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The Captaincy General of Puerto Rico ( es, Capitanía General de Puerto Rico) was an administrative district of the
Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
, created in 1580 to provide better military management of the island of
Puerto Rico 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 ...
, previously under the direct rule of a lone governor and the jurisdiction of
Audiencia of Santo Domingo The Real Audiencia of Santo Domingo was the first court of the Spanish crown in America. It was created by Ferdinand V of Castile in his decree of 1511, but due to disagreements between the governor of Hispaniola, Diego Colon and the Crown, it ...
. Its creation was part of the, ultimately futile,
Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
attempt in the late 16th century to prevent incursion into the
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...
by foreign powers. Spain also established Captaincies General in
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...
,
Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by Hon ...
and Yucatán. The Captaincy General played a crucial role in the history of the Spanish Caribbean. The institution lasted until 1898 in Puerto Rico, when an autonomous local government, headed by a
governor-general Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
and an insular parliament, was instituted just months before Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
in 1898 following defeat in 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 ...
.


History


Antecedents

In 1508
Juan Ponce de León Juan Ponce de León (, , , ; 1474 – July 1521) was a Spanish explorer and ''conquistador'' known for leading the first official European expedition to Florida and for serving as the first governor of Puerto Rico. He was born in Santerv� ...
was commissioned by the Crown to carry out the initial colonization of Puerto Rico. After successfully founding the city of Caparra (on the site of today's
Guaynabo Guaynabo (, ) is a city, suburb of San Juan and municipality in the northern part of Puerto Rico, located in the northern coast of the island, north of Aguas Buenas, south of Cataño, east of Bayamón, and west of San Juan. Guaynabo is sprea ...
), he was appointed as its first governor in 1509 by the regent of Castile,
Ferdinand V Ferdinand V is the name of: *Ferdinand II of Aragon, Ferdinand V of Castile, ''the Catholic'' king of Castile, Aragon and Naples *Ferdinand I of Austria en, Ferdinand Charles Leopold Joseph Francis Marcelin , image = Kaiser Ferdinand I.jp ...
. Since
Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
's death in 1506, the
Spanish Crown , coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg , coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain , image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg , incumbent = Felipe VI , incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...
had refused to recognize his heirs' right to appoint governors of the West Indies, but in 1511 the Council of Castile ruled in Diego Colón's favor. As a result, Ponce de León lost his position and left the island, not wishing to serve under Colón. The Columbus family appointed governors in Puerto Rico from then until 1536, when Diego's son, Luis Colón sold the rights to govern the Indies to the Crown. In 1511, when Diego Colón had won the right to appoint governors, the first diocese was established on the island under the auspices of the
Archdiocese of Seville The Archdiocese of Seville is part of the Catholic Church in Seville, Spain. The Diocese of Seville was founded in the 3rd century. It was raised to the level of an archdiocese in the 4th century. The current archbishop is José Ángel Saiz Me ...
. (This diocese was later transferred in 1546 to oversight by the newly elevated
Archdiocese of Santo Domingo The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santo Domingo ( la, Archidioecesis Metropolitae Sancti Dominici; es, Arquidiócesis Metropolitana de Santo Domingo) is a Latin Metropolitan Archdiocese in the Dominican Republic. The see was erected ...
. The Puerto Rico Diocese also supervised the church activities in the Province of Guayana in Venezuela from the 16th to 18th centuries.) From 1536 to 1545, the island was overseen by the president of the
Audiencia of Santo Domingo The Real Audiencia of Santo Domingo was the first court of the Spanish crown in America. It was created by Ferdinand V of Castile in his decree of 1511, but due to disagreements between the governor of Hispaniola, Diego Colon and the Crown, it ...
, who was also Captain General of the Caribbean. The island territory was administered locally, not as one unit, but by the '' alcaldes ordinarios'' of the two municipalities of the island,
San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...
(a reconstituted Caparra) and San Germán. These men were elected annually by the cabildos from among the local settler population. (The island was split along the Camuy and Jacaguas rivers.) Since most of the settlers did not have the training to become governors, the system proved ineffective. The island's Spanish residents complained to the Crown. Starting in 1545 governors with legal training (''gobernadores letrados'') were appointed by either the crown or the Santo Domingo ''Audiencia''. Filling the highest judicial office on the island, the governors heard cases in the first instance in their immediate districts, and in appeal from the regional ''alcaldes''. The next court of appeal was the ''Audiencia'' in Santo Domingo. In addition to being the highest administrative office on the island, governors also derived power from their right to annually appoint two of the four ''
regidor A regidor (plural: ''regidores'') is a member of a council of municipalities in Spain and Latin America. Portugal also used to have the same office of ''regedor''. Mexico In Mexico, an ayuntamiento (municipal council) is composed of a municipal ...
es'' of the ''cabildos'' on the island. As with all other Spanish political officials, governors were subject to the ''
juicio de residencia A ''juicio de residencia'' (literally, ''judgment of residence'') was a judicial procedure of Castilian law and the Laws of the Indies. It consisted of this: at the termination of a public functionary's term, his performance in office was subject ...
'', an official review of their time in office. Since governors were the king's highest representative on the island, they had oversight over the Church because of the right of
patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
(''real patronato'') that the monarchs of Spain had in the Americas. They controlled the construction and maintenance of church buildings, paid the salaries of the clergy, and ensured that only Papal bulls and
encyclical An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Roman Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from the Late Latin (originally fr ...
s approved by the Council of the Indies were published on the island. Due to Spain's growing military conflicts with other European powers, both in Europe and in the New World, the Crown added the office of captain general to the governor in 1580. Following this, mostly military men, rather than lawyers, were appointed as governors-captains general. They were assisted by a legal adviser (''asesor'') in their judicial and administrative duties.


