Puerto Rico History

Puerto Rico is not an official country it is actually an unincorporated territory of the United States. An unincorporated territory means that the United States constitutional rights may differ and may not all apply to Puerto Ricans but they still have the United State’s fundamental laws. Puerto Rico is the short name for the name the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and in Spanish is Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico. It is the smallest island of the Greater Antilles which is located northeast of the caribbean, west of both the U.S. Virgin islands and the British Virgin Islands, and east of the Dominican Republic.

Puerto Rico was first discovered on November 19th, 1493 by Christopher Columbus during his second voyage to start colonization.

Juan Ponce de Leon made a big arrival when he brought his army on August 12th, 1508 do defeat the Taino. The Taino were in no way prepared for the advanced army going against them and Spaniards soon took control. The population of the Taino soon decreased by the thousands after many fled in escape from the Spanish and the others were then sent into slavery. Once captured by slavery they would normally commit suicide due to the separation from their kids. Years after the Spanish still were fighting to keep control as many buccaneers, pirates, and other armies attempted to fight for the island. The island was suffering greatly under the Spanish control with the high demand for the importation of slaves, sugar, and coffee. Thankfully things started to get better and in 1873 slavery was abolished. 25 years later the Spanish rule was brought to an end after the United States won control over Puerto Rico. There were immediate improvements in Puerto Rico such as in medical facilities, post office services, and infrastructures. Even freedom was gained after a civil government was instituted and by 1916 the Jones Act was in effect. The Jones Act allowed Puerto Rico to have its own leadership but still be apart of the United States. Soon even U.S. citizenship was open to Puerto Rican

Sugar was the most dominant producer until about 1940 when agriculture became the primary source of income and economic activity. Due too many U.S. firms investing in Puerto Rico, the imports and exports are thriving and doubled in between the year 1987 and 1997. It started to go downhill after that when President Bill Clinton was going to cut a section from the U.S. tax code that exempted the profits earned by American companies from federal taxes. Once Congress went to get rid of the section, the number of manufacturing jobs dropped by almost half. Puerto Rico tried to make up for the job losses by cutting taxes, providing new local incentives, and encouraging economic development. Puerto Rico is also struggling with trade struggles between Mexico, Canada, and the United States due to having to compete for jobs and investment. Puerto Rico also lacks many natural resources so they heavily rely upon federal aid from the United States government. The island is going deep in debt, although some debt is part of the United States, the islands public debt is reaching $16 billion. Also there unemployment rate is two times higher than our 7.5% rate at 15%. Tourism though is a major source of income along with pharmaceuticals, electronics, textiles, petrochemicals, processed foods, clothing, and