Puerto Rico (Hanover)

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Puerto Rico, Prosperidad Para Siempre" (Spanish) "Puerto Rico, Prosperity Forever"
Anthem: "La Borinqueña" (Spanish) (English: "The Song of Borinquen")
Capital	San Juan
Official languages	Spanish English
Ethnic groups	By race: 49.8% Multiracial 17.1% White 7.0% Black 0.5% Native American 0.1% Asian 25.5% Other By ethnicity: 98.9% Hispanic or Latino 1.1% Non-Hispanic or Latino
Demonym(s)	Puerto Rican
Government	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
• Monarch	Alexandra
• Governor General	Arianys Mangual
• Prime Minister	Pedro Pierluisi
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	House of Representatives
Establishment
• Pre-Columbian era	430 BC
• Captaincy General of Puerto Rico	1580
• Crown Colony of Puerto Rico	1861
• Independence from the United Kingdom	1960
Area
•	9,104 km2 (3,515 sq mi) (163rd)
• Water (%)	1.6
Population
• 2020 estimate	3,285,874 (134th)
• Density	350.8/km2 (908.6/sq mi) (39th)
GDP (PPP)	2020 estimate
• Total	$116.607 billion (94th)
• Per capita	$35,487 (54th)
GDP (nominal)	2020 estimate
• Total	$100.111 billion (69th)
• Per capita	$30,467 (37th)
Gini	53.1 high
HDI	0.850 very high (45th)
Currency	Puerto Rican dollars (PRD)
Time zone	UTC-04:00 (AST)
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy
Driving side	left
Calling code	+1 (787), +1 (939)
ISO 3166 code	PR
Internet TLD	.pr

Puerto Rico, officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Situated on the northeast of the Caribbean Sea, it is bordered to the east by the British Overseas Territories of Turks and Caicos Islands and the Virgin Islands and the United States Virgin Islands, while to the west, it is bordered by the Dominican Republic.

Puerto Rico was settled by a succession of indigenous peoples beginning 2,000 to 4,000 years ago; these included the Ortoiroid, Saladoid, and Taíno. It was then colonised by Spain following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1493. Throughout the centuries that followed, Puerto Rico was hotly contested by other European powers but otherwise remained a Spanish possession for the next four centuries. An influx of African slaves and settlers primarily from the Canary Islands and Andalusia vastly changed the cultural and demographic landscape of the island. Within the Spanish Empire, Puerto Rico played a secondary but strategic role compared to wealthier colonies like Peru and New Spain. By the late 19th century, a distinctly Puerto Rican identity began to emerge, centered around a fusion of indigenous, African, and European elements. Eventually, following a short war with the United Kingdom in 1861, Puerto Rico was ceded to the British as part of the Treaty of Lisbon, effectively ending nearly three-hundred-long years of Spanish colonial rule on the island. In 1868, the centuries-long tradition of slavery on the island was abolished by the British, following in the footsteps of other British colonies in the Caribbean decades prior.

Beginning in 1909, Puerto Rico was gradually given a form of a local-led limited government, initially with British oversight, before later being given full independence in 1960. Since then, much like its Caribbean neighbours, Jamaica and Barbados (until 2021), Puerto Rico has been a constitutional monarchy with the British monarch serving as the country's head of state but who is officially represented by a governor-general while a prime minister serves as the country's head of government. Since independence, the country's national politics have largely been dominated by two fairly centrist parties, namely the New Progressive Party (PNP) and the Popular Democratic Party (PPD). The current prime minister Pedro Pierluisi is the leader of the PNP and has been in office since 2021.

With a GDP of around $116 billion, Puerto Rico has the fifteenth-largest economy in Latin America, while its GDP per capita is the seventh-highest in the region. On the other hand, the country's high levels of income inequality have been a subject of criticism although Puerto Rico nonetheless maintains a high level of human development which is also the highest in Latin America. On the global stage, Puerto Rico has been a member of various organisations, namely the United Nations, Organization of American States, Commonwealth of Nations, World Trade Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Organization of Ibero-American States, and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

Etymology

Puerto Rico is the Spanish word for "rich port". On the other hand, Puerto Ricans often call the island Borinquén, a derivation of Borikén, its indigenous Taíno name, which means "Land of the Valiant Lord". The terms boricua and borincano are commonly used to identify someone of Puerto Rican heritage, and derive from Borikén and Borinquen respectively. The island is also popularly known in Spanish as la isla del encanto, meaning "the island of enchantment".

