Puerto Rico - rēˈkō, island (2000 pop. 3,808,610), 3,508 sq mi (9,086 sq km), West Indies, c.1,000 mi (1,610 km) SE of Miami, Fla. Officially known as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (a self-governing entity in association with the United States), it includes the offshore islands of Mona, Vieques, and Culebra. The capital and largest city is San Juan.

Land

Smallest and easternmost of the Greater Antilles, Puerto Rico is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the north and the Caribbean Sea on the south. Mona Passage to the northwest separates the island from the Dominican Republic, and the Virgin Islands lie to the east. Puerto Rico is crossed by mountain ranges, notably the Cordillera Central, which rises to 4,389 ft (1,388 m) in the Cerro de Punta. Although rivers are short and unnavigable, some provide irrigation or hydroelectric power. The climate is mildly tropical, with little seasonal change. Rainfall is plentiful, despite some arid regions in the south. Hurricanes are likely to occur between August and October. In addition to the capital, other important cities are Ponce, Caguas, and Mayagüez.

People

Puerto Rico's fertile soil supports one of the densest populations in the world. The Puerto Ricans are descended from Spanish colonists and also from Native Americans and Africans. Spanish and English are the official languages, although Spanish is predominant. Roman Catholicism is the main religion. Spanish is the medium of instruction, but English is studied as a second language by all students. Institutions of higher learning include the Univ. of Puerto Rico (with its main branch at Río Piedras), the Inter-American Univ. at San Germán, the Catholic Univ. at Ponce, and a Catholic college for women at San Juan.

Economy

Manufacturing replaced agriculture as the greatest contributor to Puerto Rico's national income largely because of "Operation Bootstrap," which from the 1940s attracted U.S. firms to the island through the use of tax exemptions. Pharmaceutical, apparel, and electronics industries have been the most important, along with the manufacturing of machinery, chemicals, and plastics, and oil refining. Livestock raising (for meat and dairy production) has surpassed the growing of sugarcane as the chief agricultural pursuit in Puerto Rico. Coffee, tobacco, and fruits and vegetables are other leading crops. Reforestation has been undertaken to restore tropical woods in the interior, where the Caribbean National Forest is set apart. Tourism is also an important factor in the economy, as is money remitted by Puerto Ricans (about 2.7 million) living in the United States.

The United States is by far Puerto Rico's chief trading partner. The leading exports include pharmaceuticals (some 50% of all U.S. prescription drugs), electronic and other machinery, chemicals, raw and refined sugar, and sugar products (rum, candy, molasses). Imports consist mainly of food products and consumer items. Although Puerto Rico is no longer dependent on one crop (sugar) and has the most diversified and powerful industrial economy in the Caribbean, heavy population and insufficient jobs have contributed to social and economic problems and to continued emigration (mainly to New York City).

Government

Puerto Rico's governor and both legislative houses are popularly elected for four-year terms. There are 27 senators and 51 representatives. An elected resident commissioner sits in the U.S. House of Representatives but cannot vote. The governor may serve an unlimited number of terms. On the local level, Puerto Rico is divided into municipalities, each with its own mayor and assembly. Puerto Ricans share all the rights and obligations of U.S. citizenship, including service in the armed forces; however, they do not pay federal taxes and cannot vote in national elections. The U.S. government handles Puerto Rico's foreign affairs, and U.S. military installations are maintained on the island.

History

Early History and Spanish Rule

Before the Spanish arrived the island was inhabited by the Arawak people, who called the region Borinquén or Boriquén. Christopher Columbus visited the island in 1493 and named it San Juan Bautista [St. John the Baptist], but he sailed on to Hispaniola to plant a settlement. Juan Ponce de León began the actual conquest in 1508, landing at San Juan harbor, which he called Puerto Rico [Span.,=rich port]. A settlement was founded in 1521 on the site of present-day San Juan. As hardship, disease, and Spanish massacres eliminated the Arawaks altogether, they were replaced as plantation workers by African slaves, first introduced in 1513. Deposits of placer gold were virtually depleted during the 1530s, after which the Spanish devoted their full attention to the sugar plantations.

