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Location of Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico (abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a self-governing Caribbean archipelago and island organized as an unincorporated territory of the United States under the designation of commonwealth. Located about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) southeast of Miami, Florida, between the Dominican Republic in the Greater Antilles and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Lesser Antilles, it consists of the eponymous main island and numerous smaller islands, including Vieques, Culebra, and Mona. With approximately 3.2 million people, it is divided into 78 municipalities, of which the most populous is the capital municipality of San Juan, followed by those within the San Juan metropolitan area. Spanish and English are the official languages of the government, though Spanish predominates.

Puerto Rico was settled by a succession of Indigenous peoples of the Americas beginning 2,000 to 4,000 years ago; these included the Ortoiroid, Saladoid, and Taíno. It was claimed by Spain following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1493 and subsequently colonized by Juan Ponce de León in 1508. Puerto Rico was contested by other European powers into the 18th century but remained a Spanish possession for the next 400 years. The decline of the Indigenous population, followed by an influx of Spanish settlers—primarily from the Canary Islands and Andalusia—and African slaves vastly changed the cultural and demographic landscape. Within the Spanish Empire, Puerto Rico played a strategically significant role. By the late 19th century, a distinct Puerto Rican identity began to emerge, centered on a fusion of European, African, and Indigenous elements. In 1898, following the Spanish–American War, Puerto Rico was acquired by the United States.

Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917 and can move freely between the archipelago and the U.S. Residents of Puerto Rico are disenfranchised from federal elections and pay federal taxes and Puerto Rico income taxes; most are exempt from federal income tax on personal income earned in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico sends a nonvoting representative to the U.S. Congress, called a resident commissioner, and participates in presidential primaries; as it is not a state, Puerto Rico does not have a vote in the U.S. Congress, which oversees it under the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950. Congress approved a territorial constitution in 1952, allowing residents to elect a governor in addition to a senate and house of representatives. The political status of Puerto Rico is an ongoing debate.

Beginning in the mid-20th century, the U.S. government, together with the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company, launched a series of economic projects to develop Puerto Rico into an industrial high-income economy. It is classified by the International Monetary Fund as a developed jurisdiction. It ranks 47th on the Human Development Index. The major sectors of the economy are manufacturing, primarily pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, and electronics, followed by services, namely tourism and hospitality. (Full article...)

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Puerto Rico has over 50 rivers, most originating from the island's central mountainous region which receives heavy rainfall. The largest of these rivers, Rio de la Plata, measures approximately 60.5 mi. (97 km), starting at an altitude of 2,625 ft (800 m) above sea level in Cayey before ending between the northern coastal towns of Dorado and Toa Baja.

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The Manor House at Hacienda Buena Vista

Hacienda Buena Vista, also known as Hacienda Vives (or Buena Vista Plantation in English), was a coffee plantation located in Barrio Magueyes, Ponce, Puerto Rico. The original plantation dates from the 19th century. The plantation was started by Don Salvador de Vives in 1833.

The Hacienda is located on 81.79 acres (331,000 m2) of fertile land that includes a humid subtropical forest some 7 miles (11 km) north of Ponce on Route PR-123, in Corral Viejo, a subbarrio of Barrio Magueyes. The plantation house was built in the Spanish Colonial style, with the surrounding buildings being built in the local Criollo style. The original Hacienda covered 482 cuerdas (approx. 468 acres). (Full article...)

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Rosendo Matienzo Cintrón (April 22, 1855 – December 13, 1913) was a Puerto Rican lawyer and politician, a member of the Puerto Rican House of Representatives, and a lifelong political contrarian. He favored Puerto Rican autonomy when Puerto Rico was a Spanish possession. After the Spanish–American War, when the archipelago and island was ceded to the United States, he advocated statehood for Puerto Rico. In later years, Matienzo Cintrón supported Puerto Rico's independence. (Full article...)

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History topics
The flag being removed from a building
  • ... that after the Spanish–American War and up to 1904, Puerto Ricans were considered as "aliens" in the United States?[1]
  • ... that the public display of the Puerto Rican Flag was once considered a felony (from 1892 to 1954) and that anyone who did so could end up in jail?
  • ... that in 1906, Theodore Roosevelt, the first US President to travel outside the United States, made a stop in Puerto Rico (thus, becoming the first president to visit the island) and that he stayed overnight in Ponce?[2]
  • ... that in 1914, the Revenue Cutter USS Algonquin (1897), which was stationed in the Caribbean, set sail with a crew of fifteen Hispanic-Americans (a fourth of the cutter's complement) to San Juan, Puerto Rico to assist the Puerto Ricans battling fires that threatened to destroy parts of that city? In 1915, the City of San Juan, Puerto Rico, paid tribute to the crew of the cutter Algonquin and presented them with an Official Resolution of Thanks.[3]
  • ... that Fort San Felipe del Morro was designated a World Heritage Site (a list that includes sites such as the Taj Mahal) by the United Nations in 1983, and a National Historical site by the United States?
  • ... that Puerto Rico has never had a civil war?
  • ... that even though Puerto Rico has never been an independent country, there is a Puerto Rican citizenship? Puerto Rican citizenship was first legislated by the U.S. Congress in Article 7 of the Foraker Act of 1900 and later recognized by the Puerto Rican constitution.[4][5]
  • ... that on October 29, 1950, the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party revolted against US rule in Puerto Rico and that uprisings were held in various cities and towns in the island in what is known as the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party revolts of the 1950s?[6]
  • ... that in 1948, Luis Muñoz Marín presided over the Puerto Rican legislature which was controlled by the PPD and that they approved the infamous "Ley de la Mordaza" known as Puerto Rico's Gag Law and that it became law with the signature of the United States-appointed governor Jesús T. Piñero? Did you also know that the law made it a crime to own or display a Puerto Rican flag, to sing a patriotic tune, to speak or write of independence, or to meet with anyone, or hold any assembly, with regard to the political status of Puerto Rico, violating the First Amendment of the US Constitution?[7]
  • ... that according to the United States Supreme Court, Puerto Rico belongs to but is not part of the United States?[8]

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Sources

  1. Journal of American Ethnic History[dead link]
  2. Roosevelt travels to Panama
  3. "Hispanic-Americans & The U.S. Coast Guard". U.S. Department of Homeland Security: United States Coast Guard. Retrieved Sept. 21, 2010
  4. (Spanish) Ley Orgánica Foraker del 12 de Abril de 1900. LexJuris
  5. Race, Racism and the Law
  6. Law Library Microform Consortium[dead link]
  7. La Gobernación de Jesús T. Piñero y la Guerra Fría
  8. https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6444&context=faculty_scholarship
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