i need puerto rican history for history class (PLEASE HELP!!!!!!)?

Question

i need help puerto rican people are cool please help

Answer 1

Heres some early history of Puorto Rico. Hope it helps get you started.

When the Spanish found gold on Puerto Rico, they established farms for cattle, grain, fruits, and vegetables to supply mining camps. These farms later grew into large and small plantations for cash crops of sugarcane, tobacco, and coffee.

The Spanish enslaved the Taínos to work the mines and farms. But the native people died of abuse, suicide, and contagious diseases introduced by the Spanish. By 1520, the Taíno presence had almost vanished, and Spain turned to West and Central Africa for labor-enslaving hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children until slavery ended in 1873.

During the 1700s, Puerto Ricans began to develop their distinctive traditions and practices. The island received refugees from the Napoleonic Wars and other European immigrants after 1815. The contemporary culture of Puerto Rico emerged from the blending of European, African, and Native American traditions.

Dutch print of commerce in San Juan

Wax Seal of the Marqués De Arecibo

This seal belonged to Gregorio Ledesma, Marquis of Arecibo, born in Logroño, Spain. By 1863, Ledesma was paymaster of the Royal Treasury in Arecibo, a town on Puerto Rico's north shore. In 1870, he founded G. Ledesma and Co., a tonelería, or barrel-making enterprise. He received the title Marquis of Arecibo on July 12, 1889, and became a deputy to the Cortes (legislative body) in Cádiz, Spain.
Colonial Society

Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León (1460-1521) became the first Spanish governor of this Crown Colony in 1509. His highly centralized government controlled the colony's economic and social life.

Roman Catholic priests who arrived with the explorers and soldiers came to convert native peoples. But the goals of the Crown and the Church sometimes clashed, as when priests criticized the way landowners treated enslaved Catholic converts.

Less profitable in its early years than other Caribbean colonies, Puerto Rico remained at the margins of Spanish imperial projects. Legislative changes in 1812 granted the island greater independence just as a sense of Puerto Rican identity and a distinctive cultural life were emerging.

Pirate's Earrings

In the late 1700s and early 1800s, many pirates plundered merchant vessels in the Caribbean. Cofresí, the most famous Puerto Rican pirate, was captured by Spanish forces and executed in 1825. He lives today in song and legend.
On display in the exhibition are some pirate's earrings that belonged to Doña Ynocencia Ramírez de Arellano, Teodoro Vidal's great-great-grandmother. According to family lore, they once belonged to the pirate Roberto Cofresí y Ramírez de Arellano (1791-1825), Doña Ynocencia's cousin.

Puerto Rico as a Slave Society, 1509-1873

Slave Woman of Puerto Rico, print by Luís Paret y Alcázar

Slavery was brutal throughout the Americas. Farming cash crops for export required thousands of people to work the fields. The Spanish enslaved African peoples to do this work.

African peoples and their mixed descendants contributed to the development of Puerto Rico's creolized society. By 1800, the population was 15 percent slaves, 40 percent free people of color, and 45 percent other free people. Slavery ended in 1873, but the African presence is woven into Puerto Rico's language, music, cuisine, art, religious practices, and everyday ways of living.

José Campeche

José Campeche (1751-1809), one of the most important Latin American colonial artists, painted a self-portrait that was later lost. Fortunately, artists Ramón Atiles and Joaquín José Goyena copied it. A photograph of the painting is on display in the exhibition.

Campeche's parents were Tomás Campeche, a freed slave born in Puerto Rico, and María Jordán Marqués from the Canary Islands. Because of this mixed descent, he was identified as a mulatto, a common term during his time.

Pío Casimiro Bacener

Born into slavery in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Pío Casimiro Bacener (1840-1900) either bought his freedom or was freed by his owner. Bacener attended the Public School of Drawing founded by Puerto Rican painter Francisco Oller, an important Impressionist painter.

People of color rarely had the opportunity to represent themselves during this era. A self-portrait painted in1894 is on display in the exhibition. It gives a rare glimpse into the lives of Bacener and his contemporaries.

Puerto Rico and the United States

American cavalrymen of the 5th Regiment in Puerto Rico

By the 1890s, Puerto Rican political activists, writers, and other intellectuals began to organize political parties. Some favored a break with Spain. Others favored political autonomy while remaining part of Spain. Still others wanted no change at all in the relationship with the Crown.

In 1897, four men were sent as deputies to the Cortes, the empire's legislative body in Cádiz, Spain. They secured a Charter of Autonomy that gave Puerto Rico increased self-governance and declared universal male suffrage.

On February 15, 1898, the U.S.S. Maine sank in Cuba's Havana Harbor. The United States declared war against Spain. U.S. forces defeated Spanish defenses in Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippine Islands, and Guam in the Pacific. Victory in this short war marked the United States' emergence as an imperial nation. Spain ceded "Porto Rico" to the United States through the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898.

Bastoncitos

Bastoncitos, or swagger sticks, were used by U.S. military men who had them specially made in Puerto Rico. At the time, "swagger" meant fashionable, or elegant. Swagger sticks have been carried by generations of military officers the world over. They are usually shorter than canes and capped on either end with metal or leather. They are not an official part of U.S. military uniforms.

Porto Rico or Puerto Rico?

The change in rule from Spain to the United States brought many legal changes. A bottle of bay rum in the exhibition, for example, bears the name "Porto Rico," which originally occurred as a misspelling in the Treaty of Paris and persisted in part because it was easier for English speakers to pronounce. It became the official name of the island in 1898. After more than 30 years of lobbying, Puerto Ricans persuaded the U.S. Congress to legally restore their land's rightful name, Puerto Rico, in 1932.

Language in Schools

Children in school with English words on blackboard
Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration

After Puerto Rico became part of the United States, many teachers and missionaries arrived to teach English and other subjects that the U.S. government deemed important. As this photograph shows, children learned how to read and write in English, which then was mandatory. Over the years, conflicts arose over what Puerto Rican children should be taught in school-English vs. Spanish, Protestant vs. Catholic beliefs, and yanqui vs. Puerto Rican values.

The Palace of Santa Catalina

Known as La Fortaleza (the Fortress), the Palace is the oldest executive mansion in continual use in the Americas. It was the first fortress built in San Juan, capital city of Puerto Rico. Begun in 1533 and finished in 1540, it was built to defend the city from naval attacks. In 1822, it became the official residence of the island's governors, the role it has served since the 1600s.

Answer 2

Here are some cool links to the history of Puerto Rico:

http://welcome.topuertorico.org/history.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Puerto_Rico
http://welcome.topuertorico.org/index.shtml
http://www.historyofnations.net/northamerica/puertorico.html
http://www.solboricua.com/history.htm

Also you can try "history of Puerto Rico" in Yahoo search.

Hope this helps!!

Answer 3

go to cia.gov. On the left side is a country look up. Lots of good stuff in there.

Answer 4

IF YOU ARE SERIOUS I CAN HELP YOU I HAVE A OT OF THINGS TO TELL YOU

Answer 5

you can visit these sites http://welcome.topuertorico.org/history.shtml
http://www.prboriken.com/culture.htm