The Historical Significance of Puerto Rico

1776 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Puerto Rican migration to the USA

The Historical Significance of Puerto Rico

For most of its history, Puerto Rico has been controlled by an outside power, and its people oppressed. While Puerto Rico is currently a U.S. territory, Spanish colonialism has had a significant impact on the island’s development and identity. The history of the island itself is proof of this fact, demonstrating each step Puerto Rico took to reach its current state. By examining the stages of Spanish control that Puerto Rico experienced, we can determine how each stage affected the structure and identity of Puerto Rico.

Before Spain invaded Puerto Rico, the native population known as the Taino inhabited it. At the beginning of the 1500’s, the Taino were conquered by the Spanish and, after a series of revolution attempts, virtually disappeared from Puerto Rican life. Those that were left fled to the interior of the island, which was, at that time, uninhabited. This part of the island became a refuge for the people who had fled from the approaching Spanish conquerors. This was the first stage in Puerto Rico’s development. Spain was the most dominant oppressor of Puerto Rico, and its occupation of the island resulted in many social and economic changes. The native people were marginalized, and Spain took over Puerto Rico in order to turn it into a productive colony. In addition to this, the presence of the Spaniards in Puerto Rico added a different ethnic group to the island’s native population. When the official slave trade began in 1518, African slaves were added to Puerto Rico’s mixed ethnic heritage. (Figueroa 9/22) According to "A Bicentennial Without a Puerto Rican Colony",

Unlike the United States, in Puerto Rico the different races mixed and intermingled to create the moder...

... middle of paper ...

...ed

Bergad, Laird. "The Coffee Boom, 1885-1897," from: Bergad, Coffee and Agrarian Capitalism in Nineteenth-Century Puerto Rico (Princeton: Princeton U Press, 1983), 145-203

Cruz, Jose. "Puerto Rican Independence-then and now".

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/cp-usa/archives/95-09-23-2.html

Scarano, Francisco, "Sugar and Slavery in Puerto Rico, 1815-1849: An Overview," from Scarano, Sugar and Slavery in Puerto Rico: The Plantation Economy of Ponce, 1800-1850 (Madison: U of Wisconsin Press, 1984), 3-34

Thomas, Piri. "A Bicentennial Without a Puerto Rican Colony". http://www.cheverote.com/texts/bicentennial.html

Valle Antiles, Francisco del, "The Spiritual Life of the Jibaro, " from: Iris M. Zavala and Rafael Rodrigues (eds.) The Intellectual Roots of Independence, An Anthology of Puerto Rican Political Essays (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1980), 95-103

Show More
Related

  • Should Puerto Rico Become America´s 51st State?

    2522 Words  | 6 Pages

    Puerto Rico. The. Tarrytown: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2007. 2.

    Read More

  • Puerto Rican Identity and Spanish Colonial Rule

    1399 Words  | 3 Pages

    Bergad, Laird. "The Coffee Boom,1885-1897," from Bergad, Coffee and Agrarian Capitalism in Nineteenth-Century Puerto Rico (Princeton: Princeton U Press, 1883) 145-203.

    Read More

  • test I

    1446 Words  | 3 Pages

    Section I,2. Analyze the consequences of American rule in Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Philippines. Did the citizens prosper? Enjoy freedom? Accept American rule? Comment on the consequences for the United States with regard to the statement made by Eric Foner in the text, “Thus, two principles central to American freedom since the War of Independence – no taxation without representation and government based on the consent of the governed – were abandoned when it came to the nation’s new possessions.

    Read More

  • The Benefits of the Statehood for Puerto Rico

    1814 Words  | 4 Pages

    In order to complicate the things, like not-incorporated territory, Puerto Rico never it was put in automatic route towards a possible statehood since it they have been all the other incorporated territories, as it they have not either been the other not-incorporated territories of Guam, the Virgin Islands and the Marianas Islands of the North. Confused contradictory and, the situation have been evolving gradually to one of gradual integration of Puerto Rico with the U.S.A. The legal and constitutional evolution of the law and precedents that has been accumulated through the years from the promulgation of the Insulars Decisions have tended to treat to Puerto Rico more and more like a state federated in very many areas of their political and economic subjects, except in the most important subject of their last sovereignty.

