Puerto Rico was settled by a succession of peoples beginning 2,000 to 4,000 years ago; these included the Ortoiroid, Saladoid, and Taíno. It was then colonized by Spain following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1493. Puerto Rico was contested by other European powers, but 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 distinct Puerto Rican identity began to emerge, centered around a fusion of indigenous, African, and European elements. In 1898, following the Spanish–American War, Puerto Rico was acquired by the United States.
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Daniel Santos (June 6, 1916 – November 27, 1992) was a Puerto Rican singer and composer of boleros, and an overall performer of multiple Caribbean music genres, including guaracha, plena and rumba. Over the course of his career he adopted several names created by the public and became known as "El Jefe" and "El Inquieto Anacobero". (Full article...)
The Cerro Maravilla murders, also known as the Cerro Maravilla massacre, occurred on July 25, 1978, at Cerro Maravilla, a mountain in Ponce, Puerto Rico, wherein two young Puerto Rican pro-independence activists, Carlos Enrique Soto-Arriví (1959–1978) and Arnaldo Darío Rosado-Torres (1953–1978), were murdered in a Puerto Rico Police ambush. The event sparked a series of political controversies where, in the end, the police officers were found guilty of murder and several high-ranking local government officials were accused of planning and/or covering up the incident.
Originally declared a police intervention against terrorists, the local media quickly questioned the officers' testimonies as well as the only surviving witness for inconsistencies. Carlos Romero Barceló (PNP), then Governor of Puerto Rico, ordered the local Justice Department to launch various investigations, and asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US Justice Department to aid in the investigations, which concluded that there was no wrongdoing on the officers' part. However, after the main local opposing political party (PPD) launched its own inquiries, new evidence and witness testimonies surfaced which uncovered gross negligence and murder on the officers' part, as well as the possibility of a local and federal cover-up. Trials were held and a total of 10 officers were convicted of various crimes. (Full article...)
"Que Alguien Me Diga" (Someone Tell Me) is a song by Puerto Rican singer Gilberto Santa Rosa from his 12th studio album, Expresión (1999). It was written by Omar Alfanno with José Lugo and the artist handling its production. It is a salsa track in which the singer is searching for unconditional love. Santa Rosa would later record a ballad version. An accompanying music video features the singer in a dark room surrounded by female musicians. Both versions of the song received airplay on Latin radio stations.
Tropical Storm Karen was a weak tropical storm that impacted the Lesser Antilles, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico in September 2019. The twelfth tropical cyclone and eleventh named storm of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season, it originated from a tropical wave which entered the tropical Atlantic on September 14. The wave quickly organized as it neared the Windward Islands on September 20, becoming a tropical depression just two days later. The depression strengthened into Tropical Storm Karen later that day, as it moved across the southern Windward Islands. By 18:00 UTC that day, Karen had reached its first peak intensity with 1-minute sustained winds of 45 mph (72 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 1,003 millibars (29.6 inHg). Karen weakened back to a tropical depression at 06:00 UTC on September 23. However, just 12 hours later, Karen re-intensified into a tropical storm. It then entered the central Atlantic, early the next day. Karen began to degrade on September 27, when it weakened into a tropical depression, due to strong wind shear. The system subsequently degenerated into a surface trough later that day.
Karen caused significant flooding and widespread power outages in Trinidad and Tobago. Damage on the island of Tobago reached $3.53 million (USD). Flooding and power outages also occurred in Puerto Rico where roughly 29,000 customers lost electricity. Only minimal impacts were reported in Venezuela, the remainder of the Windward Islands, and the British Virgin Islands. (Full article...)
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The Puerto Rican amazon (Amazona vittata), also known as the Puerto Rican parrot (Puerto Rican Spanish: cotorra puertorriqueña) or iguaca, is the only extant parrot endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico, and belongs to the Neotropical genus Amazona. Measuring 28–30 cm (11.0–11.8 in), the bird is a predominantly green parrot with a red forehead and white rings around the eyes. Its closest relatives are believed to be the Cuban amazon (Amazona leucocephala) and the Hispaniolan amazon (Amazona ventralis).
