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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 on 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...)

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

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Joe Bravo with the original IWA World Heavyweight Championship

The IWA (Undisputed) World Championship is a professional wrestling world championship that is contested in the International Wrestling Association's main branch at Puerto Rico. Besides its base jurisdiction, the title has also been defended within the international circuit and interpromotially at Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (Japan) and Revolution X-treme Wrestling (Panama).

The championship was established in 2000, changing its name eight years later to reflect the status of undisputed championship that the National Wrestling Alliance recognized following a controversial "unification" match where (another title born with the NWA as sanctioning body) the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship was purportedly on the line. When reintroduced in 2018, this distinction had been dropped from the name. (Full article...)

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Campos in a military uniform, c. 1916

Pedro Albizu Campos (June 29, 1893 – April 21, 1965) was a Puerto Rican attorney and politician, and a leading figure in the Puerto Rican independence movement. He was the president and spokesperson of the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico from 1930 until his death. He led the nationalist revolts of October 1950 against the United States government in Puerto Rico. Albizu Campos spent a total of twenty-six years in prison at various times for his Puerto Rican independence activities.

Campos graduated from Harvard Law School in 1921 with the highest grade point average in his law class, an achievement that earned him the right to give the valedictorian speech at his graduation ceremony. However, animus towards his African heritage led to his professors delaying two of his final exams in order to keep Albizu Campos from graduating on time. During his time at Harvard University he became involved in the Irish struggle for independence. A polyglot, he spoke six languages. Because of his oratorical skill, he was hailed as El Maestro (The Teacher). (Full article...)

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Lares revolutionary flag of 1868
  • ... that in 1822, there was an attempt, known as the Ducoudray Holstein Expedition, conceived, carefully planned and organized General Henri La Fayette Villaume Ducoudray Holstein to invade Puerto Rico and declare it the "República Boricua"[1] and that General Ducoudray Holstein intended to make the city of Mayagüez the capital of the island?[1] The plans of the invasion were soon disclosed to the Spanish authorities and the plot never materialized.
  • ... that Old San Juan has more than four hundred carefully restored 16th and 17th century Spanish colonial buildings?
  • ... that Corsicans and those of Corsican descent have played an instrumental role in the development of the economy of the island, especially in the coffee industry? See: Corsican immigration to Puerto Rico[2]
  • ... that in 1858, wired communication in Puerto Rico began in the town of Arroyo, the first in Latin America, when Samuel Morse introduced the telegraph into the island?[3]
  • ... that when the United States enacted the Chinese Exclusion Act on May 6, 1882, many Chinese in the United States fled to Puerto Rico? They established small niches and worked in restaurants and laundries.[4]
  • ... that the "first Puerto Rican Flag" was the "Revolutionary flag of Lares"?. The flag was knitted by Mariana Bracetti and used in the short-lived rebellion against Spain known as the Grito de Lares (The Cry of Lares).[5]

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Sources

  1. ^ a b Cedó Alzamora, Federico (2010), Mayagüez Capital de la República Boricua (PDF) (in Spanish) (2 ed.), Mayagüez: Oficina de Publicaciones Históricas, Museo Eugenio María de Hostos, Departamento de Arte y Cultura, Gobierno Municipal de Mayagüez, p. 44
  2. ^ Corsican immigration to Puerto Rico[dead link], Retrieved July 31, 2007
  3. ^ NY/Latino Journal
  4. ^ "The Chinese Community and Santo Domingo's Barrio Chino". DR1.com. Retrieved November 15, 2008.
  5. ^ Peres Moris, José, Historia de la Insurrección de Lares, 1871 (in Spanish), Library of Congress, Retrieved Feb. 25, 2009
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