Establishment

Spain considered Puerto Rico as vital strategically as the gateway to the Caribbean, even as it was economically marginal. It was described as "the key to the Indies." Given the sea currents and wind patterns of the Atlantic, Puerto Rico was usually the first port of call for ships arriving from Europe. Despite this, or perhaps because of its negligible economic importance, the Spanish took a long time to build up the island's defenses. The first fortified building was the Ponce de León family home (today the Casa Blanca), which defensive features were added in the 1520s. In the next decade construction began on the first true fort, '' La Fortaleza'', at the entrance of the bay. By 1539 construction began of a full defensive complex around San Juan, which included Forts San Felipe del Morro, San Cristóbal, and San Gerónimo. On the other side of the island, San Germán was left practically defenseless, and was easy prey to French attacks throughout the century from its colonies in the Caribbean. With the creation of the Captaincy General in 1580, Governor-Captain General Diego Menéndez de Valdés (1582–1593) continued to strengthen defenses around San Juan. To fund the construction and an enlarged garrison, an annual subsidy, the ''situado'', was ordered from the royal coffers in
New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the A ...
, although for the next two centuries, the ''situado'' often did not reach Puerto Rico. The number of permanent soldiers under Menéndez de Valdés went from fifty to just over two hundred, and was later raised to over four hundred in 1596, the number at which it would stay for the next century. The improvements to the city's defenses proved to be ready by the time they faced their first major challenge, an assault by a 27-ship fleet led by
Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 ...
. The island would also serve as an important bastion in Spain's struggles against the
piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
practiced by its rivals in the Caribbean; this continued to plague Spain during the next two centuries. Many Puerto Ricans also became Spanish
privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
s, who operated against the British, French and Dutch possessions in the area; the most famous privateer of these men was Miguel Henríquez. During these periods of shifting formal and informal conflict, trading in
contraband Contraband (from Medieval French ''contrebande'' "smuggling") refers to any item that, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold. It is used for goods that by their nature are considered too dangerous or offensive in the eyes o ...
proved to be a crucial element of the local economy, as was common in many peripheral areas of Spanish America. It resulted in the siphoning off to foreign powers of most of the money that reached the island as the ''situado''. To supplement the inadequate number of regular soldiers, local
militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
s (''milicias urbanas'') were organized in each of the islands five districts (''partidos'') outside of the capital: San Germán, Arecibo, Aguada, Coamo, Loíza and Ponce. The militia men were not regularly paid nor were they armed by the government. Their weapons consisted of farm implements: machetes, improvised wooden lances and regular knives, but the governors-captains general usually attested to their courage. Each ''partido'' was overseen by a ''teniente a guerra'', a deputy of the captain general.


