 |
This page is a personal user's work in progress page, not an article, and may be incomplete and/or unreliable. Please do not edit. The current version of this article is, or will be located at Puerto Rico. |
Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico Commonwealth of Puerto Rico | |
|---|---|
| Motto: Latin: Joannes Est Nomen Eius Spanish: Juan es su nombre English: "John is his name" | |
| Anthem: "La Borinqueña" | |
 | |
| Capital and largest city | San Juan |
| Official languages | Spanish and English[1] |
| Ethnic groups | 80.5% White (Spanish, French, Italian, Corsican), 8.0% Black, 0.4% Taíno, 0.2% Asian (esp. Chinese), 11% Multiracial |
| Demonym(s) | Puerto Rican |
| Government | Republican three-branch government |
| George W. Bush | |
| United States Congress | |
| Aníbal Acevedo Vilá | |
| Sovereignty United States sovereignty.[2] | |
| Area | |
• Total | 9,104 km2 (3,515 sq mi) (169th) |
• Water | 1,809 sq mi (4,690 km2) |
• Water (%) | 1.6 |
| Population | |
• July 2007 estimate | 3,994,259 (127th in the world; 27th in U.S.) |
• 2000 census | 3,913,055 |
• Density | 438/km2 (1,134.4/sq mi) (21st in the world; 3rd in U.S.) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2007 estimate |
• Total | $77.4 billion (N/A) |
• Per capita | $19,600 (N/A) |
| Currency | United States dollar (USD) |
| Time zone | UTC-4 (AST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (No DST) |
| Calling code | +1 spec. +1-787 and +1-939 |
| ISO 3166 code | PR |
| Internet TLD | .pr |
Puerto Rico (/ˌpwertoˈriko/), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: "Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" [literally, English: "Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"), is a self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands. The territory is composed of an archipelago that includes the main island of Puerto Rico and a number of smaller islands and keys, the largest of which are Vieques, Culebra, and Mona. The main island of Puerto Rico is the smallest by land area but third largest by population among the four Greater Antilles (Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico).
Puerto Ricans often call the island Borinquen, from Borikén, its indigenous Taíno name.[3][4] The terms boricua and borincano derive from Borikén and Borinquen respectively, and are commonly used to identify someone of Puerto Rican heritage. The island is also popularly known as "La Isla del Encanto", which translated means "The Island of Enchantment."
History edit
Pre-Columbian era edit
The history of the archipelago of Puerto Rico (Spanish for "Rich Port") before the arrival of Christopher Columbus is not well known. What is known today comes from archaeological findings and early Spanish accounts. The first comprehensive book on the history of Puerto Rico was written by Fray Iñigo Abbad y Lasierra in 1786, 293 years after the first Spaniards arrived on the island.[5]
The first settlers were the Ortoiroid people, an Archaic Period culture of Amerindian hunters and fishermen. An archaeological dig in the island of Vieques in 1990 found the remains of what is believed to be an Arcaico (Archaic) man (named Puerto Ferro man) dated to around 2000 BC. Between AD 120 and 400, the Igneri, a tribe from the South American Orinoco region, arrived. Between the 4th and 10th centuries, the Arcaicos and Igneri co-existed (and perhaps clashed) on the island. Between the 7th and 11th centuries the Taíno culture developed on the island, and by approximately 1000 AD had become dominant. This lasted until Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492.[6][7]
Spanish colony edit
When Christopher Columbus arrived in Puerto Rico during his second voyage on November 19, 1493, the island was inhabited by a group of Arawak Indians known as Taínos. They called the island "Borikén" or, in Spanish, "Borinquen".[8] Columbus named the island San Juan Bautista, in honor of Saint John the Baptist. Later the island took the name of Puerto Rico while the capital was named San Juan. In 1508, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León became the island's first governor to take office.[9]
The Spanish soon colonized the island. Taínos were forced into slavery and were decimated by the harsh conditions of work and by diseases brought by the Spaniards. In 1511, the Taínos revolted against the Spanish; cacique Urayoán, as planned by Agüeybaná II, ordered his warriors to drown the Spanish soldier Diego Salcedo to determine whether the Spaniards were immortal. After drowning Salcedo, they kept watch over his body for three days to confirm his death.[10] The revolt was easily crushed by Ponce de León and within a few decades much of the native population had been decimated by disease, violence, and a high occurrence of suicide. African slaves were introduced to replace the Taíno. Puerto Rico soon became an important stronghold and port for the Spanish Empire. Various forts and walls, such as La Fortaleza, El Castillo San Felipe del Morro and [[Fort San Cristóbal|El Castilwer to annul any legislative decision, and a partially elected parliamentary structure. In February, Governor-General Manuel Macías inaugurated the new
- ^ Nancy Morris (1995), Puerto Rico: Culture, Politics, and Identity, Praeger/Greenwood, p. 62, ISBN 0275952282
- ^ U.S. Department of State. Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty
- ^ Allatson, Paul. Key Terms in Latino/a Cultural and Literary Studies, p. 47. Malden, Mass: Blackwell Publishing, 2007. ISBN 1405102500.
- ^ Dictionary: Taino Indigenous Peoples of the Caribbean Retrieved: February 21, 2008. (Based on the encyclopedia "Clásicos de Puerto Rico", 2nd. edition. Ed. Cayetano Coll y Toste. Publisher: Ediciones Latinoamericanas, S.A., 1972.).
- ^ Abbad y Lasierra, Iñigo. Historia Geográfica, Civil y Natural de la Isla de San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico.
- ^ Cheryl Mahaffy (2006-01-30). "Vieques Island: What lies beneath". Edmonton Journal.
- ^ Ronald Blackburn-Moreno (2001). "Brief Chronology of the History of Puerto Rico" (PDF). ASPIRA Association, Inc.
- ^ Today, Puerto Ricans are also known as Boricuas, or people from Borinquen.
- ^ Vicente Yáñez Pinzón was the first appointed governor but he never arrived on the island.
- ^ Mari, Brenda A. (April 22, 2005). "The Legacy of Añasco: Where the Gods Come to Die". Puerto Rico Herald. Retrieved March 1.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|year=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help)