My Nation

MY NATION
By
David A Nieves

Throughout history, has existed in Puerto Rico a dispute about whether we are or not a nation. Some people argue that Yes, however others say that no, we cannot consider us as such. In the end, will be the Puerto Rican nation? And there, what cultural factors determine our nation? We should first start by defining this concept. According to the dictionary of the“Real Academia Española”, nation is "the origin of the people;" Community of individuals United by ties cultural, religious, linguistic or racial; "these links stem from a number of characteristics that, when they are felt as own, tend to differentiate themselves from those that govern in communities that are in your environment." Considering this definition, Puerto Rico is a nation that the set ofpeople who live here have a number of characters that distinguish us from the rest of the world.
According to the Puerto Rican writer Antonio S. Pedreira, author of Insularismo aspects through which turns the term Puertorican nation are history, geography, psychology, race and culture. In the historic-racial area, Puerto Rico has five centuries of history. The first indigenous peoples, thosenatural were the absolute owners of this paradise the Puertorican soil. Then came the Spaniards, which invaded and used religion to abuse of the natives to take them to their extermination. When at last they were about to extinguish (the natives), began arriving on our shores blacks brought from Africa; and that differ in pigmentation were treated as inferior and enslaved beings to obtain wealth forthe Spanish Crown. And finally, in 1898, invaded also our island Americans, who only saw us as a strategic point that would help them in their defense. With this invasion, better known as the Spanish-American war, Puerto Rico became a colony of the United States (a status which is still in force). Each of the groups that formed the "country of the four-story" (epithet created by José Luis Gonzálezto refer to the island), brought with them their culture, language, ideas and race; in other words, aspects that contributed to the development of our national identity.
Our historic-racial background has been instrumental in the development of our racist nation. Puerto Ricans deny we are fruit of the Union between blacks and whites, we prefer to believe that our skin color is due to theIndians. What an irony! The taínos were nearly extinct when black reached the island. If Tainos were treated far worse than the blacks, is why we prefer to say that we are not black and Taíno heritage? This is due to the Indian never had status as slave, not sold, and even he was defended by the Church. On the other hand, Africans were sold as pets, so our rejection of this ethnic group in our line ofblood.
Geography is another factor that has been decisive in the psychology of the Puerto Rican, and therefore our national identity. Pedreira exposes the weakness and psychological smallness of the inhabitants of Puerto Rico is due to the tropical climate. But, thanks to the climate, are people, friendly, happy, and above all, revelers. We celebrate any holiday, our culture or not. An exampleof this is the celebration of Thanksgiving Day, commemorating the extermination of North American Indians by the pilgrims. Another feature of the Puerto Rican is the weak strength of will, which is attributed to the softness of our landscape.
However, there is to recognize that when propose us something did. First the Criollos (Puertoricans), which defended the island of the British attackedunder the command of Admiral Henry Harvey and General Ralph Abercromby in 1797. This Act shows that already had on the island a sense of belonging and identity as a people, because they not defending Spain, but was defended well, Puerto Rico. In addition, in 1868, a group of people banded together to protest against Spanish oppression on the island, and did that we could see a change in attitude...