18th century and the Bourbon Reforms

Shaken by the losses of the
Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...
, in particular the capture of Cuba by the British in 1762,
Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person ...
sent several officials to the Caribbean to review the defenses of the area. Alejandro O'Reilly was sent to Puerto Rico in 1765. O'Reilly recommended many reforms, several of which were implemented: upgrading the fortifications in San Juan; introducing direct, regular pay for the soldiers on the island (up until then, soldiers had been paid by their commanding officers); and professionalizing the militias. He also undertook a complete census of the island (it recorded 44,883 residents, of which 5,037 were enslaved; and 24 towns or villages in the island). In the course of this, he came to realize the importance of contraband in the local economy. To reverse this, O'Reilly recommended developing the legal economy, in particular agriculture, which he found vastly untapped. He wanted to return uncultivated land to the crown and then grant it to persons willing to farm it. In 1784 an
intendancy An intendant (; pt, intendente ; es, intendente ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In ...
was created in Puerto Rico but, unlike the one created in Cuba, the office was not separated from the governorship. O'Reilly's reforms were most successful in the military sphere. He was able to achieve little economic change, unlike that which took place in neighboring
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...
. The island's economy remained tied to the ''situado'' subsidy and foreign trade, something which proved harmful during the interruption in trade caused by the
Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...
.


