The Not-Quite States of America by Doug Mack

In 1917, Congress passed the Jones-Shafroth Act, which granted U.S. Having enjoyed considerable autonomy in the latter years of Spanish colonial rule, many Puerto Ricans bristled under the control exercised by the United States. military government established on the island ended in 1900 after Congress passed the Foraker Act, which formally instituted a civil government in Puerto Rico. Under the Treaty of Paris, which formally ended the war later that year, Spain ceded Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines and Cuba to the United States. Army forces occupied Puerto Rico at Guánica, on the island’s south side. In July 1898, during the brief Spanish-American War, U.S. Though the Spanish military efficiently quashed the rebellion, Puerto Ricans still celebrate “El Grito de Lares” (The Cry of Lares) as a moment of great national pride. In 1868, some 600 people attempted an uprising based in the mountain town of Lares. By the mid-19th century, however, a wave of independence movements in Spain’s South American colonies had reached Puerto Rico. Under Spanish colonial rule, Puerto Rico experienced varying levels of economic and political autonomy over the centuries. They also spent considerable resources turning San Juan into an impregnable military outpost, building a fortified palace for the governor (La Fortaleza) as well as two massive forts-San Felipe del Morro and San Cristobál-that would withstand repeated attacks by rival powers such as England, the Netherlands and France.

In order to produce cash crops such as sugar cane, ginger, tobacco and coffee, the Spanish began importing more slaves from Africa in the 16th century. Smallpox soon wiped out the vast majority of the Taíno, with many others enslaved by the Spanish to mine silver and gold and to construct settlements.

Over time, people began referring to the entire island by that name, while the port city itself became San Juan. In 1508, Juan Ponce de León founded the first European settlement, Caparra, near a bay on the island’s northern coast Caparra was renamed Puerto Rico (or “rich port”) in 1521. Puerto Rico’s native Taíno population-whose hunter-gatherer ancestors settled the island more than 1,000 years before the Spanish arrived-called it Borinquén, and referred to themselves as boricua (a term that is still used today).ĭuring his second expedition to the Indies in 1493, Christopher Columbus returned several Taíno captives to Borinquén and claimed the island for Spain, calling it San Juan Bautista.

The Not-Quite States of America by Doug Mack