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All this is very subjective of course but let me give some personal insights. I'm working a project in one of the Arabian Gulf states which is a real melange of native Arabs and guest workers like myself from US or Europe but more predominantly from other Arab and SW Asian countries. I went to 3 meetings that had an "Arab" engineer present. Later I started working with him directly and got to know him. Despite an appearance that placed him right the mix for a "typical Gulf Arab" it turned out that he was a Venezuelan and didn't speak a lick of Arabic beyond common greetings. The only thing that placed him a bit outside the normal was his 6'3" or so height, but I'm sure he's an ultra-tall guy in South America too. While pretty uncommon in the Arab world as a whole it's quite common in Saudi.
I've also met two Puerto Rican guys working here - one a civilian contractor and another in the U.S. Air Force. Both of the PRs fit right in too. The one guy I only knew to talk to him because he had got out of a car with a Viva la Borequenya bumper sticker! It's common knowledge (can't verify) that hispanic guys are sought after for both special forces black ops but also community development and relations work because their olive skin and straight black hair puts the locals at ease or allows easier infiltration for spying or sabatoge work. The "hawk-like" features (long straight narrow nose, intense black eyes) are not seen on everybody here, to my surprise. Most have fairly common European type noses and aren't built for heavy-duty desert dust filtration. :-) For instance, I've met both Egyptians and Syrians with sandy light brown hair and blue or hazel eyes that look like Germans and conversely Saudis and Egyptians that look like light-skinned black brothers from the US, even with curly black hair.
Remember, "Arab" means a person speaking Arabic (or their ancestors) and a people who have become Arabized by conquest, cultural assimilation, or I suspect in thousands of instances over the last 1200 years, even by personal choice to change their name, convert to Islam, and learn Arabic. It does not indicate race (caucasian, south-of-saharan
african, east Asian, australoid/Pac Islander). I suspect you can find "Arabs" that are all-of-the above (OK, prob. not Australoid/Pac I.) Arabs can be dark-brown Sudanese with afros or nearly "Aryan" blue-eyed blonds from the Levantine countries of the eastern Mediterranean. It's even harder to predict "Arab appearance" with women because plastic surgery is so common here among the upper classes (usual to reduce the long pointy nose) and use of skin bleaches and hair lightening or highlighting. Much to my surprise, the pharmacies and grocery stores commonly carry skin-bleachening agents packaged for men. Gulf Arabs are very high income on average and travel frequently to the US and Europe. Probably helps them get through airport security avoiding extra checks and harrassment. ... or maybe just misplaced vanity. :-)
That's why I find it humorous how Homeland Security in the US tries to profile and harrass "Arab"-appearing passengers. If any group wanted to mount a sophisticated Terror Plot they could easily recruit Arabs that looked just like Timmy and Susie from the Midwest Dairy Queen. (It's kind of scary).
Location: Tampa Bay`·.¸¸ ><((((º>.·´¯`·><((((º>
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That is so interesting! Thanks for the info!! This is a very interesting thread.
I would have been very surprised to see a car with Viva La Borinqueña in those areas
I knew a Puerto Rican that said he had some Assyrian in him and spoke aramaic to me he from Puerto Rico... I'm Assyrian.
Hey I'm not suprise because many Puerto Rican should have some middle eastern mix since it is true for Spainish people that has Arab mix just like the language.
Puerto Rican music like Plena has some middle eastern drum, tambourine drums or frame drum....
Also the bango drums are rooted from middle east not Africa as some tried to say
If any of you remember the 62%Amerindian, 30%African, and 8%Caucasoid study, it was very flawed because they used very few people (no more than 800 people) and all from the same area (west coast).
That's why I find it humorous how Homeland Security in the US tries to profile and harrass "Arab"-appearing passengers. If any group wanted to mount a sophisticated Terror Plot they could easily recruit Arabs that looked just like Timmy and Susie from the Midwest Dairy Queen. (It's kind of scary).
I had a fiancee who is half Syrian half Swedish (he looks totally Swedish). Since his dad is the Syrian one he has his last name, and everytime he flies he gets "randomly selected".
Just before Spain started sailing for the New World, they have just retaken part of Spain from the Muslims. The conquered people were given the option of converting to Catholicism or leave (back to North Africa where this wave of Muslims had come). Even to this day there's a strong cultural influence from this. The Spanish language has a lot of words from the Arabs borrowed during this era. Therefore it's not a surprise that a lot of Puerto Ricans of Spanish descent would have Arab DNA. By the way, I digress from the traditional viewpoint that we have a strong Taino mix in our blood. TaÃnos were mostly wiped out during the early XXVI century by the Spanish conquistadores. The island remained practically empty until the late XVIII century when there was an influx of immigrants from the Canaries Islands (a territory of Spain), Italy and Ireland. That explains our particular Spanish accent where most people don't pronounce the s, and replace the r with the l.