The Puerto Rican amazon reaches sexual maturity at between three and four years of age. It reproduces once a year and is a cavity nester. Once the female lays eggs she will remain in the nest and continuously incubate them until hatching. The chicks are fed by both parents and will fledge 60 to 65 days after hatching. This parrot's diet is varied and consists of flowers, fruits, leaves, bark and nectar obtained from the forest canopy. (Full article...)
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Location of Puerto Rico's main island (green) Puerto Rico currently has the fourth-most active players in Major League Baseball (MLB) among Latin American jurisdictions, behind the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Cuba. More than three hundred players from the archipelago have played in the major leagues since 1926. This includes players who were born in either one of the archipelago's islands and those of Puerto Rican heritage. Only those players who have worked in the major leagues are listed, not those active in the minor leagues, nor negro independent leagues.
For years, it was considered that the first player from Puerto Rico to play in the major leagues was Hiram Bithorn in 1942. But this changed in December 2020, when seven Negro baseball leagues between 1920 and 1948 were recognized as "major leagues." Thus, the first Puerto Rican to play baseball on the major leagues was Jose "Gacho" Torres, who debuted in 1926. (Full article...)
In 1887, Muñoz Rivera became part of the leadership of a newly formed Autonomist Party. In 1889, he successfully ran a campaign for the position of delegate in the district of Caguas. Subsequently, Muñoz Rivera was a member of a group organized by the party to discuss proposals of autonomy with Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, who would grant Puerto Rico an autonomous government following his election. He served as Chief of the Cabinet of this government. (Full article...)
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"Píntame" (transl. "Paint Me") is a song by Puerto Rican American singer Elvis Crespo from his 1999 second studio album of the same name. The song was written by Crespo with Luis Angel Cruz and Robert Cora handling its productions. It is a merengue song in which Crespo asks an artist to materialize his lover by painting her. The song was met with positive reactions from three music critics who found the song to be catchy. An accompanying music video for the single features Crespo dancing with other performers in a white background.
Commercially, "Píntame" peaked at number two and one on the BillboardHot Latin Songs and Tropical Airplay charts in the United States. An English-language version of the song was released to dance radio stations in the US. The track garnered several accolades including the Lo Nuestro Award for Tropical Song of the Year in 2000. In 2019, Dominican Republic singer Gabriel Pagán [es]covered the song with Crespo and their version topped the merengue charts in the Dominican Republic. (Full article...)
Martínez grew up in Dorado, Puerto Rico. Not highly regarded as a prospect, he signed with the Mariners as a free agent in 1982, and was given a small signing bonus. He made his major league debut in 1987, but did not establish himself as a full-time player until 1990, at age 27. In the 1995 American League Division Series, he hit "The Double", which won the series and increased public support for Mariners baseball as they attempted to fund a new stadium. He continued to play until 2004, when injuries forced him to retire. (Full article...)
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"Acércate" (English: "Come Closer") is a song recorded by Puerto Rican reggaetón recording artist Ivy Queen and duo Wisin & Yandel for Queen's seventh studio album Drama Queen (2010). It was composed by Queen and Marcos Masis alongside the duo, while being produced by Luny Tunes and Tainy. Originally entitled "No Te Equivoques", the song was leaked onto the Internet prior to the album's release, which prompted Ivy Queen and Wisin & Yandel to re-record the song.
While failing to chart on main Latin songs charts in Billboard magazine, it did manage to debut and peak at number sixteen on the Billboard Latin Rhythm Digital Songs chart, charting simultaneously with the lead single off the album "La Vida Es Así" which obtained the number two position. The song brings together the first studio album released by Ivy Queen in three years and first for Machete Music, after being with Univision Records since 2005. (Full article...)
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The 1985 Puerto Rico floods produced the deadliest single landslide on record in North America, that killed at least 130 people in the Mameyes neighborhood of barrio Portugués Urbano in Ponce. The floods were the result of a westward-moving tropical wave that emerged off the coast of Africa on September 29. The system moved into the Caribbean Sea on October 5 and produced torrential rainfall across Puerto Rico, peaking at 31.67 in (804 mm) in Toro Negro State Forest. Two stations broke their 24-hour rainfall records set in 1899. The rains caused severe flooding in the southern half of Puerto Rico, which isolated towns, washed out roads, and caused rivers to exceed their banks. In addition to the deadly landslide in Mameyes, the floods washed out a bridge in Santa Isabel that killed several people. The storm system caused about $125 million in damage and 180 deaths, which prompted a presidential disaster declaration. The tropical wave later spawned Tropical Storm Isabel. (Full article...)
