Punta Santiago 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 delimited by functional (e.g. residential, comm ...

and fishing community located in the municipality of

Humacao, Puerto Rico Humacao () is a Humacao barrio-pueblo, city and Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in Puerto Rico located in the eastern coast of the island, north of Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, Yabucoa; south of Naguabo, Puerto Rico, Naguabo; east of Las Pi ...

. Its population in 2020 was 3,716. Located in the estuary of Humacao, Punta Santiago is famous for its fishing heritage, its iconic pier and

Cayo Santiago Cayo Santiago, also known as Santiago Island, Isla de los monos (or Island of the monkeys), is located at , to the east of Punta Santiago, Humacao, Puerto Rico. It is known as the home to approximately 1800 rhesus macaque monkeys, who have bee ...

, popularly known as Monkey Island (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

: ''Isla de de los Monos'') after its

Rhesus macaque The rhesus macaque (''Macaca mulatta''), colloquially rhesus monkey, is a species of Old World monkey. There are between six and nine recognised subspecies split between two groups, the Chinese-derived and the Indian-derived. Generally brown or g ...

population. The barrio is also the home of the Humacao Nature Reserve and the Punta Santiago Beach and Vacation Area. Punta Santiago is one of the most vulnerable barrios to

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

ing and complete destruction whenever

hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

enter Puerto Rico through the area of Humacao.

History

The fishing village of Punta Santiago was originally called Playa de Humacao as it was the closest beach to Humacao Pueblo, the historic and administrative downtown area of Humacao. The community of Punta Santiago used to be part of two former barrios of Humacao, one called Humacao Playa and the other called Mabú. By the end of the 19th century barrio Mabú had been eliminated and incorporated into barrio Playa, now renamed Punta Santiago after the geographical

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, Jo ...

or point (''punta'') where the fishing village is located. Since December 1938,

, located immediately off Punta Santiago, has been the home to a population of free roaming

s imported from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

by the School of Tropical Medicine in

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

, the

Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons The Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (officially known as Columbia University Roy and Diana Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons) is the medical school of Columbia University, located at the Columbia University Irvin ...

and the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Universidad de Puerto Rico;'' often shortened to UPR) is the main List of state and territorial universities in the United States, public university system in the Commonwealth (U.S. i ...

. The area where the Humacao nature reserve is located today saw a number of bunkers and defensive infrastructure built during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, including a lookout post at the top of ''El Morrillo'' hill. This area which contains a number of

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

and

Pterocarpus ''Pterocarpus'' is a pantropical tree genus in the Fabaceae family. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae, and was recently assigned to the informal monophyletic ''Pterocarpus'' clade within the Dalbergieae. Most species of ''Pterocarpus'' yi ...

forests was later proclaimed a wildlife refuge in 1986.

Hurricane Maria

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that affected the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which accounted for 2,975 of the 3,059 deaths. It is the ...

hit Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017. The hurricane eye entered the island close to Punta Yeguas in Yabucoa, not far from Punta Santiago. The barrio was particularly vulnerable to the associated

storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the ...

s. According to Father José Colón, the local Catholic priest, the hurricane caused the total flooding of Punta Santiago. Punta Santiago was one of the most impacted communities in the aftermath of the hurricane. It was the location of the viral image of an

SOS SOS is a Morse code distress signal (), used internationally, originally established for maritime use. In formal notation SOS is written with an overscore line (), to indicate that the Morse code equivalents for the individual letters of "SOS" a ...

message written on one of the roads of the community. The Punta Santiago Vacation Center was greatly affected by the hurricane, and it remained abandoned by 2023. Puerto Rico National Guard (36673449844).jpg, PR National Guard clearing debris at Punta Santiago after

in 2017 Puerto Rico National Guard (36712523053).jpg, PR National Guard clearing debris at Punta Santiago after Hurricane Maria in 2017

Flood zone

In 2019, updated flood zone maps show that because of its location- where most cyclones enter the island, Humacao is one of the most vulnerable areas of Puerto Rico. Humacao was working on flood mitigation plans and shared that its barrios located on the coast; Antón Ruíz, Punta Santiago,

Río Abajo Río Abajo is a Corregimientos of Panama, corregimiento within Panama City, in Panamá District, Panamá Province, Panama with a population of 26,607 as of 2010. Its population as of 1990 was 33,155; its population as of 2000 was 28,714. It is ...

, Buena Vista and Candelero Abajo barrios, are prone to flooding and in danger of being completed destroyed by a hurricane.

Demographics

Punta Santiago was in Spain's

gazetteer A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary or wikt:directory, directory used in conjunction with a map or atlas.Aurousseau, 61. It typically contains information concerning the geographical makeup, social statistics and physical features of a co ...

s until Puerto Rico was ceded by

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in the aftermath of the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

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, was signed by Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States on December 10, 1898, and marked the end of the ...

and became an

unincorporated territory of the United States Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

. 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, als ...

conducted a

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of Puerto Rico finding that the combined population of Punta Santiago and San Francisco barrios was 1,754. The population of Punta Santiago in 2020 was 3,716, a 21.3% decrease from 4,723 in 2010.

Landmarks and places of interest

Cayo Batata Cayo Batata is an uninhabited, grass-covered island, located at , east of ''Morro de Humacao'', the closest mainland feature (which is immediately south of the mouth of Río Humacao), in Humacao, Puerto Rico. Geography The island is rectangular ...

and

(Monkey Island), location of Caribbean Primate Research Center UPR-MSC * Humacao Nature Reserve **

Forest of Humacao * Punta Santiago Beach and Vacation Center * Punta Santiago fishing village and pier ** Humacao Customs House

Gallery

File:FMIB 33289 Fishermen's Homes, Punta Santiago.jpeg, Fishermen houses (1899) File:Humacao Reserve.jpg, Humacao Nature Reserve File:Macaca mulatta juvenile, Puerto Rico.jpg, Rhesus macaque (''

Macaca mulatta The macaques () constitute a genus (''Macaca'') of sociality, gregarious Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. The 23 species of macaques inhabit species distribution, ranges throughout Asia, North Africa, and Europe (in Barbary ma ...

'') in

File:Punta Santiago Vacation Center in Humacao, Puerto Rico.jpg, Punta Santiago Vacation Center (2021) File:Antigua Aduana de Punta Santiago, Humacao1.jpg, Old Customs House of Humacao (2023)

References

External links

*{{GNIS, 2415861, Punta Santiago barrio Barrios of Humacao, Puerto Rico