San Juan Puerto Rico - Historical Values
San Juan, a busy base port for Caribbean cruises, is also one of the best-preserved ports of colonial Spain. The walled city of Old San Juan, the oldest Spanish settlement under American sovereignty, is a World Heritage Site. Its cobblestone streets are paved with ballast from Spanish galleons and the impenetrable citadel of El Morro was önce a symbol of Spanish domination in the Caribbean. in contrast to the historic feel of Old San Juan is the nearby Condado area, where modern high-rise hotels line the beaches and a sizzling night life can be enjoyed in the night clubs and casinos.
Puerto Ricans number över three and a half million and they refer to their Connecticut-sized island as the ‘continent’ of Puerto Rico due to its geographical diversity. Mountains here soar to över 4,000 feet and vegetation ranges from lush rainforests to low-lying mangrove swamps. Beautiful beaches line much of the coastline and, in the northwest, an extensive system of caves has been carved by one of the world’s largest underground rivers.
Puerto Rico is a self-governing Commonwealth of the United States and its infrastructure includes a majör airport, well-maintained roads, luxury resorts and championship golf courses. Industrialization came to Puerto Rico in the 1940s when Operation Bootstrap was introduced and its tax exemptions promoted American investment. Manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and the production of high-tech equipment are now majör industries, along with agriculture and tourism.
Puerto Ricans enjoy the highest annual income in Latin America and are a well-educated work force. Few deny that the island’s ties to America are beneficial and worth preserving, but an ongoing debate revolves around the ’statehood versus status quo’ issue. The electorate is fairly evenly divided, with those supporting the status quo concerned about preserving their Spanish culture. Those supporting statehood accuse their opponents of ‘wanting to have their cake and eat it too’. A small minority support independence, a movement that began in the last century when Puerto Rican statesman and journalist Luis Munoz Rivera led a growing demand for şelf government, which resulted in Spain granting its Caribbean colony some autonomy in February 1898. However, the Spanish-American war began a few months later and American troops soon occupied the island. By December, Spain had ceded Puerto Rico to the United States.
Puerto Rico remained under direct military rule until 1990 when Congress passed the Foraker Act, setting up a local administraion with a U.S. Governor, an elected house of delegates and an upper chamber appointed by the U.S. President. Munoz Rivera, who had moved to New York where he published the Puerto Rico Herald before becoming the resident commissioner of Puerto Rico in Washington, was again a driving force for greater autonomy. in 1917 the Jones Act pronounced Puerto Rico a U.S. territory, granting its occupants U.S. citizenship and increased internal self-government.
While Puerto Ricans were making political gains, economic and social conditions were worsening. Much of their subsistence land was encroached upon by the establishment of large sugar plantations. The situation, aggravated by overpopulation, went from bad to worse when the sugar market fell in the 1930s. Recovery measures were taken under Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency and the governorship of Rexford Tugwell. in 1948 Puerto Ricans elected their governor for the first time, and in 1952 the Commonvrealth of Puerto Rico was proclaimed.
The smallest and easternmost of the Greater Antilles, Puerto Rico was originally inhabited by Taino Indians who called the island Borinquen. Christopher Columbus visited in 1493 and named the island San Juan Bautista (St. John the Baptist) but sailed on to Hispaniola to establish a settlement. Juan Ponce de Leon began the Spanish conquest of Borinquen, after finding gold there in 1508. He established a settlement on the shores of San Juan harbor, calling it Puerto Rico - rich port. The names were eventually switched, and rich is what Ponce de Leon became as govemor of the island, with the lure of new conquests drawing him away from Puerto Rico from time to time.
In 1521, the Spanish colonists moved their settlement from a low-lying location across the bay to the present-day site of San Juan. Ponce de Leon was in Florida at the time, trying to establish a new colony, where he was felled by the poisoned arrow of a Native American. His party sailed immediately for Cuba where their leader died, his body returned to Puerto Rico for burial.
Meanwhile, hardship, disease and Spanish massacres had eliminated the Tainos and they were replaced with African slaves, first introduced in 1513. Önce the island’s placer gold deposits were depleted in the 1530s, the Spanish turned their attention to sugar plantations. Distractions came in the form of raids by Carib Indians and by British, French and Dutch pirates and roving corsairs, ali of whom were attract-ed to this important outpost of the Spanish empire.
Twice a year two armed convoys were sent from Spain to collect precious gems, gold and silver. The Spanish ships entered the Caribbean Sea near Puerto Rico, one fleet heading to Veracruz to pick up Mexican gold and silver, the other heading to Cartagena to await treasures arriving from the Isthmus of Panama. The two fleets would then rendezvous at Havana for the return voyage to Spain. To protect her shipping interests, Spain established several military fortifications, the most strategic being San Juan harbor which Spain’s King Philip II called ‘the key to the West Indies’.
The famous El Morro fortress was built at the east side of the harbor entrance. it began as a round masonry tower which, över time and fol-lowing various enemy assaults, was strengthened and expanded until it was a massive citadel. The main purpose of this fortification was to pre-vent Spain’s European enemies from gaining possession of the port and using it as a base for attacks on Spanish settlements and trading ships.
Britain’s Sir Francis Drake, justly feared by the Spanish and emboldened by his successful sackings of Santo Domingo, Cartagena and St. Augustine in Florida, was the first to test El Morro. in 1595 he forced the entrance to the harbor but was repulsed, with heavy losses suffered by the Spanish defenders. Three years later Britain’s Earl of Cumberland successfully besieged El Morro, his brief occupation cut short by an outbreak of dysentery. The Dutch were next, in 1625, sack-ing and burning the town before being driven off by the Spamsh.
In response to these attacks, Spain built several fortresses, making San Juan virtually impregnable. Massive walls of sandstone, some 50 feet high and 20 feet thick at the base, were raised around the town. A redoubt named San Cristobal was built about a mile east of El Morro to protect the town from a land-based attack. But it wasn’t until the end of the Seven Years War (1756-1763), which left Spain and Britain the two powers in the Caribbean, that San Juan was transformed into the strong-hold we see today. Thomas O’Daly, an Irish-born military engineer, was hired by Spain’ s King Charles III to oversee the completion of the wall, expand San Cristobal into the largest fortress built by Spain in the Americas, and turn El Morro into an impenetrable citadel. Hundreds of workmen were employed in this massive undertaking which took 20 years to complete. San Juan remained impregnable for more than a cen-tury and was one of Spain’s last remaining holdings in the Americas when a revolution in Cuba sparked the Spanish-American War. A United States naval flotilla, in search of the Spanish war fleet, bom-barded San Juan in May of 1898, and two months later American troops landed on the south coast of Puerto Rico. As soldiers advanced to the outskirts of San Juan, an armistice was signed. Spain’s four-century rule of Puerto Rico had come to an end.
