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1000 AD
The Taino people (Slide 1) of northern South America settled in Caribbean islands, including Puerto Rico, around 1000 AD. They were hunter-gatherers who lived in small villages and were led by a chief. They grew pineapples, cassava and sweet potatoes as well as got protein from the sea food of the surrounding coast. They called the island Boriken.
November 19, 1493
Christopher Columbus (Slide 2) set sail in September on his second voyage from Cadiz, Spain with 17 ships and 1,500 men and the intent of colonization. He landed on November 19 in Boriken, which was populated with about 50,000 Taino Indians at the time. The Taino showed Columbus the gold nuggets in the river. He claimed the land for Spain and renamed it San Juan Bautista after St. John the Baptist.
August 8, 1508
Juan Ponce de Leon explored the island of Puerto Rico. On August 8th, he founded Caparra, which was located in a bay on the north coast. It was where the first farming and mining began on the island. Ponce de Leon chose it to be the first capital and lived there as governor until its relocation to the Islet of Puerto Rico in 1521 (Slide 3).
1509
In 1509, the first repartimiento in Puerto Rico was established. It was a system that distributed a fixed number of Taino people among the Spanish officials and colonists for low-wage or no-wage labor. Although not slavery, in that the Taino people were not property and stripped of their rights, the system allowed slave-like conditions, especially in mining (Slide 4).
Spanish priests protested the treatment of the Taino people under the repartimiento. The Spanish Crown had to institute the encomienda system, which specified that Spaniards had to pay their workers as well as teach them Spanish and Catholicism. Soon, the treatment went back to slave-like conditions because the Spaniards viewed the Taino as inferior and subhuman (Slide 5).
1511
Spanish disease and treatment had greatly reduced Taino numbers. The Taino people revolted with no success. Ponce de Leon orders 6,000 to be killed in retaliation. The survivors fled to the mountains or off the island.
1521
The capital city and the island change names. The capital becomes the City of San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico; therefore, the island becomes known as Puerto Rico.
More Spanish settlers came to Puerto Rico but brought no women on their ships. Spaniards married indigenous women to repopulate the country. African slaves had also been arriving, adding to the racial makeup of Puerto Rico today (Slide 6).
1522-1524
On January 24, 1522, San Jose Church was founded. It is the oldest church that still holds masses in the Americas (Slide 7).
In 1523, the first sugarcane processing plant was built. It soon became the most important agricultural product (Slide 8). The same year, the Dominican Friars Community was built, which organized the first library on the island.
In 1524, the first hospital on the island was built by Bishop Alonso Manso, who named it Concepcion.
1570
The gold mines, the main reason for Spanish settlers, were announced depleted (Slide 9).
1598
Ginger replaced sugar as Puerto Rico’s cash crop.
1736
Coffee arrived on the island and became a major export in the long run. Sugarcane production also picked up as the large-scale plantation system took hold on the island.
1765
Lieutenant General Alexander O’Reilly conducted a census of Puerto Rico. Its population was 44,883, including 5,037 slaves. At 11.2 percent, it was the lowest ratio of slaves to citizens in the Caribbean.
1786
The first history of Puerto Rico was published by Brother Iñigo Abbad y Lasierra in Madrid, Spain. The book was titled “Historia Geográfica, Civil y Política de Puerto Rico.” It covered the island’s history from 1493 through 1783.
1806
The printing press arrived in Puerto Rico by the Spanish Government in order to publish the Official Gazette.
1812
The Cadiz Constitution was adopted in Spain and across its colonies, which granted Puerto Ricans conditional citizenship.
The first book of poems was printed.
August 10, 1815
The Royal Decree of Grace was issued, which allowed foreigners to be admitted to Puerto Rico, and islanders were allowed to trade with other nations. Roman Catholic immigrants were also allowed in as well as new settlers were granted free land.
1830
Puerto Rico’s economy depended on the exportation of sugarcane, molasses and coffee, primarily to the United States. It was an important source of income to the Spanish government.
1843
The first book “Aguinaldo Puertorriqueño” was published on the island.
1844
A census was conducted. The results were as followed:
Whites: 216,083
Free colored: 175,791
Slaves: 51,265
Total: 443,139
1851
Governor Juan de la Pezuela Cevallos founded the Royal Academy of Belles Letters. The institution contributed to the intellectual and literary development of Puerto Rico. The school licensed primary school teachers, set up curriculum and held literary contests.
1858
The telegraph was introduced to the island by Samuel F. B. Morse in Hacienda La Enriqueta in Arroyo (Slide 10).
March 22, 1873
Slavery was abolished in Puerto Rico by the Spanish National Assembly, a republican government that replaced the monarchy. The owners were compensated with 35 million pesetas per slave, and slaves were required to continue working for three more years.