    Read More

  • The Different Experience of Puerto Ricans' Migration to the United States

    1840 Words  | 4 Pages

    Such inequality was not the only thing early Puerto Rican migrants experienced on the island. They also experienced severe economic set backs. Under the domination of the United States, Puerto Rico did not have control over their means of production. Instead, the United States possessed that power and transformed their island into a metropolitan economy. Workers were subjected to the changing demands of US capital expansion, and their migratory movements were shaped accordingly.

    Read More

  • Latino Community Of Chelsea

    1539 Words  | 4 Pages

    Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth of the United States which makes it easy for natives to travel back and forth. Puerto Ricans first began to arrive in the United States to fill the work void left but those who went on to fight in World War I. Operation Bootstrap was a series of projects that attempted to turn Puerto Rico; a known agricultural economy to one that would concentrate on industrialization and tourism. Puerto Rico enticed many U.S companies with tax exemptions and differential rental rates on industrialized properties and so the shift in the economy had commenced. The shift however did not help the high unemployment rate on the island. Rather than having to deal with the droves of people seeking work they noticed the active recruitment of Puerto Rican workers by U.S. employers. The government began to encourage the departure of Puerto Ricans to the U.S. by requesting the Federal Aviation Administration to lower the airfares between Puerto Rico and the United States. This was an attempt to ch...

    Read More

  • Hard Lives in South Bronx depicted in The Boy Without a Flag

    2097 Words  | 5 Pages

    In this story, the reader can see exactly how, many Puerto Ricans feel when living on other grounds. Throughout this time, the boy that Rodriguez presents us realizes he has his culture and that he wants to preserve it as much as he can. “Because I’m Puerto Rican”. I ain’t no American. And I’m not a Yankee flag-waver”

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Puerto Rico

    1102 Words  | 3 Pages

    . Describe your culture. Include things like place of birth, where you were raised, family structure, educational experiences, and career history. What else needs to be included?

    Read More

  • Harriet Tubman Bibliography

    1221 Words  | 3 Pages

    Harriet Tubman was born in the year 1820 in Dorchester County, Maryland. Her parents were Harriet Green and Ben Ross. She is known by the name Harriet Tubman, but her real name was Araminta Ross. She had ten brothers and sisters who helped her with her work. Her family's nickname for her, as said by Elish, was “Minta” (9). She was born into a slave family which meant one thing: she was going to have a difficult life. She was abused and beaten by hard-hearted white people even when she was little. Her most difficult injury to overcome happened when she was only thirteen. A slave started to escape, so her master picked up a brick and threw it at him. Harriet stepped in front of the brick, trying to give the slave a chance to escape, and, in doing so, was hit in the head, knocking her out. Because of this injury, she had seizures and extremely painful headaches her entire life. When she was old enough, she was rented out to the Cook family. They disregarded her as a person or as an equal, making her sleep and share food with the dogs. The Cooks did not have enough money to keep her, so they gave her back. She was then rented to a woman named Miss Susan, who beat her mercilessly with a whip over the tiniest mistake. When she got the chance, she ran away from her, but ended up almost starving. She was returned to the plantation and started to work in the fields, gathering strength. Her father, hearing about her almost ...

    Read More

  • Essay On Harriet Tubman

    633 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...was elected president, when he expressed his views on slavery. Tubman served as a nurse and a cook at Fort Monroe in 1961, helping children. In 1963, a proclamation that colored people could enter the army, Tubman enlisted as a leader of 150 army soldiers. She led them to the slaves and freed 750 slaves, making a huge accomplishment in African American successes. Frederick Douglass stood up to the opposition of the people for slavery.