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Ivy Queen in 2010
Ivy Queen is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter who has received awards and nominations for her contributions to the music industry, specifically in Latin music and several of its subgenres. Having sold more than two million records,[1] she is the most successful female reggaetón artist and the "only significant female reggaetón rapper" according to The New York Times. Ivy Queen is commonly referred to as the "Queen of Reggaetón" in a genre dominated by male singers, and has become the "indisputable lead female voice of not only Latin urban and reggaetón music but an international icon for Latin music itself" according to the president of Universal Music Latino.
In 2006, Ivy Queen received the first Premio Juventud "Diva Award", which honored the singer for her musical career and is her only Premio Juventud thus far. In 2009, "Dime", from the album Ivy Queen 2008 World Tour Live!, became her most nominated work at the Billboard Latin Music Award ceremony, where she was awarded both "Hot Latin Song of the Year, Female" and "Tropical Airplay Song of the Year, Female" out of five total nominations. Later in 2010, the song gained Ivy Queen an award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) for "Urban Song of the Year". (Full article...)
The chupacabra or chupacabras (Spanish pronunciation:[tʃupaˈkaβɾas], literally 'goat-sucker'; from Spanish: chupa, 'sucks', and cabras, 'goats') is a legendary creature, or cryptid, in the folklore of parts of the Americas. The name comes from the animal's reported vampirism—the chupacabra is said to attack and drink the blood of livestock, including goats.
Physical descriptions of the creature vary. In Puerto Rico and in Hispanic America it is generally described as a heavy creature, reptilian and alien-like, roughly the size of a small bear, and with a row of spines reaching from the neck to the base of the tail, while in the Southwestern United States it is depicted as more dog-like. (Full article...)
... that the Puerto Rico Trench, roughly parallel to the island and 75 miles north, is home to the deepest submarine depression in the North Atlantic Ocean, and that the deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean, the Milwaukee Depth (27,493 ft / 8,380 m), lies within the trench?
... that the El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico is one of the oldest protected areas in the Western Hemisphere by virtue of having been set aside by the Spanish Crown in 1876 while Puerto Rico was still part of the Spanish Empire? Was designated a United Nations Biosphere Reserve in 1976.
... that Flamenco Beach located in Culebra was rated the second most beautiful beach in the world?
... that the Baños de Coamo are Puerto Rico's only thermal springs?
... that the Common coquí or Coquí (Eleutherodactylus coqui) a frog native to Puerto Rico, is a very important aspect of Puerto Rican culture and it has become an unofficial territorial symbol of Puerto Rico?[2]
... that Puerto Rico's beaches come in every size, color, and form, from the pure white dunes of Isabela to the black volcanic sands near Punta Santiago?[3]
Image 8The 45-star flag, used by the United States during the invasion of Puerto Rico, was also the official flag of Puerto Rico from 1899 to 1908. (from History of Puerto Rico)
Image 9Royal Cédula of Graces, 1815, which granted legal entry of some foreigners to Puerto Rico. (from History of Puerto Rico)
Image 11The original Lares revolutionary flag. The first "Puerto Rican Flag" used in the unsuccessful Grito de Lares (Lares Uprising). (from History of Puerto Rico)
Image 13Sugar cane workers resting at the noon hour, Rio Piedras. Photograph by Jack Delano, a photographer for the Farm Security Administration. Ca. 1941. (from History of Puerto Rico)
Image 14"El desastre es la colonia" (the disaster is the colony), words seen on light meter six months after Hurricane Maria (from Culture of Puerto Rico)
Image 17El Imparcial headline: "Aviation (US) bombs Utuado" during Nationalist revolts. (from History of Puerto Rico)
Image 18An 1899, caricature by Louis Dalrymple (1866–1905), showing Uncle Sam harshly lecturing four black children labelled Philippines, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Cuba (from History of Puerto Rico)
Image 19Los Reyes Magos painted by Hipolito Marte Martinez, "In Puerto Rico, Melchior is always represented with dark skin" (from Culture of Puerto Rico)
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