FEWKES] PBECOLUMBIAN POPULATION 23 



PRECOLUMBIAN POPULATION 



The Europeans who lirst landed on the shores of Porto Rico reported 

 the island to be densely peopled. The early Spanish voyagers state that 

 the population was distributed over the whole island, but that it was 

 thickly settled in the littoral tracts and along- the banks of the rivers. 

 It has been estimated that the population was 200,000, " probabl^v too 

 large a number, though a conservative estimate would still make pre- 

 historic Porto Kico a populous island. 



According to Oviedo,'' the cacique Guarionex led 8,000 warriors to 

 the assault of the Spanish town founded by Sotomaj'or on the western 

 end of the island. Supposing that the women, children, and other 

 nonbelligerents of this territory were not included in this enumeration, 

 a conservative estimate would make the population of this end of the 

 island in the years 1510 and 1511 at least 10,000. Considering that 

 this command of Guarionex was drawn, not from the whole island, 

 but onlj^ from the western end, it is reasonable to conclude that if the 

 remaining population of Porto Rico were equally dense the number of 

 natives amounted to at least 30,000. 



Frequent wars and epidemics, however, rapidly decimated them 

 after their discovery, while a system of repartimientos, or division of 

 them as slaves among the Spaniards, speedily diminished still further 

 the number of natives, so that the race was practically^ extei'minated 

 in a few j'ears. Before their extinction Indians were brought to Porto 

 Rico from neighboring islands,'' and Kongo Africans were introduced 

 from across the ocean, so that it is impossible to estimate with pre- 

 cision the size of the aboriginal population at the time the reparti- 

 mientos were made. 



It is said that 5,500 Indians were divided among Europeans,'' l)ut 

 this number could hardlj^ have included the whole native population and 

 takes no account of those in the mountains who had not been concjuered. 



fl Inigo (see his Historia, cited in footnote, p. 20) estimates the number aH tiUU.OOO, which Senor Bran, 

 the best authority on the subject, reduces to 16,000. 



&Gonzalo FernAndez de Oviedo y Valdez, Historia General y Natural de las Indias. Oviedo was 

 born in Madrid in 1478. After having been a page of Prince Juan, son of Ferdinand and Isabella, he 

 lived in America in different capacities, and was ultimately appointed first historiographer of the 

 Indies. His Historia General y Natural de las Indias was printed in 50 volumes, the first 19 of which 

 were first published in 1535. In 1517 he reprinted this first part in Valladolid, adding another vol- 

 ume called Naufragios. Another edition was published in 1557. This work is of the greatest impor- 

 tance for the study of the aborigines of the West Indies, as Oviedo .personally saw the natives whom 

 be describes. Portions of his history, including book 16 and certain chapters of other books pertain- 

 ing to Porto Rico, were reprinted in 1854 by Tapia y Rivera, Biblioteca de Puerto Rico que contiene 

 varies docmnentos de los siglos ,xv, .xvf, xvii. y xviii, p. 1-587, and index, 1-14, Puerto Rico, 1854. 



(^Gdmara says that in twenty years the Spaniards took into slavery from the Lucayan (Bahama) 

 islands 40,000 persons, representing to them that they were taking them to Paradise. 



rfR. A. Van Middetdyk, in his History of Porto Rico (New York, 1903), says that this number was 

 " certified by Sancho VelAsquez, the judge appointed in 1515 to rectify the distribution made by Ceron 

 and Moscoso, and by Captain Melarejo in his memorial drawn up in 1582." 



