Jump to content

Portal:Puerto Rico

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Puerto Rico Portal

Location of Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico (Spanish for 'rich port'; 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 residents, 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 Amerindian peoples 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 of the archipelago. Within the Spanish Empire, Puerto Rico played a secondary but strategically significant role compared to larger and wealthier colonies like Peru and New Spain. By the late 19th century, a distinct Puerto Rican identity began to emerge, centered around 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 mainland. However, residents of Puerto Rico are disenfranchised from federal elections and generally do not pay federal income tax. In common with four other territories, 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 of the archipelago 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 with an advanced, high-income economy; it ranks 40th on the Human Development Index. The major sectors of Puerto Rico's economy are manufacturing, primarily pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, and electronics, followed by services, namely tourism and hospitality. (Full article...)

Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

Selected picture – show another

Photo credit: José Oquendo

Many landmarks in Puerto Rico, such as the Ponce Cathedral, were influenced by European neoclassical architecture.

Selected anniversaries for November

WikiProjects

Selected article – show another

Aerial View of Downtown Aguadilla

Aguadilla (Spanish pronunciation: [aɣwaˈðiʝa], locally [awaˈðiʝa]), founded in 1775 by Luis de Córdova, is a city and municipality located in the northwestern tip of Puerto Rico, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, north of Aguada, and Moca and west of Isabela. Aguadilla is spread over 15 barrios and Aguadilla Pueblo (the downtown area and the administrative center of the city). It is a principal city and core of the Aguadilla-Isabela-San Sebastián Metropolitan Statistical Area. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Selected biography – show another

Marcos Xiorro was the slave name of an enslaved African in Spanish Puerto Rico who, in 1821, planned and conspired to lead a slave revolt against the sugarcane plantation owners and the Spanish Colonial government. Although his rebellion was unsuccessful, he achieved legendary status among the island's slave population and has become part of Puerto Rican folklore. (Full article...)

Did you know – show different entries

Political topics
Juan Ponce de León II
José María Marxuach Echavarría

General images

The following are images from various Puerto Rico-related articles on Wikipedia.

Selected quote – show another


Categories

Category puzzle
Category puzzle
Select [►] to view subcategories

How you can help

On Wikipedia, anyone can edit. So if you're interested in Puerto Rico and its related subjects and articles, feel free to add and edit current content or start a new article. After all, the Wikipedia community encourages all readers and users to be bold in updating pages. If you're unsure on where to start, you can choose any of the open tasks listed below. The Puerto Rico WikiProject thanks you!

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Sources

  1. ^ Hispanic Americans in Congress
  2. ^ Biographies of Alcaldes of San Juan (in Spanish)[dead link]
  3. ^ Biografia[dead link]
  4. ^ Meaning of "Independentista"
  5. ^ Mercedes - La primera Independentista Puertorriquena[dead link]
  6. ^ CNN, Gregory Krieg. "A 28-year-old Democratic Socialist just ousted a powerful, 10-term congressman in New York". CNN. Retrieved 2018-07-03. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
Discover Wikipedia using portals

Notes