1890
Luis Muñoz Rivera founded the newspaper La Democracía.
1898
After the short Spanish-American War, the United States won Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and other Spanish Colonies under the Treaty of Paris (Slide 11).
1899
Puerto Rico adopted the US dollar.
In May, General George W. Davis (Slide 12) took command of Puerto Rico and made some positive changes. Freedom of assembly, speech, press and religion were decreed a right just as in the United States. An eight-hour day for government employees was established. A public school system based on that of America’s was started. The U.S. Postal service started to deliver to the island. Infrastructure on the island was improved. The establishment of a centralized public health service started. These positive changes led some Puerto Ricans to form the Puerto Rican Republican Party that embraced the idea of annexation to the United States.
1900
The Foraker Act established a civil government in Puerto Rico. The people could elect 30 delegates of the lower house, but the U.S. president appointed the island's governor, cabinet and all judges. A year later, the country did receive a Resident Commissioner in Washington.
1902
The Puerto Rico Telephone Company was inaugurated.
March 9, 1903
The University of Puerto Rico was founded.
1908
The first motion picture projector was brought to Puerto Rico. It was used in a tent theater called “Cine Puerto Rico.”
1915
Santiago Iglesias founded the Puerto Rican Socialist Party. The Party held strikes, founded labor unions and protested U.S. goods and capital in Puerto Rico.
1917
On March 2, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones Act. Puerto Rico became a territory of the United States and received its own Bill of Rights. The United States granted Puerto Ricans U.S. statutory citizenship: they were granted citizenship by act of Congress, not by the Constitution. Elections were to be celebrated every four years. English was decreed the official language of Puerto Rico.
The Organic Act was also approved. It gave the island a legislature of 19 senators and 39 representatives who were elected freely by the Puerto Rican people.
1918
The newspaper El Imparcial was founded.
1919
The Puerto Rican National Guard was founded by Major General Luis Esteves, the first Puerto Rican and Hispanic graduate of West Point (Slide 13).
The newspaper El Mundo was founded.
December 3, 1922
The first radio station WKAQ was inaugurated (Slide 14).
May 28, 1935
President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Puerto Rican Reconstruction Administration (PRRA). It provided aid for agricultural development, public works and electrification on the island (Slide 15).
January 13, 1941
The 1940 U.S. Nationality Act became effective. Under the Act, all persons born in Puerto Rico after the date would be naturalized citizens and thus protected by the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The United States established military bases on the Puerto Rican islands of Culebra and Vieques. The Roosevelt Roads Naval Station was one of the largest naval facilities in the world as it included roughly 32,000 acres of land, three harbors and two-thirds of Vieques.
1945
Waves of Puerto Ricans began to immigrate to the United States to find better jobs in the booming post-war economy. (Today, more Puerto Ricans live in New York City alone–about one million– than in San Juan.)
August 5, 1947
United States Congress passed the Elective Governors Act, which allowed Puerto Ricans to elect their own governor. Muñoz Marín was the first elected governor the following year. His economic development program, Operation Bootstrap, urbanized and industrialized the island so that Puerto Ricans had a higher standard of living than ever before.
1950
The Puerto Rico Commonwealth Bill was signed by Truman. It allowed the Puerto Ricans to establish their own constitution. Two years later on July 25, 1952, it become a Commonwealth and adopted a flag (Slide 16).
1953
The largest migration by the Puerto Ricans to the United States occurred (69,124 people).
1954
The first experimental transmission of television occurred.
1959
The San Juan Star newspaper was founded.
1961
Puerto Ricans were breaking barriers in media industries. Rita Moreno won an Oscar for her performance in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical West Side Story (Slide 17). The newspaper San Juan Star won a Pulitzer prize for Journalism and Editorial Writing.
1967
Sixty percent of Puerto Ricans affirmed Commonwealth status. In the same year, they elected Luis Ferré, leader of a pro-statehood party, as governor.
May 18, 1970
The newspaper El Nuevo Día was founded.
1992
The government sold 80% of the stock in "Telefónica Larga Distancia de Puerto Rico" to "Telefónica Internacional de España" for more than $140 million.
1993
In the Referendum, Commonwealth status was reaffirmed by voters.
Statehood: 788,296 (46.3%)
Commonwealth: 826,326 (48.6%)
Independence: 75,620 (4.4%)
Nulls: 10,748 (0.7%)
Others 7,887 0.5%
June 6, 2005
The Tren Urbano (urban train) was inaugurated. The Tren Urbano is a 10.7 mile metro system that links San Juan, Bayamón and Guaynabo (Slide 18).
November 8, 2012
For the first time, Puerto Rican voters supported the admittance to America through statehood in a non-binding referendum with a 54%. President Obama and Congress agreed to start the process of admitting Puerto Rico as the possible 51st state.