The Spanish-born explorer, Christopher Columbus named the island San Juan Bautista, in honor of Saint John the Baptist, while the capital city was named Ciudad de Puerto Rico ("Rich Port City"). Eventually, traders and other maritime visitors came to refer to the entire island as Puerto Rico, while San Juan became the name used for the main trading/shipping port and the capital city.

The official name of the entity in Spanish is Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico ("Free Associated State of Puerto Rico"), while its official English name is Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which remains in use in the present.

History

Pre-Columbian era

The ancient history of the archipelago which is now Puerto Rico is not well known. Unlike other indigenous cultures in the New World (Aztec, Maya or Inca) which left behind abundant archeological and physical evidence of their societies, scant artifacts and evidence remain of the Puerto Rico's earliest population. Scarce archaeological findings and early Spanish accounts from the colonial era constitute all that is known about them. The first comprehensive book on the history of Puerto Rico was written by Fray Íñigo Abbad y Lasierra in 1786, nearly three centuries after the first Spaniards landed on the island.

The first known settlers were the Ortoiroid people, an Archaic Period culture of Amerindian hunters and fishermen who migrated from the South American mainland. Some scholars suggest their settlement dates back about 4,000 years. An archeological dig in 1990 on the island of Vieques found the remains of a man, designated as the "Puerto Ferro Man", which was dated to around 2000 BC. The Ortoiroid were displaced by the Saladoid, a culture from the same region that arrived on the island between 430 and 250 BCE.

The Igneri tribe migrated to Puerto Rico between 120 and 400 AD from the region of the Orinoco river in northern South America. The Arcaico and Igneri co-existed on the island between the 4th and 10th centuries.

Between the 7th and 11th centuries, the Taíno culture developed on the island. By approximately 1000 AD, it had become dominant. At the time of Columbus' arrival, an estimated 30,000 to 60,000 Taíno Amerindians, led by the cacique (chief) Agüeybaná, inhabited the island. They called it Boriken, meaning "the great land of the valiant and noble Lord". The natives lived in small villages, each led by a cacique. They subsisted by hunting and fishing, done generally by men, as well as by the women's gathering and processing of indigenous cassava root and fruit. This lasted until Columbus arrived in 1493.

Spanish colony (1493-1861)

History of Puerto Rico (1493-1861)

British colony (1861-1960)

In 1861, a brief but consequential armed conflict broke out between Spain and the United Kingdom, culminating in a roughly year-long war. By the end of it, Spain, through the Treaty of Lisbon, were forced to pay a hefty amount of war reparations to the British while most importantly ceding their strategic Caribbean colony of Puerto Rico which had then been under Spanish control for nearly three centuries long. Following this, a brief armed conflict broke out between the arriving British forces and local Puerto Rican nationalists who came to oppose both Spanish and British colonialism which soon ended in a victory for the British.

Initially, the overwhelming power of the British military, coupled with the relatively small size of the nationalist uprisings, allowed the British to near-effectively pacify the entirety of the island. However, the loss of the major and last Spanish Caribbean colony of Cuba to the United States as a result of the Spanish-American War in 1898 subsequently marked a notable shift in attitude for the British government back home in London who, realising the importance and strategic value of Puerto Rico, feared a similar fate befalling it as it did with Cuba. Consequently, in 1898, British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury, hoping to avoid a similar fate, began a series of negotiations with Puerto Rican independence leaders which eventually culminated in the 1909 San Juan Agreement that effectively established a form of limited self-government headed by local Puerto Ricans but with nominal British oversight. In the decades that followed, much like other British colonies, Puerto Rico contributed some of its own men to fight on Britain's behalf against its enemies in the First and Second World Wars respectively.

By 1945, the end of the Second World War had left the United Kingdom in a considerably weakened state which coincided with rising nationalist sentiment in some of its major colonies. In line with this growing sentiment, the local Puerto Rican government began demanding full independence from the British although calls for it were stridently opposed by the likes of Winston Churchill who was in favour of maintaining and preserving the British Empire while Clement Attlee, who served as prime minister from 1945 to 1951, otherwise proved somewhat sympathetic to the Puerto Ricans' demand. Eventually, a compromise was reached whereby the British would officially leave the island by 20 June 1961, a date that would mark the 100th anniversary of the British conquest of the island, while the Puerto Ricans themselves would be given much time to prepare for eventual independence.

