Indigenous Puerto Rico

About this Region

Our Indigenous Puerto Rico region encompasses the archipelago of Puerto Rico, with its main island and more than 140 islets and cays. The Taíno were the primary inhabitants until the Spanish arrived in the late 1400s. The Spanish conquistadors marveled at the complex Taíno ceremonial dances and oral storytelling traditions. The polytheistic Taíno believed that their gods, known as zemi, controlled elements of the natural world, such as wind and fire.