1000 AD
The Taino people (Slide 1) of northern South America settled in Caribbean islands, including Puerto Rico, around 1000 AD. They were hunter-gatherers who lived in small villages and were led by a chief. They grew pineapples, cassava and sweet potatoes as well as got protein from the sea food of the surrounding coast. They called the island Boriken.
November 19, 1493
Christopher Columbus (Slide 2) set sail in September on his second voyage from Cadiz, Spain with 17 ships and 1,500 men and the intent of colonization. He landed on November 19 in Boriken, which was populated with about 50,000 Taino Indians at the time. The Taino showed Columbus the gold nuggets in the river. He claimed the land for Spain and renamed it San Juan Bautista after St. John the Baptist.
August 8, 1508
Juan Ponce de Leon explored the island of Puerto Rico. On August 8th, he founded Caparra, which was located in a bay on the north coast. It was where the first farming and mining began on the island. Ponce de Leon chose it to be the first capital and lived there as governor until its relocation to the Islet of Puerto Rico in 1521 (Slide 3).
1509
In 1509, the first repartimiento in Puerto Rico was established. It was a system that distributed a fixed number of Taino people among the Spanish officials and colonists for low-wage or no-wage labor. Although not slavery, in that the Taino people were not property and stripped of their rights, the system allowed slave-like conditions, especially in mining (Slide 4).
Spanish priests protested the treatment of the Taino people under the repartimiento. The Spanish Crown had to institute the encomienda system, which specified that Spaniards had to pay their workers as well as teach them Spanish and Catholicism. Soon, the treatment went back to slave-like conditions because the Spaniards viewed the Taino as inferior and subhuman (Slide 5).
1511
Spanish disease and treatment had greatly reduced Taino numbers. The Taino people revolted with no success. Ponce de Leon orders 6,000 to be killed in retaliation. The survivors fled to the mountains or off the island.
1521
The capital city and the island change names. The capital becomes the City of San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico; therefore, the island becomes known as Puerto Rico.
More Spanish settlers came to Puerto Rico but brought no women on their ships. Spaniards married indigenous women to repopulate the country. African slaves had also been arriving, adding to the racial makeup of Puerto Rico today (Slide 6).
1522-1524
On January 24, 1522, San Jose Church was founded. It is the oldest church that still holds masses in the Americas (Slide 7).
In 1523, the first sugarcane processing plant was built. It soon became the most important agricultural product (Slide 8). The same year, the Dominican Friars Community was built, which organized the first library on the island.
In 1524, the first hospital on the island was built by Bishop Alonso Manso, who named it Concepcion.
1570
The gold mines, the main reason for Spanish settlers, were announced depleted (Slide 9).
1598
Ginger replaced sugar as Puerto Rico’s cash crop.
1736
Coffee arrived on the island and became a major export in the long run. Sugarcane production also picked up as the large-scale plantation system took hold on the island.
1765
Lieutenant General Alexander O’Reilly conducted a census of Puerto Rico. Its population was 44,883, including 5,037 slaves. At 11.2 percent, it was the lowest ratio of slaves to citizens in the Caribbean.
1786
The first history of Puerto Rico was published by Brother Iñigo Abbad y Lasierra in Madrid, Spain. The book was titled “Historia Geográfica, Civil y Política de Puerto Rico.” It covered the island’s history from 1493 through 1783.
1806
The printing press arrived in Puerto Rico by the Spanish Government in order to publish the Official Gazette.
1812
The Cadiz Constitution was adopted in Spain and across its colonies, which granted Puerto Ricans conditional citizenship.
The first book of poems was printed.
August 10, 1815
The Royal Decree of Grace was issued, which allowed foreigners to be admitted to Puerto Rico, and islanders were allowed to trade with other nations. Roman Catholic immigrants were also allowed in as well as new settlers were granted free land.
1830
Puerto Rico’s economy depended on the exportation of sugarcane, molasses and coffee, primarily to the United States. It was an important source of income to the Spanish government.
1843
The first book “Aguinaldo Puertorriqueño” was published on the island.
1844
A census was conducted. The results were as followed:
Whites: 216,083
Free colored: 175,791
Slaves: 51,265
Total: 443,139
1851
Governor Juan de la Pezuela Cevallos founded the Royal Academy of Belles Letters. The institution contributed to the intellectual and literary development of Puerto Rico. The school licensed primary school teachers, set up curriculum and held literary contests.
1858
The telegraph was introduced to the island by Samuel F. B. Morse in Hacienda La Enriqueta in Arroyo (Slide 10).
March 22, 1873
Slavery was abolished in Puerto Rico by the Spanish National Assembly, a republican government that replaced the monarchy. The owners were compensated with 35 million pesetas per slave, and slaves were required to continue working for three more years.
