Puerto Rico (All About It)

Short History

Christopher Columbus discovered Puerto Rico, then called Borikén by the Taínos, in 1493 and invaded the Island of the Taino Indians and seized it, calling it San Juan Bautista. Years later the name was changed to Puerto Rico. Columbus was in search of India, but found Puerto Rico. To reach America, Columbus used 3 ships: La Niña, La Pinta and La Santa María. Its capital city is called San Juan in the name of the Christian Prophet named San Juan Bautista. One of its cities was called Ponce in the name of the first Governor of Puerto Rico, Juan Ponce de León. The Taínos believed in their gods, but the Catholic Christian religion of the Spaniards was imposed on the Island. There is still evidence of the Taíno's stone drawings about their gods, etc. African slaves were brought to Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Cuba by the Spanish and British to exploit them from work. Some Taínos, Spaniards and Africans married each other. In the case of Borinquen, it was in the 1600's under the Spanish crown. For this reason, in Puerto Rico there are people of all kinds of color and the Puerto Ricans have 3 Taíno, Spanish and African races. During the Hispano-American War in 1898, Cuba and the Dominican Republic became independent and the Americans took Puerto Rico away from the Spaniards. The Americans exploited the Puerto Ricans who then called them Jíbaros because they lived in the mountains and work by planting and cutting sugarcane in many haciendas of canes that the Americans and Spaniards created before and after 1898. Since then Puerto Rico remains the United States Colony or As it is now known: Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.