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Puerto Rico was discovered by Cristofor Columbus during its second voyage to the New World in 1493. The history of the island before Columbus is not well-known as the native civilization here was not as developed as the other ones in South America. What we know today about the the population of Puerto Rico in the pre-Columbian era comes from the little achaeological proofs and the scarce accounts of the early Spanish scholars. However, the first complete book on the history of Puerto Rico was not written before 3 centuries after the arrival of the Spaniard in the New World. From the archaeological findings from the dig in the Visques island resulted that the first occupants of this terrotoey were the Ortoiroid people, that were Amerindian hunters and fishermen. They lived here arounf 2000 BC.in the period of 120 AD ad 400 AD, a tribe from the South America called Igneri came here. Until the 10th century, they and the Arcaicos, older inhabitants of the island, co-existed. However, starting with the 7th century tha culture of the Taino people started to grow and this was the main population found here by the Spanish explorers. The island that we know today as Puerto Rico wore the name of Boriken or Borinquen when it was discovered by Christopher Columbus. He changed its name into San Juan Bautista, in honor of the saint. After it became an important location for maritime traders and visitors, it was called Puerto Rico, which means Rich Harbour. The name San Juan was kept as the name of the main shipping port and it is today the island’s capital city. Juan Ponce de Leon was the first governor of the island and it started its job in 1508. The collonization of the island started soon afterwards and the indigenous people, the Tainos, were used as slaves. The hard work conditions as well as the diseases brought by the Europeans soon affected seriously the Tainos population. In 1520, the Emperor Charles V, emancipated the Tainos people still alive. Nevertheless their presence was by then quite insignificant. They were replaced by slaves brought from africa who proved to be more efficient and more resilient workers. Although Puerto Rico had a great importance in the maritime trasnport during time, the Spaniards did not pay much attention to this island. As a result, it was one of the least developed colonies and the center of the island was still wild by the 18th century. However, this proved to be an adavntage as Puerto Rico was one of the last two Spanish colonies. In 1779, Puerto Ricans troops helped fought in the Revolutionary American war, ven though Puerto Rico was still a spanish colony. In the 19th century, Spain had more political attemps to restore the bond between its government and Puerto Rico. More decrets giving the island different degrees of independence were passed and then retired. In 1898, After the Spanish-Amarican War, Puerto Rico became territory of the United States as the Treaty from Paris retified. The bond between the nations grew deeper as in 1917 all the Puerto Ricans were made American citizens. In 1952, Puerto Rico had its first Constitution that was approved by the United States, too. The liaison between the two states is not clear enough that even in our days. Home | Privacy |