Tuesday, April 1, 2008

The History Of Puerto Rico


Independence of Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is a common wealth of the United States today. The island is one whose been long awaiting its independence. The Island hasn’t been under its own rule in over 500yrs. On November 19, 1493 the island was discovered by Christopher Columbus. At the time the island was inhabited by some 50,000 Taino/ Arawak Indians. The inhabitants called the island Borikén name by the Taino Indians. From the time Columbus landed on the island its people would no longer be free. Not long after the Spanish landed on Puerto Rico. slaves were imported. The language was changed to Spanish. The people in this island like a lot of the Americas would suffer a lot of hardships.

Puerto Rico is an island who has been long desiring freedom. Initially the Spanish took the islands independence. On July 15, 1898 during the Spanish American war the island was surrounded by American troops. At the end of the war the Spanish ceded Puerto Rico to the United States. Under the rule of the U.S. the people of the island would gain some freedoms. They would gain the rights from the constitution freedom of speech, religion, press, and assembly. Eventually Puerto Ricans would be allowed citizenship. This was under the Jones Act although citizenship was not guaranteed. However they wouldn’t gain independence. The people still suffered a lot of hardships under the rule of the U.S.. Some of the hardships including , sterilization/ “extermination”, the island of Vieques would get bombed during arms testing.
References:
http://welcome.topuertorico.org/history.shtml

4 comments:

ShayRay said...

I like this one. It is really informative. Now I feel like I know all about P.R. I also like ur layout.

Bianca said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bianca said...

All your information is really good, you should write your opinion if P.R should be an independent country or not. Do you think it would work as a better country without the help of the United Sates?

The Halk said...

Thank you for the coment. I think I'm going to make that my last post. That is a good question. It depends on a couple of things. I think it would do pretty well financially. However it would struggle to remain free ,because it is a small island. It dosn't have a large millitary of its own. I think the island would be better off on its own ,because it would be more of a island paradise. That is however after a few rough years.