Puerto Rican Identity and Spanish Colonial Rule Essay

It is not uncommon that you’ll hear Puerto Ricans refer to themselves as the mutts of the Spanish community, this is because of the island’s history. Soon after Christopher Columbus “discovered” the island in 1493, it became known as the “rich port” for the Spanish or Puerto Rico, due to the fact that it produced mass amounts of cattle, sugar cane, tobacco, and coffee, especially considering the island’s size. Such prosperity and wealth opened the door for the slave trade to enter the colony, and as a result Puerto Rican bloodlines and cultures evolved not only from the Spanish, but also from Africans, and indigenous Taíno and Carib people (“Puerto Rico- History and Heritage”). In addition, over the centuries many failed attempts where made by the French, Dutch, and English to conquer the island which even further changed the bloodlines. Of course, as history has it, at the end of the Spanish American war in 1898, the Treaty of Paris declared the the Spanish would surrender Puerto Rico to the United States, therefore infiltrating American culture and beauty ideals.

For decades, the history of Latin America has been shrouded in a cover of Spanish glory and myth that misleads and complicates the views of historians everywhere. Myths such as the relationship between natives and conquistadors, and the individuality of the conquistadors themselves stand as only a few examples of how this history may have become broken and distorted. However, in Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest Matthew Restall goes to great lengths to dispel these myths and provide a more accurate history of Latin American, in a readable and enjoyable book.

Juan Gonzalez discusses the historical relationship between Puerto Rico and the U.S. in Harvest of an Empire, interestingly enough the author’s family were a part of the surge of Puerto Ricans emigrated to New York in 1946. With the signing of the Treaty of Paris the Spanish-American War came to a close with Puerto Rico now under the control of the U.S. along with Cuba, Guam, and the Philippians. In 1900 the Foraker Act established Puerto Rico as a U.S. territory, but it had less autonomy than when under the control of Spain. The Foraker Act allowed the U.S. to dominate the economy of Puerto Ricans by replacing the peso with the dollar and not allowing for any outside commercial treaties. Challenges were unsuccessful with the dreadful ruling

When the United States invaded the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico (Guanica and Ponce), a majority of Puerto Ricans welcomed the Americans and enabled their invasion. They cooperated and aided the American expulsion of Spaniards. However, it is obvious by the consequences that the end result of U.S. invasion and rule was not what Puerto Ricans had welcomed in July of 1898. Puerto Ricans wished an end to autocratic rule and concentration of wealth, things they did not know would continue under American rule. The Americans were regarded as change and chance for progress, even though they retained the fear of not knowing U.S. intentions.

The international perception of Puerto Rico as an American colony a failed economy or a misunderstood predicament of colonization

After being much pressured from his family, the boy has no choice other than to drink the “potion, familiar / from soda fountains in Brooklyn” (12-13). From the boy’s perspective, we can clearly see his emotional dissatisfaction as he states, “he was bored with this potion” (12). Espada’s comparison of Coca-Cola to “potion” suggests that the people of Puerto Rico are deeply mesmerized by American products, and that they are incapable of recognizing the copious amounts of goods that Puerto Rico has to offer to its people. The speaker emphasizes the significance of American culture on the Puerto Rican citizens and outstandingly illustrates the influences and effects of Americanization. These effects are clearly evident even with the older generation

Myrmarie Graw-Gonzalez is a Professor of the Social Science Department of the Gateway High School at the Osceola County School District, in Kissimmee, Florida. She has received her Masters of Arts in History with the distinction award of Cum Laude, from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus. Her dissertation is entitled "Puerto Rico and the American Dream: A closer connection to the suburban: Case study of Levittown, Toa Baja, Puerto Rico”.

