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A number of Amerindian peoples have lived on Puerto Rico, which may be the earliest site of human habitation in the Caribbean. It was the Taínos who were in residence when Columbus arrived in 1493. This largely peaceful family of autonomous tribes had developed a sophisticated culture, language and religious system. Unusually, the Taínos had female chiefs as well as male, who were entitled to numerous husbands, the foremost of which was burned with his wife at the time of her death. Taínos received prophecy from gods and the dead through such mind-altering practices as inhaling a hallucinatory powder made from cohoba seeds and crushed shells. They were also remarkably nifty at ball games: They invented the rubber ball and the results of their contests were of oracular value.
Unfortunately, game-playing and shell-inhaling did not leave the Taínos prepared to defend themselves against the well armed Spanish settlers who arrived from Hispaniola with Juan Ponce de León in 1508. The settlers enslaved and evangelized the Taínos, and many of the mostly male conquistadors took local ladies as 'wives.' Although pockets of Taíno resistance could be found in the mountains, swamps and other inaccessible areas if the island until the 19th century, the vast majority succumbed to superior weaponry and European diseases by the beginning of the 17th century.
The Spanish settled at San Juan, which became one of the most strategic outposts in the New World. Over the next century it underwent massive fortification to protect it from British, French and Dutch maritime incursions. In response to a Spanish stranglehold on regional trade, Puerto Rico imported African slaves and dabbled with sugar, cotton and tobacco plantations in the 16th and 17th century, but there was more money to be made in black market trading with its neighbors.
Spain's inability to prevent smuggling undermined its moral authority on the island, and Puerto Rico began to develop its own distinct identity during the 18th century. This was enhanced by a growing number of immigrants and an emerging bourgeoisie of coffee plantation owners. As revolution swept through the New World, Spain relaxed its totalitarian trade policies in a bid to keep Puerto Rico and Cuba in the colonial fold.
Spanish loyalists and Puerto Rican nationalists spent the second half of the 19th century arguing the pros and cons of self-rule with the colonial government. An unsuccessful revolt in the mountain town of Lares in 1868 focused everybody's mind on the seriousness of the problem at hand. A degree of autonomy - including an elected local government, representation in Spain and their very own currency - was achieved in 1897. This became obsolete almost immediately when US forces invaded and occupied Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War.
The USA ruled Puerto Rico as a colonial protectorate for the next five decades, despite continued calls for autonomy. Puerto Ricans were granted US citizenship in 1917, just in time for them to be eligible for military service in WWI. Reform and investment improved the economy for large landholders (particularly US sugar interests), but the 1930s depression hit the island hard and the independence movement turned to violence.
During World War II, the US military appropriated extensive agricultural lands that have never been returned, including the loudly disputed island of Vieques. Puerto Rico won the right to elect its own governor in 1948, shortly after President Truman implemented 'Operation Bootstrap,' aimed at kickstarting the island's economy, largely by forcing the sale of many publicly owned enterprises and giving tax breaks to resident US companies.
Puerto Ricans voted three to one in a 1951 referendum to become a commonwealth of the US rather than remain a colony. Nationalists seeking full independence took the fight to the US mainland where they attempted to assassinate President Truman and opened fire on US congressmen from the visitors' gallery in the House of Representatives. Political support for full independence waned and calls for US statehood increased, though neither independence nor statehood has ever won a majority vote in any of numerous referenda on status.
The Puerto Rican economy continued to post impressive gains in GNP, around one million Puerto Ricans went to work in New York City and elsewhere in the US during the 1950s and '60s. Return migration to Puerto Rico increased during the 1970s and '80s; US citizenship has helped facilitate a type of circular migration that has led some intellectual types to label Puerto Rico the 'commuter nation.'
The island has a high standard of living compared to most other Caribbean islands, but it still languishes behind the poorest US states and continues to suffer high unemployment. Puerto Ricans voted in 1993 and 1998 for commonwealth status in preference to statehood, though the margins were not decisive.
On 21 February 2000, at least 100,000 Puerto Ricans gathered for what was possibly the nation's largest demonstration ever, to protest US Navy plans to resume training on the island of Vieques. The crowd, which had been summoned by religious leaders, carried the Puerto Rican flag and banners demanding peace. Although organizers claimed the march was not political, many leaders of the Independence Party participated, as did Governor Sila Calderon.
On 24 April 2001, Calderon signed a law prohibiting activities that create more than 190 decibels of sound; US officials admitted that the repeated shelling of Vieques break the new law, but stated that they would continue bombing. In June 2001, however, President George W Bush agreed to end the assault on Vieques, agreeing to phase out military activities on the island by May 2003.
Although the victory at Vieques has many Puerto Ricans celebrating, the US territory's ability to determine its own future continues to be compounded by an inability to vote in US national elections.
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