PUERTO RICAN CULTURE AND IDENTITY
The Caribbean before the landing of Columbus served almost as a bridge between the north coast of South America and Florida for the Amazonian tribes in the south and the north american inhabitants. When Christopher Columbus on his second trip in 1493 landed in Puerto Rico and claimed it for Spain, he found the island populated by as many as 60,000 Arawak or Taino indians, which for the most part, were friendly compared to the Carib indians in some of the more southerly islands which were warlike and to some degree cannibalistic.
The conquest of the island didn't take long, and the peaceful Tainos were put to the task as slaves for the purpose of mining the gold that was found on the island. The gold didn't last long and in 1511 there was an uprising of the Tainos, who up to this point had believed that the Spaniards were Gods, and took a soldier by the name of Sotomayor and dunked him head first in a river for several hours to see if he would die. Just in case, they had prepared a feast for the Spaniard if he came out alive. However, it wasn't the Spanish sword that took most of the lives of the Arawaks, but the diseases that were brought from Europe and for which the indians had no defenses.
In 1508 the first governor arrived, Juan Ponce de León (who is more famous as the searcher for the fountain of youth and discoveror of the state of Florida). The island remained Spanish despite harassment and numerous conquest attempts by buccaneers and pirates and English and Dutch expeditions. To defend the island against these threats, two forts, El Morro and San Cristóbal,were built to guard the approaches to San Juan harbor. Defense of these forts foiled attempts by Sir Francis Drake in 1595, by another English fleet in 1598, and by the Dutch in 1625 to capture Puerto Rico for their respective empires. The defeat of the British in 1797 finally thwarted that country's designs on the island, and the Spanish colony was kept intact.
During the 16th to the 19th century Puerto Rico was characterized primarily by underpopulation, poverty and neglect by Spain. It was mainly a garrison for the ships that would pass on their way to or from the other and richer colonies. During this time as much as 10 or 11 years would pass between the arrival of ships from Spain and as trade with other countries was prohibited, the island reverted to contraband trading with ships from England, Netherlands or whomever would trade for the main produce of the island, which at that time was ginger. This peasant agriculture continued until the early 19th century, when Spanish law was changed to allow unrestricted trade with the neighbors.
The 19th century in Puerto Rico was characterized by a series of strict if not brutal military governors which stifled the independence movements in Puerto Rico that were shaking the foundations of its other American colonies. Slavery and the importation of slaves reached its peak, with the need for workers on the sugar and coffee plantations. Slavery, however, never reached the alarming proportions of freemen to slaves as it did on the other colonies or even on parts of the United States. While in Haiti in 1789 the slaves comprised 90% of the population and in Jamaica 85%, in Puerto Rico in 1834 the census established that 11% of the population were slaves, 35% were colored freemen and 54% were white. It was only until 1873, however, that slavery was finally abolished in Puerto Rico.
During the 19th century there was also increased immigration from the colonies that were being lost by Spain and this influx of people and capital allowed for creation of many towns and cities. The economy grew as a result and export-oriented agriculture became prominent, especially coffee and sugar. In 1897 home rule was established for the first time by the Autonomic Charter granted by the Spanish government and Puerto Rico was given the status of a Spanish dominion. This autonomy was short lived, however, as the United States defeated Spain in the Spanish-American War and was ceded Puerto Rico in 1898.
The Foraker Act of 1901 established the relationship of the United States with Puerto Rico and many of its provisions are still in force. During this period the Puerto Ricans were in a citizenship limbo as they weren't citizens of Spain and the title "Puerto Rican citizen", although it applied, meant little, as Puerto Rico was not a free country or legally part of another. This ambiguity was finally solved by the Jones act of 1917 by which Puerto Ricans became American citizens and Puerto Rico became an unincorporated territory of the United States. During the years between 1900 and 1940, Puerto Rico and its people suffered through enormous hardships created by lack of jobs and by poor pay in those jobs that existed. The economy was basically agricultural and one-crop, sugar cane, and the lands producing it and the factories to extract the sugar were mainly owned by corporations from the United States mainland who paid low wages and repatriated all the profits. Partial self-government was granted in 1947, enabling citizens to elect their own governor for the first time. In 1952 a new constitution made Puerto Rico an autonomous part of the United States called the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico. The Flag and Seal of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico were adopted by the legislative assembly in 1952.
This subtropical island has developed into the only Caribbean island where industry and commerce has exceed primary agricultural production. The island and its approximately 3.3 million citizens are self-governed as a free associated state of the United States. Puerto Ricans now have most of the benefits of American citizenship, including federal welfare aid but Puerto Ricans are unable to vote in United States presidential elections despite being subject to service in the armed forces. There is great public interest in resolving the political status issue and the main difference in the political parties is their differing views of the status issue. The Partido Independista calls for total independence as a nation-state, the Populares support the present commonwealth status, and the Partido Nuevo Progresista advocates statehood, hoping to see Puerto Rico become the 51st state of the United States.
