72 Facts About Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico was contested by other European powers, but remained a Spanish possession for the next four centuries.

However, as residents of an unincorporated territory, American citizens of Puerto Rico are disenfranchised at the national level, do not vote for the president or vice president, and generally do not pay federal income tax.

The first comprehensive book on the history of Puerto Rico was written by Fray Inigo Abbad y Lasierra in 1786, nearly three centuries after the first Spaniards landed on the island.

Puerto Rico then occupied the port and attacked the city while the population hurried for shelter behind El Morro's moat and high battlements.

Puerto Rico'storians consider this event the worst attack on San Juan.

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Puerto Rico suggested that the United States annex the Dominican Republic and purchase Puerto Rico and Cuba.

In 1917, the U S Congress passed the Jones–Shafroth Act, which granted Puerto Ricans born on or after 25 April 1898 U S citizenship.

Puerto Rico organized a protest at the University of Puerto Rico in 1935, in which four were killed by police.

In 1936, U S senator Millard Tydings introduced a bill supporting independence for Puerto Rico; he had previously co-sponsored the Tydings–McDuffie Act, which provided independence to the Philippines following a 10-year transition period of limited autonomy.

In 1946, President Truman appointed the first Puerto Rican-born governor, Jesus T Pinero.

Puerto Rico asserted that the law as such was a violation of the civil rights of the people of Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico adopted the name of Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, officially translated into English as Commonwealth, for its body politic.

In subsequent plebiscites organized by Puerto Rico held in 1993 and 1998, the current political status failed to receive majority support.

Bill merely authorizes the people of Puerto Rico to adopt their own constitution and to organize a local government.

Puerto Rico was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, but President Truman commuted his sentence to life.

Puerto Rico has become a major tourist destination, as well as a global center for pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Puerto Rico has 17 lakes, all man-made, and more than 50 rivers, most originating in the Cordillera Central.

Puerto Rico is composed of Cretaceous to Eocene volcanic and plutonic rocks, overlain by younger Oligocene and more recent carbonates and other sedimentary rocks.

Climate change in Puerto Rico encompasses the effects of climate change, attributed to man-made increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, in the U S territory of Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico is home to three terrestrial ecoregions: Puerto Rican moist forests, Puerto Rican dry forests, and Greater Antilles mangroves.

Puerto Rico has three bioluminescent bays: rare bodies of water occupied by microscopic marine organisms that glow when touched.

Population of Puerto Rico has been shaped by initial Amerindian settlement, European colonization, slavery, economic migration, and Puerto Rico's status as unincorporated territory of the United States.

Puerto Rico Ricans continue to follow a pattern of "circular migration", with some migrants returning to the island.

Spanish of Puerto Rico has evolved into having many idiosyncrasies in vocabulary and syntax that differentiate it from the Spanish spoken elsewhere.

All municipalities in Puerto Rico have at least one Catholic church, most of which are located at the town center, or plaza.

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Puerto Rico has the largest Jewish community in the Caribbean, numbering 3000 people, and is the only Caribbean island in which the Conservative, Reform and Orthodox Jewish movements all are represented.

Puerto Rico has a republican form of government based on the American model, with separation of powers subject to the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United States.

Puerto Rico is represented in the U S Congress by a nonvoting delegate to the House of Representatives, the resident commissioner, currently Jenniffer Gonzalez.

Residents of Puerto Rico, including other U S citizens, cannot vote in U S presidential elections, but can vote in primaries.

Puerto Rico has 8 senatorial districts, 40 representative districts and 78 municipalities; there are no first-order administrative divisions as defined by the U S government.

Since 1952, Puerto Rico has had three main political parties: the Popular Democratic Party, the New Progressive Party and the Puerto Rican Independence Party .

Puerto Rico is the only current U S jurisdiction whose legal system operates primarily in a language other than American English: namely, Spanish.

Specifically, the basic question is whether Puerto Rico should remain an unincorporated territory of the U S, become a U S state, or become an independent country.

Constitutionally, Puerto Rico is subject to the plenary powers of the United States Congress under the territorial clause of Article IV of the U S Constitution.

Since Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory and not a U S state, the United States Constitution does not fully enfranchise U S citizens residing in Puerto Rico.

Residents of Puerto Rico pay into Social Security, and are thus eligible for Social Security benefits upon retirement.

Puerto Rico Ricans have been frequently appointed to high-level federal positions, including serving as United States ambassadors to other nations.

Puerto Rico is subject to the Commerce and Territorial Clause of the U S Constitution, and is thus restricted on how it can engage with other nations, sharing the opportunities and limitations that state governments have albeit not being one.

