Puerto Rico (Hanover)
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") | |
.svg) | |
| Capital and | 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 |
| Arianys Mangual | |
| Pedro Pierluisi | |
| Legislature | Parliament |
| Senate | |
| House of Representatives | |
| Establishment | |
• Independence from the United Kingdom | 22 March 1977 |
| Area | |
• | 9,104 km2 (3,515 sq mi) |
• 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 |  0.850very 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 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 1954, Puerto Rico was gradually given a form of a local-led limited government, initially with British oversight, before later being given full independence in 1977. 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 is otherwise represented in his or her absence 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 Democratic Party of Puerto Rico (DPP) and the Puerto Rico Forward Party (PRF). The current prime minister, Pedro Pierluisi, is the leader of the DPP and has been in office since 2019.
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, their 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. Internationally, Puerto Rico has been a member of the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the Commonwealth of Nations, and others.