Puerto Rico
The Free State of Puerto Rico is one of the U.S. territories, an island state in the Caribbean associated with the United States, consisting of the island of Puerto Rico and the smaller neighboring islands of Vieques, Culebra, Culebrita, Palomino, Mona and Monito. Puerto Rico is the easternmost and smallest island of the Greater Antilles. Puerto Rico means “rich port”.
Puerto Rico was discovered by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage in 1493. As a result, Puerto Rico became part of the Spanish dominion. Fifteen years later, colonization began under Juan Ponce de León. This led to the extermination of the local Indians. After that, black slaves were introduced for work. Slavery was officially abolished in 1873. A year later, the Americans annexed Puerto Rico as a result of the Spanish-American War. With the passage of the Jones Act in 1917, Puerto Rico was once again granted internal self-government. In 1952, the island was granted the status of Dominion Estado Libre y Asociado de Puerto Rico (Commonwealth of Puerto Rico).
Satellite image with zoom: Read travel reportRead travel report Puerto Rico – Map
The island has a subtropical climate throughout the year, with average temperatures of around 28°C. The most frequent rainfall is recorded on the north coast and in the highlands. In the south of the island it is relatively dry. The island is mountainous with rainforests, deserts and beautiful long white sand beaches. More than 80% of the 4 million Puerto Ricans are Catholic. Although the island belongs to the USA, only about 10% describe themselves as Americans. 87% of Ricans see themselves as descendants of the Spaniards or as descendants of African slaves. Spanish is spoken as a first language by over 93% of the population, and universities mostly teach only in English. Agricultural products include sugar cane, bananas, coffee, pineapple, and tobacco. Another industry is fishing. In addition, there are such industries as the food, textile, cement and mechanical engineering industries. One of the other most important economic sectors is tourism.