The people of Puerto Rico have a love of their country, or "patria", that accepts the free association with the mainland but emphasizes loyalty to their own culture, way of life, spirit, folklore, hospitality, and ways of getting along with others. Many Puerto Ricans move between the island and United States mainland to get the "best of both worlds"; culture, identity, and a familiar environment in the former; material wealth, education, acquisition of skills, and opportunities for their children from temporary residence in the United States. Many return to the Caribbean; many stay in the United States; and the constant circulation of Puerto Ricans between homes is now an enduring feature of the island's experience.
Economically Puerto Rico has a greater variety of industrial, commercial, and financial service activities and a better developed transportation network than other Caribbean islands. Statistics show that it has some of the most favorable economic and demographic conditions in Latin America and the Caribbean. In comparison to the United States, however, Puerto Rico's position is still quite below thatof the poorest state of the Union, Mississippi.
BETTER VERSION-EASIER
Puerto Rico was known as Boriquen to the indigenous Arawak Indians who had settled the Greater Antilles as traditional hoe-and-garden cultivators, fishermen, and gatherers. When Europeans first settled the island in 1508, the prosperity of the Arawaks prompted the notion that here indeed was a "rich port". Imported diseases soon decimated the Arawak population and from a population of more than 30,000 before the arrival of the Europeans,missionary reports of 1515 recorded only 4,000. Deprived of laborers for their gold mines and the lower yields made the European settlers abandon their mines and plantations and either return to Spain or move on to richer colonies. A few colonists, administrators, and merchants remained in San Juan and Ponce, while most of the nearby interior was turned over to range for cattle and subsistence farming. Puerto Rico remained a Spanish colony for the next three centuries, but it never matched the prosperity of its neighbors.
Slavery brought the African presence to Puerto Rico in the 18th and 19th centuries, and there was a rebirth of European influences. Immigration movements first brought Viscayans, then Catalonians,and finally Asturians, Gallegos, and Majorcans from Spain. A network of new colonial towns developed around the coastal plains. Thriving on sugar and coffee production, Puerto Rico prospered. Spanish loyalists from South America and the Caribbean as well as French planters from Haiti who were fleeing the revolutionary movements and bloodshed found refuge in Puerto Rico. It was in the 19th century that the culture of Puerto Rico and its transformation into a nation of people with traditions and history was created. Before this time the island was so scarcely populated and the transportation system was so poor (to travel the 30 miles from the north to the south side of the island people went in ships as the mountains made land travel almost impossible) that the social contacts necessary for cultural and political growth were few. In the 19th century Puerto Rico changed in all its aspects; from being underpopulated but almost self-sufficient, into an overpopulated and poor island but with a national character in its culture, politics and traditions.
When Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States at the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the United States had very little idea of the problems that affected the island. The officials that came to the island in 1900 were impressed by the overpopulation and by the level of poverty and sickness that affected the inhabitants. Added to that,the hurricane of 1899 had devastated the economy and the level of suffering was tremendous. The population of nearly 1 million was predominantly rural (83 percent in 1899). The farmers, jibaros, had always relied on labor-intensive cultivation and harvesting techniques. While this supported fairly high rural population densities, the changing circumstances led to pressure on the system when the island's population increased. There has been a population explosion in the 20th century which undermined the island's agricultural base and increased the need for structural and economic changes. The population rose to 1.3 million by 1920, to 2.2 million by 1950, and to 3.3 million in 1985, a growth of more than 300 percent since 1899.
To escape from poverty and overpopulation many Puerto Ricans undertook emigration as an escape, starting with a large group that emigrated to Hawaii at the start of the 20th century. During the 1940s, the island experienced the start of a rural exodus, and the capital of San Juan and other large cities experienced very rapid growth. San Juan now has a population exceeding 400,000, and Bayamón, the second largest city, has well over 100,000 people. Emigration to the United States began in earnest after 1950 and rapidly swelled to a mass exodus with the Puerto Rican government's incentive and patronage. In 1953, for example, 75,000 emigrants left the island. New York City now has a Puerto Rican community in excess of three quarters of a million, and other Puerto Rican concentrations are found in several United States cities. Since 1965 the pattern has levelled out with the numbers of Puerto Ricans returning home equalling or exceeding those leaving.
The Puerto Ricans are an adaptable people with groups living in places like Alaska, Australia, the Far East and Hawaii. They are a mixture of the three main races that have inhabited the island, the Taino or Arawak, the black African ,the caucasian Spaniard and more recently the American anglo-saxon. The music reflects this cultural mixture from the "decimas" of the "jibaro", the modern "salsa" with the African influence, to the American rock. There is hardly any area where you won't find Puerto Ricans standing out among the crowd, whether it be in sports, the arts, entertainment, science or even opera.
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