Meanwhile, heightening Cold War tensions, coupled with the threat posed by the communist regime in Cuba under Fidel Castro, saw the British devote considerable efforts into facilitating Puerto Rican independence which finally came about on 5 October 1960 when the Conservative government under Harold MacMillan passed the Puerto Rico Act 1960 which effectively confirmed Puerto Rican independence, resulting in then-Chief Minister of Puerto Rico Luis Muñoz Marín becoming the country's first prime minister. However, despite this development, matters relating to the country's defence were still handled or supervised to some extent by the British government although this arrangement was eventually terminated following the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union at which point extensive British military presence on the island was no longer deemed necessary.

Government and politics

Since gaining independence in 1960, Puerto Rico has been a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, similar to the likes of Jamaica, The Bahamas, and Grenada. The British monarch, currently Queen Alexandra, is the country's head of state, while a popularly elected prime minister serves as the country's head of government. However, due to its considerable distance from the United Kingdom, Puerto Rico, much like several other Commonwealth countries, has a governor-general serving in the monarch's capacity as head of state and who is responsible for carrying out most of the monarch's traditional duties in her name. Despite formerly being a Spanish colony in the past, its colonial period under the United Kingdom leading up to its eventual independence in 1960 led it to adopt the Westminister system originating from the United Kingdom.

Overall, the country's national politics have largely been dominated by two political parties, namely the New Progressive Party and the Popular Democratic Party. The current prime minister Pedro Pierluisi hails from the New Progressive Party and was elected into office in 2021. Much like other parliamentary democracies, the prime minister only requires the majority support of the lower house in order to form a government. In Puerto Rico, a new prime minister is chosen every four years and there are no term limits imposed on the office. The country's parliament is bicameral in nature, consisting of an upper house made up of approximately twenty senators and and a lower house made up of approximately fifty representatives.

Since 2010, the country's final court of appeal has been the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. Beforehand, much like its Caribbean neighbours, Puerto Rico's final court of appeal was formerly the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council before it was replaced by the country's own supreme court that was established on 26 December 2010. Since then, it has been led by a chief justice, currently Isabel Maria Cuéllar.

Due to its mostly Spanish-speaking population, despite its later British colonial history, the Constitution of Puerto Rico formally guarantees both English and Spanish as the country's official languages. Consequently, bilingualism and mastery of the two languages are greatly promoted amongst the local population, with subsidised schools teaching either of the two languages being provided by the government, particularly for the low-income demographic.

Administrative divisions

As a unitary state, Puerto Rico is divided into seven provinces, each of which is led by a governor, followed by 78 municipalities with each being led by an elected mayor.

Moreover, each municipalities are even further divided into wards or barrios which are even further divided into sectors.

Foreign relations

Since its independence, Puerto Rico has come to be a member of various international and regional organisations, including the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the Caribbean Community, and the Organization of American States.

Armed forces

The military of Puerto Rico, officially the Puerto Rican Armed Forces (PRAF) consists of four branches; the army, navy, air force, and coast guard, whose equipment is largely a mix of American and British technology due to both its geographical proximity to the United States and its close ties with the United Kingdom. While officially subordinate to the Ministry of Defence, members of the armed forces nonetheless swear allegiance to the Queen who is the commander-in-chief. Out of the four branches, the coast guard is the youngest of them all, having been established in 1990 by Prime Minister Rafael Hernández Colón, and is tasked with primarily dealing with drug smugglers and illegal immigrants in conjunction with other Caribbean countries and the United States.

Constitutionally, the country's armed forces are tasked with "protecting and safeguarding the sovereignty of Puerto Rico", "promoting peace and prosperity abroad in line with the values outlined by the United Nations", and "ensuring regional stability in conjunction with neighbouring states".

From 1960 to 1992, owing to its strategic location and prevailing Cold War tensions, conscription was an official policy, with all able-bodied men aged twenty-one and above being required to serve for a period of five years in the country's armed forces. Eventually, the end of the Cold War saw the longstanding conscription system gradually phased out and later abolished outright in favour of a voluntary system which has since been in use.