Early 19th century: revolutions and setbacks

The early 19th century presented the dual challenge of Spain suffering invasion by French forces and revolt among its colonies in the Americas. The
Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spai ...
and the
Spanish American wars of independence The Spanish American wars of independence (25 September 1808 – 29 September 1833; es, Guerras de independencia hispanoamericanas) were numerous wars in Spanish America with the aim of political independence from Spanish rule during the early ...
spurred great innovation in Puerto Rico's government. Puerto Rico's sea ties to Venezuela, due to sailing patterns which made the island the closest port of call from Venezuela, played significantly in this period. The
juntas A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...
which were established in Venezuela in 1810 corresponded with the ''cabildos'' of Puerto Rico. The San Juan ''cabildo'' turned down the invitation from the Caracas junta to establish a junta on the island, but the San Germán cabildo always maintained the right to self-rule, should Spain be permanently lost to the French. Some individual Puerto Ricans, such as Antonio Valero de Bernabé, later chose to join the struggle for independence going on in the South American mainland. In response to the junta movement gathering strength on the mainland, the peninsular government gave Governor Salvador Meléndez extraordinary powers to deal with any revolt on the island. At the same time, many royalist refugees from Venezuela began arriving in Puerto Rico. The island also served as a point of departure for troops on their way to Venezuela, such as those under Domingo de Monteverde and Pablo Morillo. As the government in opposition to the French began to take shape in the form of a Supreme Central Junta, it recognized the overseas possessions as integral parts of the Spanish nation. In 1809 it invited them to send delegates to the Junta. This initiated a period of elections in the Captaincy General which were of ever-increasing representation, culminating in the constitutional periods of 1812-1814 and 1820-1823. The first elections were to be carried out by the ''cabildos'', of which there were five on the island by this time: San Juan, San Germán, Aguada, Arecibo and Coamo. They elected as Puerto Rico's representative, the native '' Criollo''
Ramón Power y Giralt Captain Ramón Power y Giralt (October 7, 1775 – June 10, 1813), commonly known as Ramón Power, was, according to Puerto Rican historian Lidio Cruz Monclova, among the first native-born Puerto Ricans to refer to himself as a " Puerto Rican" a ...
, but before he could leave for Spain, the Supreme Junta had dissolved itself. Before it had done so, the Junta had sent the call out to convene the
Cortes of Cádiz The Cortes of Cádiz was a revival of the traditional '' cortes'' (Spanish parliament), which as an institution had not functioned for many years, but it met as a single body, rather than divided into estates as with previous ones. The Genera ...
which served as a parliamentary Regency after Ferdinand VII was deposed. The ''cabildos'' elected Power as the island's representative in the Cortes. Power had a very active term in the Cortes. He quickly had the Cortes suspend the governor of Puerto Rico's extraordinary powers, and he also secured separation of the office of the intendant from that of the governor-captain general. The highlight of his legislative activity was the ''Ley Power'' (the Power Act), which introduced many administrative and economic reforms in Puerto Rico, many of which survived Ferdinand VII's abolition of the
Spanish Constitution of 1812 The Political Constitution of the Spanish Monarchy ( es, link=no, Constitución Política de la Monarquía Española), also known as the Constitution of Cádiz ( es, link=no, Constitución de Cádiz) and as ''La Pepa'', was the first Constituti ...
and the Cortes. The Spanish Constitution also introduced local government to Puerto Rico. Many more popularly elected ''cabildos'' were introduced to the island. A local administrative and legislative board was also elected, the ''Diputación Provincial''. After the King of Spain restored traditional government, he sought to maintain and reward the loyalty of Puerto Ricans by granting the island a limited form of the long-sought free trade. The Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 granted many of the economic requests that Power and the island ''cabildos'' had requested since 1810. In the long term, the Decree had very beneficial economic effects. It encouraged the immigration of Europeans who were not of Spanish origin to the island, started the growth of the sugar industry (although this resulted in increasing importation of slaves), and a series of competent intendants set the island's government finances on good standing for decades to come. During the second constitutional period after the Riego Revolt, new deputies to the Cortes were elected by the island's population, the ''Diputación Provincial'' met again. An important change from the first period was that the captaincy general and the governorship were separated. Francisco González de Linares, a long-time Venezuelan resident who had fled after collapse of its royalist government, was appointed governor. Pablo Morillo's successor as head of the royalist forces in Venezuela, Miguel de la Torre, was appointed captain general. After Ferdinand VII's second abolition of the Constitution, La Torre was made joint governor and captain general, with extraordinary powers to suppress any potential revolt. He would hold the office of captain general for more than fifteen years. Despite La Torre's wariness of the island's liberal tendencies, his long administration was key to the development of large-scale sugar production on the island. This scale of commodity-crop agriculture had been developed decades earlier in Cuba. Figures from the period show the growth in this period. In 1820, 17,000 tons of sugar were produced and 5.8 percent of the land was under any type of cultivation. By 1897, Puerto Rico produced 62,000 tons of sugar and had 14.3 percent of its land devoted to agriculture. The small landholdings, which had been traditional since the 16th century, were purchased to develop large plantations. After sugar, coffee was the second most important crop. In 1818 70 million pounds of coffee were produced, a figure which grew to 130 million pounds by 1830. The increased agricultural activity was done partly by new slave labor, workers imported from other Caribbean islands. In 1817 Spain had signed a treaty with Britain pledging to outlaw Spanish involvement in the
slave trade Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
, but it was not seriously enforced until after 1845. But in Puerto Rico, slaves made up only 11.5 to 14 percent of the work force, a much lower proportion compared to other Caribbean islands of the time, . In judicial matters, Puerto Rico was granted its own '' audiencia'' from 1832 to 1853. Previously appeals had been heard by the former ''Audiencia'' of Santo Domingo, now resident in Cuba.


