The recent update to AncestryDNA results now lists a percentage for the indigenous people of Puerto Rico, historically also known as the Taino. This is truly incredible news. I, as well as many of my fellow Puerto Ricans, have always known from an intellectual and spiritual sense that we collectively come from and continue to represent the Taino Indian. It truly feels amazing to finally see it clearly stated in official DNA results.

Puerto Ricans grow up hearing about the Taino people and know that Boricuas, an indigenous derived word we warmly refer to ourselves as, are made up of Spanish, African, and Taino blood. With the enormous advances in DNA analysis, we can now estimate the percentages of each group that comprises who we collectively are. My genetic makeup includes 15% DNA from the initial inhabitants of the island of Boriken (Puerto Rico.) Research has finally proven that the Taino, believed by some in the scientific community to have been extinct, lives on in the Puerto Rican.

If you are Puerto Rican and have submitted your DNA to Ancestry.com, check out your most recent update and feel free to share your results and thoughts in the comments section. Of course, the new data is not the end-all or be-all of being Puerto Rican, but it’s helpful information that can lead to an insightful conversation with family and friends.

Ancestry.com states it updates its results from time to time to include more accurate information as it gathers additional DNA data sets from across the globe. The new results could be upsetting if, like in my case, one year you are more Portuguese than Spanish and the next year you’re back to being more Spanish than Portuguese.

In any event, I believe it’s important to know your ancestry because the knowledge provides an international perspective on your family history and demonstrates that we are more connected to each other than we are apart.