Spanish exploration of the island began in 1493 when Christopher Columbus visited during his second journey to the New World. In 1508, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León established the first permanent Spanish settlement there at the town of Caparra.
Puerto Rico was subjected to frequent raids by the Carib Indians and, later, by French, British, and Dutch pirates. In 1533, the Spanish began construction of El Morro, a walled fort that would protect the narrow entrance to the harbor of San Juan.
After 1830, improved colonial administration fostered a successful plantation economy based on the production of sugar, coffee, and tobacco. The island's population jumped from just 45,000 in 1765 to 155,426 in 1800; some 13,000 of these people were slaves. By 1900, nearly a million people lived on the 3435 square miles of Puerto Rico.
In the early 1880s, Puerto Ricans (at the time under Spanish rule) began to work for independent government. They reached their goal in 1897; however, a year later, control of the island fell into the hands of the United States. Under the provisions of the 1898 Treaty of Paris which ended the Spanish-American War, Spain ceded the island to the United States.
Puerto Rico became a U.S. territory in 1917. Migration from rural areas to metropolitan regions increased during the twentieth century as industry supplanted agriculture in the island economy. Starting in the 1920s, Puerto Ricans began leaving the island to seek employment in cities like New York where they formed communities called barrios.
Since 1952, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has been a freely associated state within the federal system of the United States. Puerto Rico's hotly-debated future holds myriad possibilities including statehood, independence, and remaining a commonwealth.
- Learn about the collection entitled Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age which contains materials published between 1831 and 1929. See, for example, the first modern historical work on Puerto Rico, Historia geográfica, civil y natural de la isla de San Juan Bautista de Puerto-Rico, or Cartographic Items related to the island.
- In 1939, folk music collector Sidney Robertson Cowell recorded three women vocalists living in Oakland as part of The WPA California Folk Music Project [1938-40.] Her recordings of Puerto Rican songs such as "Bolero Sentimental" and "Ah, Mi Madre Querida" are collected in California Gold: Folk Music from the Thirties, 1938-1940.
- The Depression-era interviews "Cliff Webb and Billie Day" and "Harlem Rent Parties" in American Life Histories, 1936-1940 capture aspects of the Puerto Rican immigrant experience.
- See more images of Puerto Rico. Search on Puerto Rico or San Juan in Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920 and FSA/OWI Color Photographs, 1938-1944.
- View 1492: An Ongoing Voyage to learn more about European exploration of the Western Hemisphere. This exhibition examines the first sustained contacts between native American peoples and European explorers, conquerors, and settlers from 1492 to 1600.
- Visit the Hispanic Reading Room to find more resources on Latin America including The World of 1898: The Spanish American War. This special presentation provides resources, documents, and an overview essay about the Spanish-American War.
- Search THOMAS: Legislative Information on the Internet to peruse recent legislation in the U.S. Congress related to Puerto Rico.
