there origin before the spanish and europeans took over

Answer 1

Puerto Rico-
Native Inhabitants and Spanish Colonization:

The original name of the island, given by the indigenous Taino-Arawak people, was "Boriken," which means "land of the brave people." The Tainos were an agricultural people with highly developed political, social, religious, and cultural beliefs and practices, whose ancestors go back to 4,000 BC.
In 1493, on his second voyage to the Americas, Christopher Columbus claimed Borinquen for Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain. He originally named the island of the Tainos San Juan Bautista. The island's name was later changed to Puerto Rico, which means "rich port." Within sixty years, most of the Taino population was destroyed through war against the Spanish invaders, through the devastation of slavery in gold mines and plantations, and through diseases that the Europeans brought to the island.
Almost immediately after the arrival of the Spanish, the Tainos began to rebel against colonization. Caciques or chiefs led revolts against the invading Spaniards. Famous legends and historical documents from the Spanish themselves tell stories of this resistance, led by famous caciques such as Urayoan and Agueybana II. Even before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, Cacique Urayoan had warned his people of the coming devastation. Legend tells that he had a vision of the coming of white-skinned men riding animals (horses) that would bring great destruction to his people. He was one of the first caciques to call his people to rebellion and to spread the word to other caciques to resist Spanish colonization.
Many Tainos escaped from the oppression of the Spanish by fleeing to other Caribbean islands, where they joined the Caribs (the native inhabitants of the lower Antillean Islands) in resisting Spanish colonization. Despite the decimation of the Taino people, their influence lives on as a permanent physical and cultural element of Puerto Rican life. For example, many Arawak-Taino words passed into Spanish (and, in some cases, from there into English), such as huracan (hurricane) and hamaca (hammock). Taino musical instruments, such as maracas and the guiro (an instrument made from gourds), continue to play a key role in Puerto Rican musical forms.
Once the Taino population was largely destroyed, the Spanish began enslaving African to fill their need for labor. African slavery was a major engine of the Puerto Rican economy from 1508 to March 22, 1873, when it was finally abolished.
Puerto Rico's African Heritage
Some scholars believe that there is evidence of an African presence in the Americas prior to the Spanish arrival in the late fifteenth century. Archeological studies have discovered what may be African artifacts and human skeletons in parts of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean that predate the Europeans by at least 2,000 years. For example, evidence of exchanges between the great Olmec culture of Mexico and the Nubian-Kemetic cultures of Africa during the period 1450-800 BC has been found in La Venta and Palenque in Mexico.
Between 1310 and 1491 AD Mandingo merchant explorers from Africa made more than fifty trips to various Caribbean and Central and South American points.
In addition, the Spanish themselves were deeply influenced by African culture. The Moors of North Africa had a permanent impact on the development of Spanish history, art, and culture through their occupation of Spanish territory, which lasted approximately 800 years. Free Africans, known as libertos, originally travelled with the Spanish conquistadors to the Americas. A liberto was a man or woman of African origin who came to settle in Puerto Rico from Spain. Two examples are:
Juan Gariido, who accompanied Juan Ponce de Leon (the first governor of Puerto Rico assigned by the Spanish crown) in exploring the coast of Florida in 1506. Gariido is also known for bringing the first wheat and other new vegetable seeds to the Americas.
Francisco Gallego, the first Spanish entrepreneur of African origin in Puerto Rico.
Enslaved Africans were sold to the Spanish by Portuguese slavers working from ports in central-west Africa. African slaves were brought first to the Caribbean islands and from there to other parts of the Americas. The entire Western Hemisphere, including the Caribbean as well as North, Central, and South America, has a common African ancestry, originating from central-west Africa. Historians estimate that anywhere from fifteen to fifty million Africans were taken from Africa between 1482 and 1888. The lack of food and extreme physical abuses experienced in the Middle Passage across the Atlantic often killed up to a third of the enslaved Africans.
As early as 1514, enslaved Tainos and Africans in Puerto Rico joined forces in revolt against slavery. By 1848 more than twenty revolts had occurred. Cimarrones (fugitive slaves) planned individual escapes and collective revolts. Many cimarrones would escape to the remote mountains of the island or even other Caribbean or Central or South American lands, where they formed free communities. Some of their descendants survive to this day, especially along the Atlantic Coast of Central and South America. Many others were killed in heroic attempts to obtain their freedom.
Throughout the 365 years of slavery in Puerto Rico, there was also a large pupulation of free Puerto Ricans of African descent. In addition to revolting or escaping, slaves could also negotiate to buy their freedom and that of their families. Most free Puerto Ricans of African descent, as well as mulatos or mestizos, worked in a variety of occupations such as agriculture or domestic labor, or as artisans, merchants, or ship hands. Many continues the struggle against slavery and racism, becoming abolitionists and freedom fighters. People of African descent have made pronounced contributions to Puerto Rico's historical, social, intellectual, artistic, and cultural development.
African influence may also be traced in many words from African languages that have become a permanent part of Puerto Rican Spanish (and, in some cases, English): mango (mango), candungo (storage pot), mofongo (a plantain dish), mondongo (a stew), guineo (banana), or chevere (good!). Puerto Rican musical instruments such as la clave (also known as par de palos or "two sticks"), drums with stretched animal skin such as bongos or congas, and Puerto Rican music-dance forms such as la bomba or la plena are likewise rooted in Africa.
Puerto Rican cuisine also has a strong African influence.

Answer 2

Puerto Ricans.

Answer 3

well we were Taino Indians then when the Spanish(Columbus) came they had raped the Tanio women and that made Puerto Ricans and made them into slaves (look it up).

Answer 4

Tiano Indians.

Answer 5

ummm Puerto Rico?

Answer 6

Humans, indigenous to the region.

Answer 7

quartz crystals

Answer 8

black people,