SAN JUAN

city, capital of San Juan provincia, west-central Argentina. It lies along the San Juan River and is enclosed by Andean foothills on three sides. Founded in 1562 by Juan Jufr y Montesa, governor of the captaincy general of Cuyo, the city was moved in 1593 to its present site, 2 miles (3 km) south, because of floods; it is now protected by an embankment. Because it was on the fringe of Spanish-held territory, it was originally named San Juan de la Frontera. Early in the 18th century, Jesuits built a cathedral and a convent, both of which were destroyed, along with most of the city's other buildings, in a severe earthquake in 1944. Reconstruction has given San Juan a modern appearance. The processing of meat, wines, fruits, and grains is the main economic activity. San Juan was the birthplace of Domingo Sarmiento (Argentine educator and president from 1868 to 1874), and his home, which contains a museum and library, was declared a national monument in 1910. Pop. (1980) 117,731. province, western Dominican Republic. Created in 1938 as Benefactor province, it lost much territory when San Rafael (now La Estrelleta) province was created out of it in 1942; the remaining 1,375 sq mi (3,561 sq km) took the name San Juan in 1961. Much of San Juan's land lies in the fertile Valle de San Juan, bounded on the north by the mountains of the Cordillera Central and on the south by the Sierra de Neiba. The land is irrigated by waters from the Yaque del Sur River. Rice, corn (maize), coffee, bananas, sugarcane, potatoes, and chick peas are cultivated; lumbering is another economic activity. The main highway linking Santo Domingo with Comendador, near the Haitian border, traverses the province, passing through San Juan (q.v.) city, the provincial capital. Pop. (1981) 239,957. in full San Juan De La Maguana, city, capital of San Juan province, southwestern Dominican Republic, on the Ro San Juan, an affluent of the Yaque del Sur River, northwest of Santo Domingo city. The Spanish explorer Diego Velzquez founded San Juan in 1508 by royal decree on the site of the Taino Indian capital, in Maguana province, then ruled by Chief Caonabo. The settlement floundered until 1764, when an influx of ranchers revitalized the area. During the early 19th century, San Juan witnessed a series of DominicanHaitian battles, followed by Creole uprisings for independence from Spain. The Battle of Santom (1844), which achieved Dominican independence, was fought nearby and is commemorated by a monument. In addition to cattle, the economic activities of the city focus on the production of rice, coffee, corn (maize), fruit, and potatoes. Pop. (1981) 49,764. capital and largest city of Puerto Rico, located on the northern coast of the island on the Atlantic Ocean. A major port and tourist resort of the West Indies, it is the oldest city now under U.S. jurisdiction. Originally the settlement was known as Puerto Rico and the island as San Juan, but over the centuries common usage brought about a reversal of the names. In 1508 Juan Ponce de Len founded the original settlement, Caparra, on the almost landlocked harbour just to the west of the present metropolitan area. In 1521 unhealthy conditions forced the removal of the settlement to a rocky islet at the harbour entrance. Casa Blanca (White House) was begun that same year and was owned by Ponce de Len's family until the late 18th century. In 1533 the Spanish began construction of massive fortifications in response to attacks by native Carib and by European powers. The bulwark-palace known as La Fortaleza, built near Casa Blanca, was the first of the new defenses (it now houses the governor's mansion). San Felipe del Morro castle (also called El Morro) was constructed next, on a high bluff overlooking San Juan Bay. In the early 16th century San Juan was the point of departure for Spanish expeditions to unknown parts of the New World. Its fortifications repulsed the English navigator Sir Francis Drake in 1595 as well as later attackers, but George Clifford, 3rd earl of Cumberland, captured it briefly in 1598, and a Dutch force took the city from the landward side in 1625. In response, the fortress of San Cristbal, the largest Spanish fort in the New World, was built to the northeast, and, from 1634 to 1638, walls were erected across the southern part of the city, facing the harbour. The bastions existing today were largely added during the period 176583. In 1885 there was an uprising against Spanish administration, and in May 1898 the guns of San Cristbal engaged a U.S. fleet that bombarded the city. Puerto Rico became a U.S. territory under the terms of the Treaty of Paris that same year. Ponce de Len is buried in the San Juan Cathedral, which was begun in 1521 and rebuilt in 1540 and again in 1802. San Jos Church, begun in 1532, is the oldest church in continuous use in the Western Hemisphere. La Casa del Callejn (House of the Narrow Street) includes museums of colonial architecture and of Puerto Rican family life. La Casa del Libro (1955; House of the Book) is a rare-book library and museum housed in an 18th-century structure. The San Juan National Historic Site (1949) includes the El Morro and San Cristbal fortifications; this area, along with La Fortaleza, was designated a World Heritage site in 1983. The main campus of the University of Puerto Rico (1903) is located in the Ro Piedras barrio (ward) of San Juan. The medical campus and other facilities of the university also are located in San Juan. In 1957 the university became the home of