Wikipedia:Today's featured article/June 18, 2007



The history of Puerto Rico began with the settlement of the archipelago of Puerto Rico by the Ortoiroid people, sometime between 3000 and 2000 BC. At the time of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World, the dominant indigenous culture was that of the Taínos. The Taíno culture died out during the latter half of the 16th century because of exploitation, war and diseases brought by the Spanish. Puerto Rico was the key to the Spanish Empire from the early years of the exploration, conquest and colonization of the New World. The smallest of the Greater Antilles, Puerto Rico was a major military post during many wars between Spain and other European powers for control of the region during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico was invaded and subsequently became a possession of the United States. The first half of the 20th century was marked by the struggle to obtain greater democratic rights from the United States. The Foraker Act of 1900, which established a civil government, and the Jones Act of 1917, which granted Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship, paved the way for the drafting of Puerto Rico's Constitution and the establishment of democratic elections in 1952. However, the political status of Puerto Rico, a Commonwealth controlled by the U.S., remains an anomaly, more than 500 years after the first Europeans settled the island. (more...)

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