Raids by the nearby Carib and by British, French, and Dutch pirates, however, hampered agricultural prosperity. San Juan, meanwhile, became a leading outpost of the Spanish Empire. Treasure-filled Spanish galleons that anchored there on their long trip to Spain attracted buccaneers. George Clifford, earl of Cumberland, held Puerto Rico for five months in 1598, and the Dutch besieged the island in 1625. Spain's response was to build several fortresses (whose walls still stand) that made San Juan virtually impregnable. Coffee was introduced in the 18th cent. to supplement sugar.

Beginning in the 1820s there were some uprisings against Spanish rule, but all were put down. Most notable was the Lares rebellion (Grito de Lares) of 1868. As part of a Spanish reform movement that extended to Puerto Rico, slavery was abolished in 1873, and the new Spanish republican constitution of 1876 granted Puerto Rican representation in Spain's parliament.

A movement for self-government, supported by liberal groups in Spain, grew in Puerto Rico during the 1880s. Finally, in 1897, largely through the efforts of the Puerto Rican statesman Luis Muñoz Rivera, Spain signed a charter granting the island some autonomy. The new form of government had little chance to operate, however, for a few months later the Spanish-American War erupted. U.S. troops landed at Guánica on July 25, 1898, and occupied the island without much difficulty. By the Treaty of Paris (Dec. 10, 1898), which ended the war, Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States.

Puerto Rico and the United States

Puerto Rico remained under direct military rule until 1900, when the U.S. Congress passed the Foraker Act, setting up an administration with a U.S. governor, an upper legislative chamber appointed by the U.S. president, and an elected house of delegates; the U.S. Congress was given the right to review all legislation. Meanwhile, a movement for Puerto Rican independence gained strength as pressures to define the island's political status grew. In 1917 the Jones Act stipulated that Puerto Rico was a U.S. territory whose inhabitants were entitled to U.S. citizenship. The act provided for election of both houses of the Puerto Rican legislature, but the governor and other key officials were still to be appointed by the U.S. president, and the governor was empowered to veto any legislation.

During World War I, U.S. holdings in Puerto Rico increased, and the change to a one-crop economy was completed. The island's territorial status gave Puerto Rican sugar a ready market within U.S. tariff walls; however, large corporations encroached on land where foods had been raised for subsistence, thus causing social upheaval in the countryside and necessitating greater food imports. Absentee ownership and one-crop culture aggravated the ills of overpopulation. Sanitary and health improvements under the U.S. occupation further accelerated population growth. Many Puerto Ricans criticized the American regime for its menace to the Hispanic roots of Puerto Rican culture. Criticism intensified when the sugar market dropped in the 1930s and many workers, always near the edge of starvation, became even more desperate.

Recovery measures were taken during the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and especially under the governorship (1941–46) of Rexford G. Tugwell. Military activities related to World War II also aided the economy. The Popular Democratic party, headed by Luis Muñoz Marín, adopted a program based on economic reform and expansion, but other political parties were more concerned with U.S.–Puerto Rican relations. The Conservative Republicans advocated statehood; the Independentists, led by Gilberto Concepción, and the Nationalists, headed by Pedro Albizu Campos, favored immediate independence.

The Postwar Years and Commonwealth Status

In 1946, the U.S. government granted Puerto Rico increased local autonomy, exemplified by the appointment of the first native Puerto Rican governor, Jesus T. Piñero. The right of popular election of the governor followed, and Muñoz Marín won the 1948 election. His administration undertook a program of agricultural reform and industrial expansion called "Operation Bootstrap." On July 25, 1952, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico was proclaimed. The continuing Nationalist campaign for independence, however, was dramatized by an attempt to assassinate President Harry S. Truman in 1950 and by a shooting attack in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1954. Muñoz Marín was reelected in 1952, 1956, and 1960. He was succeeded by another Popular Democratic candidate, Roberto Sánchez Vilella.

In the face of an increasingly active movement for statehood, Sánchez arranged a plebiscite in 1967 in which Puerto Ricans could choose among independence, statehood, and maintenance of the commonwealth relationship. An overwhelming majority voted for no change, but Puerto Rico's status continued to be a lively issue, with most citizens favoring either statehood (an option the U.S. Congress