Bairoa is a

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residenti ...

or district in the municipality of

Caguas, Puerto Rico Caguas (, ) is a city and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the Central Mountain Range of Puerto Rico, south of San Juan and Trujillo Alto, west of Gurabo and San Lorenzo, and east of Aguas Buenas, Cidra, and Cayey. Caguas was founded ...

. Its population in 2010 was 19,258. There are close to 60 sectors in Bairoa.

Name

The ''

'' of Bairoa gets its name from the

Bairoa River The Bairoa River ( es, Río Bairoa) is a river of Caguas, Puerto Rico. Geography The Bairoa River is one of the two main streams that traverse the Caguas Valley from west to east (the other being the Cagüitas River), both of which emptying i ...

which crosses the area from west to east and flows into the Loíza River. There are numerous theories about the name meaning of ''Bairoa''. The word ''bairoa'' is most likely of

Taíno The Taíno were a historic Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, indigenous people of the Caribbean whose culture has been continued today by Taíno descendant communities and Taíno revivalist communities. At the time of European contact in the ...

origin and it possibly comes from the word ''baira'', which is either the native name for the tree ''

Chrysophyllum cainito ''Chrysophyllum cainito'' is a tropical tree of the family Sapotaceae. It is native to the Isthmus of Panama, where it was domesticated. It has spread to the Greater Antilles and the West Indies and is now grown throughout the tropics, including ...

'', or a native word meaning "forest", "wood" or "tree bark", or from the word ''paira'' meaning "bow".

Sectors and demographics

Barrios (which are roughly comparable to

minor civil divisions A minor civil division (MCD) is a term used by the United States Census Bureau for primary governmental and/or administrative divisions of a county or county-equivalent, typically a municipal government such as a city, town, or civil township. MCD ...

) in turn are further subdivided into smaller local populated place areas/units called sectores (''sectors'' in English). The types of ''sectores'' may vary, from normally ''sector'' to ''urbanización'' to ''reparto'' to ''barriada'' to ''residencial'', among others. The following sectors are in Bairoa:

History

The area of Bairoa was originally inhabited by the

people. At the time of the Spanish arrival the area was under control of ''

cacique A ''cacique'' (Latin American ; ; feminine form: ''cacica'') was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, the indigenous inhabitants at European contact of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term is a Spa ...

'' (tribal chief)

Caguax Caguax was a Taíno cacique who lived on the island of Borikén (Taíno name for Puerto Rico) before and during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. His yucayeque or Taino village's name was Turabo, it included the lands in the Caguas Vall ...

, from whom the city of Caguas gets its name. The first European settlement in the area was the ''Hato de Bairoa'', a cattle farm established and developed between the years 1525 and 1600. The first mention of Bairoa as a district of Caguas comes from the colonial municipal budget documents of 1821 as ''Bairoa Abajo'' and ''Bairoa Arriba'' (modern day Bairoa, Aguas Buenas). During this time the economy of the barrio was primarily the cultivation of

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

and minor fruits, and

cattle raising A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most ofte ...

. Puerto Rico was ceded by

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in the aftermath of the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

under the terms of the

Treaty of Paris of 1898 The Treaty of Peace between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain, commonly known as the Treaty of Paris of 1898 ( fil, Kasunduan sa Paris ng 1898; es, Tratado de París de 1898), was a treaty signed by Spain and the United Stat ...

and became an

unincorporated territory of the United States Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions overseen by the federal government of the United States. The various American territories differ from the U.S. states and tribal reservations as they are not sover ...

. In 1899, the

United States Department of War The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, a ...

conducted a

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of Puerto Rico finding that the combined population of

Borinquen Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

barrio and Bairoa barrio was 3,870. According to the

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

the population of Bairoa is of 19,258 residents, and the barrio today is primarily

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

an and residential.

Landmarks and places of interest

* Altos de La Mesa and Altos de San Luis, two mountain ridges and

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

s home to the Puerto Rican plain pigeon. * Bairoa Forest, secondary forest between the Valle Verde and Golden Gates neighborhoods. * ''Bairoa La 25'', original section of the historic Carretera Central along the Loíza River. * Bairoa Park, baseball field and sports complex. * Bairoa Shopping Center, one of the oldest shopping centers in Caguas. * ''El Mariachi'', Mexican-Puerto Rican restaurant popular with locals and visitors alike. * Monte Calvario Cemetery, crematorium and cemetery. * Plaza Centro Mall, former location of Central Santa Juana and a sugarcane refinery.

Gallery

File:Plaza Centro 2012.jpg, Plaza Centro, Christmas 2012. File:Valle de Caguas2.jpg, View of

Caguas Caguas (, ) is a city and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the Central Mountain Range of Puerto Rico, south of San Juan and Trujillo Alto, west of Gurabo and San Lorenzo, and east of Aguas Buenas, Cidra, and Cayey. Caguas was founde ...

and Bairoa (in the foreground) from Altos de San Luis.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Caguas government site
Barrios of Caguas, Puerto Rico