Mid-Century: Slow progress towards autonomy

The death of Ferdinand VII brought about new changes. Regent María Cristina reconvened the
Cortes Cortes, Cortés, Cortês, Corts, or Cortès may refer to: People * Cortes (surname), including a list of people with the name ** Hernán Cortés (1485–1547), a Spanish conquistador Places * Cortes, Navarre, a village in the South border of ...
, in its traditional form, and Puerto Rico sent several deputies, all liberals. In 1836, Constitutional government was reestablished in Spain. This government, despite its liberal tendencies, viewed the overseas territories as
colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...
to be governed by special laws. The democratic institutions, such as the ''Diputación Provincial'' and the ''cabildos'', established by the 1812 Constitution were removed, and the extraordinary powers granted to the governor maintained. The new Constitution of 1837 ratified Puerto Rico's demoted status. Worse still the "special laws" by which the overseas areas were to be governed, were not drafted until three decades later, when a special ''Junta Informativa de Reformas de Ultramar'' (Overseas Informative Reform Board), with representatives from Cuba and Puerto Rico, was convened in 1865. Even then its proposals were never made into laws. The ''Gloriosa'' Revolt of 1868, which removed Queen Isabel II from power, initially reaffirmed the right of Puerto Rico's residents to participate in the Spanish government. The island elected seven deputies to the Cortes, the ''Diputación Provincial'' once again was formed, and plans were made to draw up the laws which would grant the island autonomy. But three factors nullified this progress. First the government in Spain was too unstable (reflected in the fact that between 1871 and 1874 Puerto Rico had five governors). Second the short-lived revolt of Lares proved to authorities that the situation in Puerto Rico was not as calm as it might seem. Finally and most seriously, the Lares revolt coincided with the
Ten Years' War The Ten Years' War ( es, Guerra de los Diez Años; 1868–1878), also known as the Great War () and the War of '68, was part of Cuba's fight for independence from Spain. The uprising was led by Cuban-born planters and other wealthy natives. O ...
in Cuba, which made the government apprehensive of granting autonomy to either of the Caribbean islands. In 1875, the Bourbons were restored when the Spanish government offered the throne to Alfonso XII. Limited elections, which granted the franchise only to people with large amounts of property, were allowed in Puerto Rico. True political parties also emerged in this period, the '' Partido Liberal Reformista'', which promoted autonomy for the island, and the '' Partido Liberal Conservador'', which pushed for the island's greater integration into the political system of Spain. The issue of autonomy came to a head in 1895 with the start of the
Cuban War of Independence The Cuban War of Independence (), fought from 1895 to 1898, was the last of three liberation wars that Cuba fought against Spain, the other two being the Ten Years' War (1868–1878) and the Little War (1879–1880). The final three months ...
. The Overseas Minister, with approval from the Prime Minister, took the extra-constitutional step in 1897 of writing the '' Constitución Autonómica'', the new measures which granted autonomy to the Caribbean islands. Given the urgency of the movement, the government approved this unusual measure. The new government was to consist of "an Island Parliament, divided into two chambers and one
Governor-General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
, representative of the Metropolis, who will carry out his duties in its name, the supreme Authority." Elections for the parliament and the municipal councils occurred in early 1898. The island legislature first met in July, only eight days before the US invasion of the island.Morales Carrión, Arturo, ed. ''Puerto Rico: A Political and Cultural History'', 125. Following Spain's defeat, the US annexed Puerto Rico as a territory.


See also

* History of Puerto Rico * Military history of Puerto Rico *
Real Audiencia of Santo Domingo The Real Audiencia of Santo Domingo was the first court of the Spanish crown in America. It was created by Ferdinand V of Castile in his decree of 1511, but due to disagreements between the governor of Hispaniola, Diego Colon and the Crown, it ...
* List of governors of Puerto Rico


References


Bibliography

* Brau, Salvador. ''La Colonización de Puerto Rico: Desde el descubrimiento de la Isla hasta la reversión a la corona española de los privilegios de Colón''. San Juan: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 1969. * Morales Carrión, Arturo, ed. ''Puerto Rico: A Political and Cultural History''. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1983. * Navarro García, Jesús Raúl. ''Puerto Rico a la sombra de la independencia continental, 1815-1840''. Seville-San Juan: CEAPRC/CSIC, 1999. * Picó, Fernando. ''Puerto Rico: A Panorama of Its People''. Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2006. {{coord missing, Puerto Rico * Captaincies General of the Spanish Empire Former countries in the Caribbean Spanish West Indies Spanish colonial governors and administrators Military history of Puerto Rico Political history of Puerto Rico States and territories established in 1580 1580 establishments in New Spain States and territories disestablished in 1898 1898 disestablishments in Spain 1898 disestablishments in North America 1890s disestablishments in the Spanish Empire Spanish-speaking countries and territories