{"id":43916,"date":"2018-07-13T20:16:23","date_gmt":"2018-07-14T03:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/soulofamerica1.wpengine.com\/?page_id=40342"},"modified":"2022-12-22T12:50:42","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T20:50:42","slug":"puerto-rico-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.soulofamerica.com\/international\/puerto-rico\/puerto-rico-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Puerto Rico History"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Old San Juan Cemetery<\/strong>; (c) Soul Of America<\/p><\/div>\n

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Puerto Rico History<\/h2>\n
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The precise year that Christopher Columbus landed on the picturesque island of Puerto Rico wavers between 1492 and 1493, depending on which historical account you read. However, the wonderful amalgamation of the island\u2019s people encompassing the Taino Indians, Spaniards, and Africans, is not in question.<\/p>\n

Everywhere you look the culture depicts these three distinct influences, but they were not the only ones. Chinese workers built the railroads and remained, Spanish Loyalists fleeing revolution in South America, Corsicans who populated the coffee county, French immigrants from Haiti and Louisiana, a smattering of Scots and Irish, and droves of North Americans following the Spanish American War also made an impact on the cultural landscape here over the years.<\/p>\n

The Spaniards originally named the island \u201cSan Juan Bautista\u201d in honor of St. John the Baptist, and the capital was called Puerto Rico (\u201cRich Port\u201d). Later, the names were switched, making the capital San Juan and the island of Puerto Rico. <\/p>\n

After demonstrating to the Spanish their industriousness in mining gold and silver (the city was used as a transshipment port for gold mined in Puerto Rico and gold and silver from South America to Spain) and their agricultural acumen, the Indians were exploited and enslaved into hard laborers. <\/p>\n