Location: The Circle City. Sometimes NE of Bagdad.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dlozada01
Just before Spain started sailing for the New World, they have just retaken part of Spain from the Muslims. The conquered people were given the option of converting to Catholicism or leave (back to North Africa where this wave of Muslims had come). Even to this day there's a strong cultural influence from this. The Spanish language has a lot of words from the Arabs borrowed during this era. Therefore it's not a surprise that a lot of Puerto Ricans of Spanish descent would have Arab DNA. By the way, I digress from the traditional viewpoint that we have a strong Taino mix in our blood. TaÃnos were mostly wiped out during the early XXVI century by the Spanish conquistadores. The island remained practically empty until the late XVIII century when there was an influx of immigrants from the Canaries Islands (a territory of Spain), Italy and Ireland. That explains our particular Spanish accent where most people don't pronounce the s, and replace the r with the l.
So like a good PR boy, I always understood that I am foremost Spanish, and likely have Taino and African blood in me, because that is what we are told PRs major influences were. Of course there were a variety of other settlers, including varying Europeans, Asians, Jews, etc, but the Spanish/Taino/African mix is the most abundant (for lack of a better word). That being said, I recently took a dna test to get some insight into my lineage, and discovered that I am basically 100% Arab (a mix of different Arab populations), and that the region of the world that I am most similar to, genetically, is not Latin America (or any Latin American country) or Europe, it is Mesopotamia (Iran/Iraq areas). In fact, my closest genetic relatives are the Kurds in Northern Iraq. So my questions are these: Both my parents are from PR, as are my grandparents, however I have virtually NO Spanish/European, Taino, or African influence of any substance, and am basically 100% of Arab descent. How is this possible? Is this common? How large was/is the middle eastern influence in Puerto Rico historically? Could PR be surpressing the role of middle eastern migration for some reason or maybe just doesn't know how large a role it played?
I think you should do the 23andme DNA test. It is much more reliable and does a deeper further breakdown.
Its possible that you have Sephardic Jewish ancestry or Mizrahic Jewish ancestry or perhaps Guanche ancestry from the Canary Islands.
All this is very subjective of course but let me give some personal insights. I'm working a project in one of the Arabian Gulf states which is a real melange of native Arabs and guest workers like myself from US or Europe but more predominantly from other Arab and SW Asian countries. I went to 3 meetings that had an "Arab" engineer present. Later I started working with him directly and got to know him. Despite an appearance that placed him right the mix for a "typical Gulf Arab" it turned out that he was a Venezuelan and didn't speak a lick of Arabic beyond common greetings. The only thing that placed him a bit outside the normal was his 6'3" or so height, but I'm sure he's an ultra-tall guy in South America too. While pretty uncommon in the Arab world as a whole it's quite common in Saudi.
I've also met two Puerto Rican guys working here - one a civilian contractor and another in the U.S. Air Force. Both of the PRs fit right in too. The one guy I only knew to talk to him because he had got out of a car with a Viva la Borequenya bumper sticker! It's common knowledge (can't verify) that hispanic guys are sought after for both special forces black ops but also community development and relations work because their olive skin and straight black hair puts the locals at ease or allows easier infiltration for spying or sabatoge work. The "hawk-like" features (long straight narrow nose, intense black eyes) are not seen on everybody here, to my surprise. Most have fairly common European type noses and aren't built for heavy-duty desert dust filtration. :-) For instance, I've met both Egyptians and Syrians with sandy light brown hair and blue or hazel eyes that look like Germans and conversely Saudis and Egyptians that look like light-skinned black brothers from the US, even with curly black hair.
Remember, "Arab" means a person speaking Arabic (or their ancestors) and a people who have become Arabized by conquest, cultural assimilation, or I suspect in thousands of instances over the last 1200 years, even by personal choice to change their name, convert to Islam, and learn Arabic. It does not indicate race (caucasian, south-of-saharan
african, east Asian, australoid/Pac Islander). I suspect you can find "Arabs" that are all-of-the above (OK, prob. not Australoid/Pac I.) Arabs can be dark-brown Sudanese with afros or nearly "Aryan" blue-eyed blonds from the Levantine countries of the eastern Mediterranean. It's even harder to predict "Arab appearance" with women because plastic surgery is so common here among the upper classes (usual to reduce the long pointy nose) and use of skin bleaches and hair lightening or highlighting. Much to my surprise, the pharmacies and grocery stores commonly carry skin-bleachening agents packaged for men. Gulf Arabs are very high income on average and travel frequently to the US and Europe. Probably helps them get through airport security avoiding extra checks and harrassment. ... or maybe just misplaced vanity. :-)
That's why I find it humorous how Homeland Security in the US tries to profile and harrass "Arab"-appearing passengers. If any group wanted to mount a sophisticated Terror Plot they could easily recruit Arabs that looked just like Timmy and Susie from the Midwest Dairy Queen. (It's kind of scary).
A lot of Arabs are black too as well. Look up the Arab slave trade.
A lot of Arabs are black too as well. Look up the Arab slave trade.
If they have the features of Africans, then they are African and not Arabs. Speaking a dialect of Arabic does not make one an Arab. Most of North Africa is not Arabs. They are the result Arab conquests and most were once Berbers.
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