 Puerto Rico — (pwer´tə rē´kō) |
About The People
Did You Know...... When Christopher Columbus arrived there in 1493, the island was inhabited by the peaceful Arawak Ind »» More
| World Region: The Caribbean
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Puerto Rico History
The Caribbean before the landing of Columbus served almost as a bridge between the north coast of South America and Florida for the Amazonian tribes in the south and the north american inhabitants. When Christopher Columbus on his second trip in 1493 landed in Puerto Rico and claimed it for Spain, he found the island populated by as many as 60,000 Arawak or Taino indians, which for the most part, were friendly compared to the Carib indians in some of the more southerly islands which were warlike and to some degree cannibalistic.
The conquest of the island didn’t take long, and the peaceful Tainos were put to the task as slaves for the purpose of mining the gold that was found on the island. »» More | Statistics, Graphs, Charts, & Data Tables
Capital Cities... San Juan »» History of San Juan
Population: 3,971,020
GDP: $70,590,000,000 (USD)
Total Area: 9,104 (sq km) 3,515 (sq mi)
Currency: US dollar
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