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The Enchanted Isle
Puerto Rico has a mountainous interior of steep and thickly wooded slopes that create a certain amount of isolation even in short distances. Coffee is the most important crop in the interior. On the coastal plain that circles the island, the most important crop has been sugar. San Juan, the capital city, was a naval stronghold of Spain during the colonial period, making Puerto Rico more important strategically than economically. Along with Cuba, Puerto Rico remained under Spanish control through the 1800s, long after the rest of Spanish America gained independence. U.S. forces occupied both Puerto Rico and Cuba in 1898, but unlike Cuba, Puerto Rico was eventually annexed to the United States. Thus, Puerto Rico has never been a sovereign state. Today, it is a "commonwealth" associated with, and dominated by, the United States. Puerto Ricans can freely travel to the United States, enjoy citizenship rights, and, if they go elsewhere, carry U.S. passports. Yet Puerto Rico is not a state and has no representation in Congress. There have been Puerto Rican movements for independence, and also for statehood, but neither has gotten majority support within Puerto Rico. Still, Puerto Ricans want to remain themselves, maintaining the Spanish language along with distinctive musical and culinary traditions despite the massive presence of U.S. popular culture and fast food on the island.
Topics:
Questions for Analysis and Further Reflection:
- What made Puerto Rico an attractive location as a naval stronghold during the colonial period? What was the main threat to Spanish shipping to and from the New World?
- Though Puerto Rico was one of the last colonies to become independent from Spain, the argument can be made that a sense of "national identity" developed throughout the 1800s, before the end of colonial rule. What are some illustrations of this development, and how was race part of this form of collective identity?
- How has annexation to the United States influenced Puerto Rican national identity over the last fifty years?
Country Bibliography: (Titles with ** are good starting places.)
Cripps Samoiloff, Louise. Portrait of Puerto Rico. New York: Cornwall Books, 1984.
The author of this dated overview provides a succinct history of the island from the colonial period to the second half of the century. The reading is not all that engaging, but students will find here a basic introduction to some problems in Puerto Rican history. Numerous photographs are interspersed throughout the text, and a bibliography and index follow the narrative.
** Knight, Franklin W. The Caribbean: The Genesis of a Fragmented Nationalism, 2nd ed.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
Knight's regional history is part of the reader-friendly Oxford series of Latin American Histories. His approach to the region aims to include each national experience within the larger historical context of the Caribbean. The survey begins with a comparative look at the pre-Hispanic Caribbean, shifts to colonization, slavery and plantation society, and then on to imperial fragmentation. In the second half of the book, Knight focuses on individual national cases. The chapters on the colonial Caribbean, social structure, and the case of nation building in Haiti and the Dominican Republic from the mid-nineteenth century to the late 1980s, would be helpful to undergraduates who want to learn more about both the region and Puerto Rico. Maps, tables, a timeline, and a bibliographical essay on suggested readings are included.
Malavet, Pedro A. America's Colony: the Political and Cultural Conflict between the United
States and Puerto Rico. New York: New York University Press, 2004.
This recent monograph is not a general history, but it does provide some readable chapters that are useful for the nonspecialist. In addition to the introduction and conclusion, undergraduates may find helpful the chapters on the legal relationship between the U.S. and Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican political culture, and a sense of nation in Puerto Rico. Notes and an index are included.
Maldonado-Denis, Manuel. Puerto Rico: A Socio-Historic Interpretation. Translated by Elena
Vialo. New York: Vintage, 1972.
This older historical overview was written in the Marxist current of the 1960s and 1970s, and students will note the author's position from the beginning. Despite its age and political leanings, it is a readable account that presents key problems in Puerto Rican history, mainly through the lens of political history. No index is included.
** Morales Carrión, Arturo, María Teresa Babín, Aida R. Caro Costas, Arturo Santana, and
Luis González Vales. Puerto Rico: A Political and Cultural History. New York: W.W.
Norton; Nashville: American Association for State and Local History, 1983.
Aimed at a general audience, the authors of the chapters of this slightly dated historical overview present a readable and balanced account of Puerto Rico from colonization on up through the second half of the twentieth century. Chapter titles such as "towards a plantation society" and "the challenge to colonialism (1866-1897)" serve as clear markers to guide students through the reading. While political history is a thread throughout the narrative, emphasis on Puerto Rican identities and cultural production are also part of the story. Those students interested in learning more about Puerto Rican history will thus find this book a good first stop. Illustrations, suggestions for further reading, organized by chapter, and an index accompany the text.
Wagenheim, Kal, and Olga Jiménez de Wagenheim, eds. The Puerto Ricans: A Documentary
History, enl. ed. Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2002.
As the title suggests, this book is a sourcebook with documents that relate to Caribbean and Puerto Rican history from the encounter with Europeans up to the turn of the twenty-first century. Documents are arranged chronologically and thematically, and each section includes an introduction to the historical moment. This documentary history will be useful for students who, focusing on Puerto Rico or the Caribbean, want to get their hands on primary sources. Illustrations and an index are included.
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