1890
Luis Muñoz Rivera founded the newspaper La Democracía.
1898
After the short Spanish-American War, the United States won Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and other Spanish Colonies under the Treaty of Paris (Slide 11).
1899
Puerto Rico adopted the US dollar.
In May, General George W. Davis (Slide 12) took command of Puerto Rico and made some positive changes. Freedom of assembly, speech, press and religion were decreed a right just as in the United States. An eight-hour day for government employees was established. A public school system based on that of America’s was started. The U.S. Postal service started to deliver to the island. Infrastructure on the island was improved. The establishment of a centralized public health service started. These positive changes led some Puerto Ricans to form the Puerto Rican Republican Party that embraced the idea of annexation to the United States.
1900
The Foraker Act established a civil government in Puerto Rico. The people could elect 30 delegates of the lower house, but the U.S. president appointed the island's governor, cabinet and all judges. A year later, the country did receive a Resident Commissioner in Washington.
1902
The Puerto Rico Telephone Company was inaugurated.
March 9, 1903
The University of Puerto Rico was founded.
1908
The first motion picture projector was brought to Puerto Rico. It was used in a tent theater called “Cine Puerto Rico.”
1915
Santiago Iglesias founded the Puerto Rican Socialist Party. The Party held strikes, founded labor unions and protested U.S. goods and capital in Puerto Rico.
1917
On March 2, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones Act. Puerto Rico became a territory of the United States and received its own Bill of Rights. The United States granted Puerto Ricans U.S. statutory citizenship: they were granted citizenship by act of Congress, not by the Constitution. Elections were to be celebrated every four years. English was decreed the official language of Puerto Rico.
The Organic Act was also approved. It gave the island a legislature of 19 senators and 39 representatives who were elected freely by the Puerto Rican people.
1918
The newspaper El Imparcial was founded.
1919
The Puerto Rican National Guard was founded by Major General Luis Esteves, the first Puerto Rican and Hispanic graduate of West Point (Slide 13).
The newspaper El Mundo was founded.
December 3, 1922
The first radio station WKAQ was inaugurated (Slide 14).
May 28, 1935
President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Puerto Rican Reconstruction Administration (PRRA). It provided aid for agricultural development, public works and electrification on the island (Slide 15).
January 13, 1941
The 1940 U.S. Nationality Act became effective. Under the Act, all persons born in Puerto Rico after the date would be naturalized citizens and thus protected by the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The United States established military bases on the Puerto Rican islands of Culebra and Vieques. The Roosevelt Roads Naval Station was one of the largest naval facilities in the world as it included roughly 32,000 acres of land, three harbors and two-thirds of Vieques.
1945
Waves of Puerto Ricans began to immigrate to the United States to find better jobs in the booming post-war economy. (Today, more Puerto Ricans live in New York City alone–about one million– than in San Juan.)
August 5, 1947
United States Congress passed the Elective Governors Act, which allowed Puerto Ricans to elect their own governor. Muñoz Marín was the first elected governor the following year. His economic development program, Operation Bootstrap, urbanized and industrialized the island so that Puerto Ricans had a higher standard of living than ever before.
1950
The Puerto Rico Commonwealth Bill was signed by Truman. It allowed the Puerto Ricans to establish their own constitution. Two years later on July 25, 1952, it become a Commonwealth and adopted a flag (Slide 16).
1953
The largest migration by the Puerto Ricans to the United States occurred (69,124 people).
1954
The first experimental transmission of television occurred.
1959
The San Juan Star newspaper was founded.
1961
Puerto Ricans were breaking barriers in media industries. Rita Moreno won an Oscar for her performance in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical West Side Story (Slide 17). The newspaper San Juan Star won a Pulitzer prize for Journalism and Editorial Writing.
1967
Sixty percent of Puerto Ricans affirmed Commonwealth status. In the same year, they elected Luis Ferré, leader of a pro-statehood party, as governor.
May 18, 1970
The newspaper El Nuevo Día was founded.
1992
The government sold 80% of the stock in "Telefónica Larga Distancia de Puerto Rico" to "Telefónica Internacional de España" for more than $140 million.
1993
In the Referendum, Commonwealth status was reaffirmed by voters.
Statehood: 788,296 (46.3%)
Commonwealth: 826,326 (48.6%)
Independence: 75,620 (4.4%)
Nulls: 10,748 (0.7%)
Others 7,887 0.5%
June 6, 2005
The Tren Urbano (urban train) was inaugurated. The Tren Urbano is a 10.7 mile metro system that links San Juan, Bayamón and Guaynabo (Slide 18).
November 8, 2012
For the first time, Puerto Rican voters supported the admittance to America through statehood in a non-binding referendum with a 54%. President Obama and Congress agreed to start the process of admitting Puerto Rico as the possible 51st state.