    Read More

  • Harriet Tubman Biography

    930 Words  | 2 Pages

    Harriet Tubman is a lady of belief and dignity, who saved a great number of African American males and females through her determination and love for God. People might think that what would motivate anyone to take all that pain and misery to one’s self in order to help other people. Harriet Tubman was an African American lady that took upon several roles throughout her lifetime just like a protester, philanthropist, and a Union Spy in the time of the American civil war. Her actions, not just saved many lives during these horrible time’s but at the same time gave other African Americans the confidence and courage to get up for what they have faith in and accomplish same human rights for males and females in all over the world, regardless of what their skin color or sex was.

    Read More

  • Coca Cola and Coco Frio

    1717 Words  | 4 Pages

    Although it was never intended to be, the acquisition of Puerto Rico resulted in Puerto Rico becoming a colony of the United States, vis-a-vis the laws Congress passed and the nature in which the United States tried to "Americanize" the island. Puerto Rico was a colonial government in the hands of Spain, and although the Puerto Ricans hoped that with American invasion, more freedom would be granted. Unfortunately that did not change when the United States assumed control of the island. The social, economic, and political atmosphere greatly changed as well, and those changes were not necessarily for the better or better than what the Puerto Ricans had while under the control of Spain.

    Read More

  • Harriet Tubman Hero

    860 Words  | 2 Pages

    Harriet Tubman was a runaway slave from Maryland who became known as the "Moses of her people”. Harriet Tubman is widely known for developing the Underground Railroad which was used to get slaves North and Canada to freedom. She later became a leader in the abolitionist movement, and during the Civil War she was a spy with for the federal forces in South Carolina as well as a nurse (Tubman 1). With her countless contributions to the African American people at this time, Harriet Tubman single handedly altered hundreds of lives by doing what she believed was necessary.

    Read More

  • Short Essay On Harriet Tubman

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tubman grew up in a large, Christian family in the Antebellum south, under a very oppressive master. Between working long hours without rest or pay, and often being maltreated by her masters, Harriet developed sustained injuries that would follow her for the rest of her days. As Harriet began to grow older, her siblings were being sold off into slavery, and every day she lived in fear that she too would be ripped from her family to be taken to another master for only a few dollars. One feverish, August day, their master came to the ‘slave quarters’ to try to sell their son Moses, but Tubman’s mother, who was also named Harriet, threatened to kill the first man to touch her son. It is believed that this is where Tubman attained her rebellious soul. Nevertheless, the Tubman family was in constant fear of their family being torn apart, but through it all they kept their faith close and each other closer. After Harriet sustained a life changing injury, now known as temporal lobe epilepsy as a result of her owner throwing a rock at her head, her value as a slave went down and the beatings intensified. Tubman realized this wasn't an acceptable life style, she decided she needed a change. At the young age of 29, in the midst of the night, Harriet packed her few belongings and ran away, running by night all the way to Philadelphia,

    Read More

  • Life is But a Floating Bridge

    744 Words  | 2 Pages

    The author structures the short story according to several shifts to portray the uncertainty we inevitably experience daily. Jinny, the main character, suffers from cancer. She manages to come to terms with this news, but now she has to experience another shift. Through a three-part flashback narrative technique, the author introduces to readers late in the story what the latest news is regarding her health. Jinny remembers that the doctor said, “I do not mean the battle is over, just that this is a favorable sign…we do not know that there may not be more trouble in the future but we can say we are cautiously optimistic” (76). Jinny remembers this crucial shift during a casual conversation. While the readers would expect this shift towards a positive side to bring her joy, Jinny in fact reacts negatively, fact shown by her inner reflection: “It was too much. What he had said made everything harder. It made her have to go back and start this year all over again” (77). Jinny had finally grown used to knowing that she could die soon due to cancer, and now she had to deal with the probability that she would survive.

    Read More

More about The Historical Significance of Puerto Rico

Open Document