PUERTO RICO, FLAG OF

U.S. commonwealth flag consisting of five horizontal stripes of red and white and, at the hoist, a blue triangle bearing a white star. In the late 19th century, as pro-independence sentiment grew in the Caribbean islands under Spanish dominion, many activists in Cuba and Puerto Rico were exiled to the United States or elsewhere. In New York City a flag was chosen in exile by the Puerto Rican section of the Cuban Revolutionary Party on December 22, 1895. The design was simply the Cuban flag with a reversal of the red and blue colours. In turn the Cuban flag had been derived from the United States flag in its choice of colours, use of stripes, and emphasis on a white star against a distinctive coloured background. There have been two claimants to the honour of designing the Puerto Rican flag. Some insist that Antonio Vlez Alvarado conceived the flag and that it was sewn by Micaela Dalmau de Carreras, while others point to Manuel de Besosa as the designer and his daughter Mima as the seamstress. During U.S. administration of Puerto Rico following the Spanish-American War (1898), the flag was frequently treated as a revolutionary provocation. The attachment of Puerto Ricans to the design, however, guaranteed its official recognition on July 25, 1952, when Puerto Rico officially became a commonwealth associated with the United States. The star is described as representing the commonwealth, and the white stripes stand for human rights and the freedom of the individual. The three red stripes and the three corners of the triangle correspond to the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the government. Whitney Smith History The first inhabitants of Puerto Rico, probably from the Florida Peninsula, reached the island more than 1,000 years before the arrival of the Spanish. These primitive inhabitants collected food from the seashore and wild fruit from the land. By the year AD 1000 Arawak Indians, who developed the Taino culture, had arrived by way of the Lesser Antilles from the tropical forests of South America. The Arawak, living in small villages, were organized in clans and led by a cacique, or chief. They were a peaceful people who, with a limited knowledge of agriculture, lived on such domesticated tropical crops as pineapples, cassava, and sweet potatoes supplemented by seafood. Anthropologists estimate their numbers to have been between 20,000 and 50,000. On a fertile island the Arawak lived an easy life disturbed only by occasional visits from their Carib neighbours on the islands to the south and east. At the time of discovery, Carib Indians occupied most of the Lesser Antilles, the Virgin Islands, and Vieques Island. In 1493 Christopher Columbus left Spain on his second voyage to the Indies with an elaborate expedition of 17 ships and about 1,500 men. At the island of Guadeloupe the Spaniards rescued several Arawak Indians who had been taken from Boriqun, the Indian name for Puerto Rico, by the Caribs. Columbus agreed to return them to their island, and on Nov. 19, 1493, the expedition anchored in a bay on the west coast of Puerto Rico. Columbus formally took possession of the island in the name of Ferdinand and Isabella, the rulers of Spain, and named it San Juan Bautista. Two days were spent on the island before the ships moved westward to Hispaniola, where the first settlement in the New World was established. Spanish rule to the 19th century Early settlement For 15 years the island was neglected except for an occasional visit by a ship putting in for supplies. In 1508 Juan Ponce de Len, who previously had accompanied Columbus, was granted permission to explore San Juan Bautista in recognition of his valuable colonizing efforts in eastern Hispaniola. On the north coast, Ponce de Len found a well-protected bay that could offer safe harbour for a large number of sailing vessels, and he founded the first town, Caparra, the site of the first mining and agricultural efforts. The harbour was named Puerto Rico because of its obvious excellent potentialities. In this area was located the most important settlement on the island; through time and common use the port became known as San Juan, while the name Puerto Rico came to be applied to the whole island. The peaceful and friendly relations with the Arawak did not last long. The Spaniards expected the Indians to acknowledge the sovereignty of the king of Spain by payment of gold tribute. The Indians were to be instructed in Christian ways. In return for this education, which was rarely given, the Arawak were expected to work and supply either more gold or provisions of food. In 1511 the Indians rebelled against the Spanish, who with their superior arms rapidly subjugated them. Placer mining of gold was continued by Indians brought from other islands and by blacks brought from Africa by some of the early traders. After the 1530s, however, gold production markedly declined with dwindling Indian labour, and the Spanish colonists, with slaves from Africa, turned to agriculture. Puerto Rico, however, did not prosper economically. Carib Indians from neighbouring islands made frequent raids, carrying off food and slaves and destroying property. The colony continued to lead a precarious existence, ravaged by plagues and plundered by French, British, and Dutch pirates. Repeatedly during the mid-16th century the French burned and sacked San Germn, the second community to be established on the island. People began to leave the island at every opportunity. In the second half of the 16th century Spain, recognizing the strategic importance of Puerto Rico, undertook to convert San Juan into a military outpost. The fortress El Morro, built with the financial subsidy from the Mexican mines, was well constructed and perfectly located to dominate the narrow entrance to the harbour. Later, a stronger and larger fortress was built to the east and on the Atlantic side of the city. In the early 17th century the city was surrounded by a stone wall, 25 feet high and 18 feet thick, two parts of which still stand. These defenses made San Juan almost impregnable. Sir Francis Drake attacked the town in 1595 but failed to gain the harbour. Three years later George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, had complete military success but was forced to abandon his conquest owing to an outbreak of plague among his troops. In 1625 a Dutchman, Bowdoin Hendrik, sailed into the harbour, captured and burned the town, but failed to subdue El Morro. San Juan, as the most exposed military outpost guarding the heart of Spain's New World empire, received political and economic attention from the mother country. The rural inhabitants of the interior of the island, however, were ignored by Spain and scorned by the presidial residents of San Juan. As the French, English, Danish, and Dutch fought over and settled the Lesser Antilles during the 17th and 18th centuries, rural Puerto Ricans, ignoring the edicts of Spain, found profit in clandestine trade. Ginger, hides, sugar, tobacco, and cattle from the island were in great demand, and while the colonial authorities of San Juan rarely ventured out of their walled defenses for fear of the reprisals of the buccaneers, the rural settlers prospered in a modest way through contacts with the non-Spanish European traders. No large plantations were established, and the farmer, with little help, cultivated his own land. Contrary to the fears of Spain, this contact with foreigners did not corrupt the islanders, who remained loyal and were willing to participate in aggressive expeditions.