Diego de Torres Vargas (1615–1670) was a Puerto Rican

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

priest, and the first person to write a book about the

history of Puerto Rico The history of Puerto Rico began with the settlement of the Ortoiroid people between 430 BC and AD 1000. At the time of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1493, the dominant indigenous culture was that of the Taínos. The Taín ...

Early years

Torres Vargas was born in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jur ...

, to a prosperous family. His father, Garcia de la Torre, was a Sergeant Mayor in the Spanish Army who died while fighting alongside Captain

Juan de Amézqueta Juan de Amézqueta (born c. 1595), was a captain in the Puerto Rican Militia who defended Puerto Rico from an invasion by the Dutch in 1625. He fought and wounded Captain Balduino Enrico (Boudewijn Hendricksz) who was ordered by the Dutch Governm ...

against Captain Balduino Enrico (

Boudewijn Hendricksz Boudewijn Hendricksz (died 1626) (also known as Hendrikszoon, Bowdoin Henrick to the English, and Balduino Enrico to the Spanish) was a Dutch corsair and later Admiral. He is most famous for his role in the Battle of San Juan (1625) during the E ...

), leader of the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

armada, who attempted to invade the island, in the Battle of San Juan of 1625.Puertorriqueños Ilustres

Academic education

Torres Vargas studied and graduated from the

University of Salamanca The University of Salamanca ( es, Universidad de Salamanca) is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the city of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It was founded in 1218 by King Alfonso IX. It is th ...

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 ...

where he earned his degree in

Theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and

Canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

. He returned to Puerto Rico where he was ordained a priest. King Philip IV appointed him to various positions in the Cathedral of San Juan including the position of Dean of said institution. Later Torres Vargas, became the secretary of the Bishop of San Juan, Haro Damian Lopez.

"Description of the Island and City of Puerto Rico"

In 1647 he wrote "Descripción de la Ciudad e Isla de Puerto Rico" ("Description of the Island and City of Puerto Rico"). This historical book was the first to make a detailed geographic description of the island.Puerto Rico in the Great Depression
/ref> The book described all the fruits and commercial establishments. It also listed and described every mine, church, and hospital in the island at the time. The book contained notices on the State and Capital, plus an extensive and erudite bibliography. This is considered to be the first organized history of Puerto Rico written by a Puerto Rican. Diego de la Torre de Vargas died in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1670

Coat of arms of San Juan

On March 8, 1948, the city government of San Juan officially adopted as the city's first flag an orange field, in the center of which is the coat of arms of the city. The orange color was based and taken from Father Diego de Torres Vargas' text and it reads : "Escudo de armas dado a Puerto Rico por los Reyes Católicos en el año de 1511, siendo Procurador un vecino llamado Pedro Moreno. Son : un cordero blanco con su banderilla colorada, sobre un libro, y todo sobre una isla verde, que es la de Puerto Rico, y por los lados una F y una I, que quiere decir Fernando e Isabel, los Reyes Católicos que se las dieron, y hoy se conservan en el estandarte real, que es de damasco anaranjado, con que se ganó la ciudad" ("coat of arms given to Puerto Rico by the

Catholic Monarchs The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of Spain. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being bot ...

in the year 1511 when a ''

vecino 'Vecino' means either "neighbour" or resident in modern Spanish. Historically in the Spanish Empire it referred instead to a householder of considerable social position in a town or a city, and was similar to "freeman" or "freeholder." Histori ...

'' (roughly "freeman") named Pedro Moreno was Procurator. They are: a white lamb with its red flag, on top of a book, and everything above a green island, which is Puerto Rico...which is an orange damask, with which the city was won"). It appears that this orange was changed to white at some point.A discussion of the flag
/ref>

References

External links