Before we Critique the bourgeoisie in Puerto Rico, we must first understand how they came to be. How did a nation of enslaved people produce individuals who would rather subjugate themselves and other for fringe benefits? In the present day, Puerto Rico is officially known as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. But make no mistake about it Puerto Rico is a colony. A colony that has never experienced freedom for the last 525 years. In 1493, Columbus landed on the island now known as Puerto Rico, claiming the island for Spain, even though a vibrant group of people, The Taino’s, already called the island home. From 1493 to 1898, the Spanish killed thousands of indigenous people and enslaved thousands of Africans, and robbed Puerto Rico of its natural

For instance, many other Americans fail to realize that Puerto Ricans are natural-born American citizens or wrongly view their native island as a primitive tropical land of grass huts and grass skirts. Puerto Rican culture is often confused with other Latin American cultures, especially that of Mexican Americans. The author explains that because Puerto Rico is an island, some mainlanders have trouble distinguishing Pacific Islanders of Polynesian descent from the Puerto Rican people, who have Euro-African and Caribbean

Puerto Ricans are another major Hispanic group that has also arrived to the U.S and brought less work for Americans. Puerto Ricans' current association with the United States, like that of the Mexican people, began as the result of the outcome of a war. The island of Borinquen, subsequently called Puerto Rico, was claimed by Spain in 1493. The native inhabitants, the Taino Indians, were significantly reduced in number by conquest, slavery, and genocide. (Schaefer, R. 2006, p.266). After Puerto Rico had been ruled by Spain for four centuries, the island was seized by the United States in 1808 during the Spanish-American War. The value of Puerto Rico for the United States, as it had been for Spain, was mainly its strategic location, which was advantageous for maritime trade. (Schaefer, R. 2006, p.226). The most significant difference between the meaning of race in Puerto Rico and on the mainland is that Puerto Rico, like so many other

The population of Puerto Rico is a mix of culture and ethnicities, whose origins can be traced back to native Taino, Spanish and West African roots. On Columbus ' second voyage to the New World in 1493, the Spaniards came across the island of Puerto Rico. At that time the island was populated by peaceful indigenous people called the Taino indians (prfdance.org). The Taino welcomed the Spaniards, but the Spaniards treated them severely. Due to the slave labor conditions and new European diseases

As a child, Espada travelled from Brooklyn, New York to his homeland, Puerto Rico to visit his family for the first time. During his visit, Espada fears that Puerto Rican culture is vanishing and threatened by American values imposed on them due to the presence of American corporate powers. It is known that Puerto Rican culture is a mix of many cultures and is strongly influenced by Taino Indians, America, Africa and Spain ("Culture and Traditions in Puerto Rico"). During the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico became the territory of the United States when it was conquered on July 25, 1898 ("Puerto Rico: A U.S. Territory").

When the Spanish American war occurred. Although the territory isn’t allowed to vote for president, they still are recognized as American citizens. The strange portion is that the island main language is Spanish rather than English, making their economy, although part of America, international. Currently the population of Puerto Rico is 3.411 million back in 2016, the population has gone down since then. Back in the 1976 there was a tax break that essentially created a tax loophole by allowing US manufacturers could get away with paying no income taxes on the island. These led to a lot of businesses coming to the island and start an industrial economy. Puerto Rico isn’t well known of producing much, so their exports don’t produce income for them. They mostly export alcohol, and canned tuna. With more companies migrating to Puerto Rico, more jobs opened up and more pension plans were in placed. As time went on Puerto Rico started to gain a GDP of 103.1 Billion, which, not much, helped sustain the island. The issue was even with jobs, at that time, Puerto Rico always lacked resources and after time became one of the poorer than the poorest state in the US – with 45% of the population living below the poverty line. When I last went to visit the island seem more like a part of South America in which the houses and buildings weren’t as advanced as American architect is. Things changed for Puerto

When island inhabitants first heard that Americans were planning on invading Puerto Rico and driving out Spain's rulers, Puerto Ricans welcomed the North Americans to their home. (To view an in-progress work dealing with the Spanish-American War from a pro-colonial expansion point of view, visit this site/ For an objective historical account view this site). The Puerto Ricans were tired of not having a voice in politics and government and with the knowledge that America was a democracy, there was hope that this status quo would change. Although Puerto Ricans felt sentiments of fear at the arrival of the Americans, this did not curb their welcoming and enabling the American invasion. Unfortunately, the outcome of the invasion was not as

This has to do a large part with the discovery of gold mines. Many traveled to the island in order to find gold and hopefully get rich. Sadly, this also involved bringing slaves over. Puerto Rico used slaves to dig for gold, this contributed largely to the mixture and diversity of Puerto Rico. The variety of inhabitants became prominent. In addition to this, the conquerors also had a large impact on the culture. In specific, when Spain conquered Puerto RIco they had many spanish people move to inhabit the land. There were so many different ethnicities that spanish wasn’t declared the official language until the