 All of these factors would indeed prove detrimental for the Taínos in Puerto Rico and surrounding Caribbean islands.In the 16th century, a significant depth of Puerto Rican culture began to develop with the import of African slaves by the Spanish, as well as by the French, the Portuguese, the British, and the Dutch.Thousands of Spanish settlers also immigrated to Puerto Rico from the Canary Islands during the 18th and 19th centuries, so many so that whole Puerto Rican villages and towns were founded by Canarian immigrants, and their descendants would later form a majority of the population on the island.