Puerto Rico's received more votes than any other official elected in Puerto Rico that year.

Many Puerto Rico Ricans have served as United States ambassadors to different nations and international organizations, such as the Organization of American States, mostly but not exclusively in Latin America.

Puerto Rico had been seen as crucial in supporting LANTCOM's mission until 1999, when U S Atlantic Command was renamed and given a new mission as United States Joint Forces Command.

Puerto Rico is currently under the responsibility of United States Northern Command.

Branch of the U S Army National Guard is stationed in Puerto Rico – known as the Puerto Rico Army National Guard – which performs missions equivalent to those of the Army National Guards of the different states of the United States, including ground defense, disaster relief, and control of civil unrest.

Significant number of Puerto Ricans serve in the U S Armed Forces, largely as National Guard members and civilian employees.

Unlike the vast majority of U S states, Puerto Rico has no first-order administrative divisions akin to counties, but has 78 municipalities or municipios as the secondary unit of administration; for U S Census purposes, the municipalities are considered county equivalents.

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Puerto Rico is classified as a high income economy by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Puerto Rico experienced a recession from 2006 to 2011, interrupted by four quarters of economic growth, and entered into recession again in 2013, following growing fiscal imbalance and the expiration of the IRS Section 936 corporate incentives that the U S Internal Revenue Code had applied to Puerto Rico.

Tourism in Puerto Rico is an important part of the economy.

In 2019, Discover Puerto Rico planned to continue that campaign, including "streaming options for branded content".

One of the most cited contributors to the high cost of living in Puerto Rico is the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, known as the Jones Act, which prevents foreign-flagged ships from carrying cargo between two American ports, a practice known as cabotage.

Local government of Puerto Rico has requested several times to the U S Congress to exclude Puerto Rico from the Jones Act restrictions without success.

The study found that Puerto Rico received very similar or lower shipping freight rates when compared to neighboring islands, and that the transportation costs have no impact on retail prices on the island.

Education in Puerto Rico is divided in three levels—Primary, Secondary, and Higher Level .

Puerto Rico has four schools of Medicine and three ABA-approved Law Schools.

Reforma de Salud de Puerto Rico – locally referred to as La Reforma – is a government-run program which provides medical and health care services to the indigent and impoverished, by means of contracting private health insurance companies, rather than employing government-owned hospitals and emergency centers.

On 12 March 1903, the University of Puerto Rico was officially founded, branching out from the "Escuela Normal Industrial", a smaller organization that was founded in Fajardo three years earlier.

Puerto Rico has many symbols, but only the Flor de Maga has been made official by the Government of Puerto Rico.

Mass media in Puerto Rico includes local radio stations, television stations and newspapers, the majority of which are conducted in Spanish.

Music of Puerto Rico has evolved as a heterogeneous and dynamic product of diverse cultural resources.

Puerto Rico has been commemorated on four U S postal stamps and four personalities have been featured.

San Juan, Puerto Rico was commemorated with an 8-cent stamp on its 450th anniversary issued 12 September 1971, featuring a sentry box from Castillo San Felipe del Morro.

Baloncesto Superior Nacional acts as the top-level professional basketball league in Puerto Rico, and has experienced success since its beginning in 1930.

Consequently, practitioners of this style have earned participation in international teams, including Orlando "El Gato" Melendez, who became the first Puerto Rico Rican born athlete to play for the Harlem Globetrotters.

Puerto Rico has representation in all international competitions including the Summer and Winter Olympics, the Pan American Games, the Caribbean World Series, and the Central American and Caribbean Games.

Puerto Rico hosted the Pan Am Games in 1979, and The Central American and Caribbean Games were hosted in 1993 in Ponce and in 2010 in Mayaguez.

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Cities and towns in Puerto Rico are interconnected by a system of roads, freeways, expressways, and highways maintained by the Highways and Transportation Authority under the jurisdiction of the U S Department of Transportation, and patrolled by the Puerto Rico Police Department.

Puerto Rico has three international airports, the Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in Carolina, Mercedita Airport in Ponce, and the Rafael Hernandez Airport in Aguadilla, and 27 local airports.

Puerto Rico has nine ports in different cities across the main island.

PREPA was, by law, the only entity authorized to conduct such business in Puerto Rico, effectively making it a government monopoly until 2018.

Similarly, the Puerto Rico Aqueducts and Sewers Authority —Spanish: Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados —is a water company and the government-owned corporation responsible for water quality, management, and supply in Puerto Rico.

Telecommunications in Puerto Rico includes radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.

Puerto Rico has its own amateur radio prefixes, which differ from those of the contiguous United States in that there are two letter before the number.