the Casals Festival (now held in Santurce, the chief residential suburb), founded by the Spanish cellist Pablo Casals. The city's other educational institutions include the University of the Sacred Heart (1935) and a campus of the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico (1912). In the 20th century San Juan expanded rapidly beyond its walled confines, now known as Old San Juan, to incorporate suburban Miramar, Santurce, and Condado, along the coast, as well as industrial Hato Rey, with its large sports stadium and modern financial district, and the town of Ro Piedras, immediately to the southeast. By 1980 the San Juan metropolitan area included the surrounding municipalities to the east and west and had about one-third of Puerto Rico's total population. In a move to decentralize the old city, many government offices and agencies were moved across the bay, but the governor's palace remains in use. The largest industrial and processing centre of the island, the metropolitan area has facilities for petroleum and sugar refining, tobacco processing, brewing, and distilling (Bacardi rum) and produces cement, pharmaceuticals, metal products, and clothing. The port of San Juan is one of the busiest in the Caribbean. San Juan is the island's financial capital, and many U.S. banks and corporations maintain offices or distributing centres there. San Juan's international airport, just outside Old San Juan, is the busiest terminal in the Caribbean, and the area's resort hotels are among the largest and most luxurious in Latin America. In contrast to this prosperity is the historic squalor of San Juan's shanty towns and squatter villages. Pop. (1980) city, 424,600; mun., 434,849; metropolitan area, 1,086,376; (1990) city, 426,832; mun., 437,745; metropolitan area, 1,221,086; (1996 est.) mun., 433,705. county, northwestern New Mexico, U.S., bordered on the north by Colorado and on the west by Arizona; it also touches Utah at its northwestern tip at the only location in the United States (called the Four Corners) where four states meet. San Juan county is a scenic, semiarid area in the Navajo section of the Colorado Plateau. The centre of the county contains buttes, broken red sandstone mesas, angular volcanic rocksincluding the landmark Ship Rock (q.v.)and mountains rising dramatically from the basically flat landscape, with arroyos and canyons gouged by streams that have mostly dried up. The Chuska Mountains rise to more than 9,000 feet (2,700 m) in the southwest. The San Juan River, at Lake Navajo, forms the county's northeastern boundary, then receives the Las Animas River and flows in a long curve through the county. The western half of San Juan county is occupied by the Navajo Indian Reservation and, in a small area near Colorado, the Ute Mountain Indian Reservation. Chaco Culture National Historic Park, Aztec Ruins National Monument, Angel Peak State Recreation Area, and Navajo Lake State Park are all located in the county. Anasazi people built the pueblo at Aztec Ruins National Monument early in the 12th century; by the 16th century, Pueblo and Navajo Indians were living in the region. War between Navajos and whites was intermittent for over two centuries. The Spanish, then the Americans forced Navajos into slavery, and in 1864 American soldiers led by Colonel Kit Carson forced over 7,000 Navajos to make the long walk to the notorious Bosque Redondo, where they lived under great privation. Four years later the vast Navajo reservation was established in New Mexico and Arizona. San Juan county was established in 1887. The Navajo nation owns almost 60 percent of San Juan county and the U.S. government about 29 percent. In the 20th century, the production of coal, natural gas, and petroleum brought prosperity to the region. Federal expenditures and tourism also contribute to the economy. Aztec is the county seat, and the town of Bloomfield and the city of Farmington are other population centres. Area 5,514 square miles (14,282 square km). Pop. (1990) 91,605. provincia, west-central Argentina. It is separated from Chile on the west by the Andean cordillera, whose peaks average between 14,800 and 16,400 feet (4,500 and 5,000 m) in elevation. The province occupies an area of 34,614 square miles (89,651 square km). Snow-fed rivers from the Andes dissect its mountainous western terrain. Three main rivers, the Bermejo, Jchal, and San Juan, all used for irrigation, discharge into marshes in the semiarid southeastern portion of the provincia. San Juan was settled in the late 16th and early 17th centuries by small numbers of Spanish agriculturists, Dominicans, and Jesuits from Chile. A part of the old Cuyo region, it remained a sparsely populated area exporting wine and dried fruits that were produced in its irrigated valleys. In 1776 control over San Juan passed from the Chilean captaincy general to the Ro de la Plata viceroyalty. San Juan declared its own status as a provincia in 1825. The provincia was the epicentre of severe earthquakes in 1776, 1944, and 1977. Grapes grown for both the table and wine occupy half of the cultivated land; olives, apples, barley, and onions are also raised, together with sheep and cattle. San Juan is rich in copper reserves but exploitation is limited. Economic activity in the city of San Juan (q.v.), the capital of the provincia, and other urban centres is concentrated on food processing. The provincia is linked to Chile, with which much of its trade is carried on, by one local road across the Andes. Pop. (1986 est.) 520,000.