The barrios of Puerto Rico are the primary legal divisions of the seventy-eight municipalities of Puerto Rico. [1] Puerto Rico's 78 municipios are divided into geographical sections called barrios (English: wards or boroughs or neighborhoods) and, as of 2010, there were 902 of them. [2] [3] In the US Census a barrio sometimes includes a division called a comunidad or subbarrio. In Puerto Rico, barrios are composed of sectors. The types of sectors (sectores) may vary, from normally sector to urbanización to reparto to barriada to residencial, among others.
The history of the creation of the barrios of Puerto Rico can be traced to the 19th century, when historical documents first mention them. Historians have speculated that their creation may have been related to the Puerto Rican representation at the Cortes of Cádiz. [4] The names of barrios in Puerto Rico come from various sources, mostly from Spanish or Indian origin. [5] [6] [7] [8] One barrio in each municipality (except for Florida, Ponce, and San Juan) is identified as the barrio-pueblo . It is differentiated from other barrios in that it is the historical center of the municipality and the area that represented the seat of the municipal government at the time Puerto Rico formalized the municipio and barrio boundaries in the late 1940s. [9] [10] From time to time barrios are created, broken up, or merged. [11] [12] The downtown district of each town was called pueblo until 1990, when they began to be referred to as barrio-pueblo in the US Census, and contains the plaza, municipal buildings and a Roman Catholic church. [13]
In 1832 there were 490, in 1878 there were 841, in 1990 there were 899 barrios. [14]
The United States Census Bureau recognizes 902 barrios in Puerto Rico. [15] [16] The US classifies barrios as minor civil divisions for statistical purposes. [17] As components of each municipality, each municipality has one or more barrios. Every municipality has at least one barrio called barrio Pueblo which is home to the largest urban area of the municipality, and the political seat of the municipality. [18] Most municipalities have a single barrio named barrio Pueblo while others, most prominently the larger municipalities like the municipality of Ponce, may have a barrio Pueblo that is made of several barrios. Florida is the municipality with the fewest barrios, [19] while Ponce, at 31, has the most. [20]
The US Census Bureau further breaks down some barrios in Puerto Rico into subbarrios. One such example is Santurce (in San Juan) which has 40 subbarrios. Another example is barrio Segundo in Ponce which consists of subbarrios Clausells and Baldorioty de Castro (commonly shortened to Baldorioty). [21] With over 24 square miles (62 km2), barrio Lapa in the northeast area of the municipality of Salinas, has the largest territorial area of any barrio in Puerto Rico, [22] being larger in size than 10 of Puerto Rico's municipalities.
Another subdivision that may exist within a barrio is a comunidad, as seen in Census data. Esperanza is a comunidad in Vieques and an example of a subdivision of a barrio which is not called a subbarrio but is called instead a comunidad. [23] Outside of the Census data and in Puerto Rico barrios are divided by sectors. Municipios list their barrios and the sectors within them. Cañaboncito barrio in Caguas, for example, has over 90 sectors. The types of sectors (sectores) may vary, from normally sector to urbanización to reparto to barriada to residencial, among others. [24]
While in the past, barrios in Puerto Rico had political authority, each with their own elected mayor [25] [26] and "barrio councils", currently barrios in Puerto Rico are no longer vested with any political authority. Their purpose was originally for the collection of taxes, [27] but during the 1800s any political authority barrios had been centralized in the municipal governments. In 1880 Spain's Nomenclature of its Territories publication, it is stated that the municipalities were subdivided, as needed, to facilitate voting and to ease the administration of each municipality. [28] An analysis of the 1899 Puerto Rican and Cuban census, published by the War Department and Inspector General of the United States in 1900 listed the census population numbers by barrios of Puerto Rico. [29]
Barrio names continue to be an essential point of reference for purposes of municipal and state government property management, including land surveying and property sale, purchase, and ownership. [30] Land and property deeds and surveys are all performed with barrio names as a mandatory reference. For example, official legal matters dealing with land and property issues are heard on the basis of municipal locations relative to the officially recognized barrios and barrio boundaries. [31]
The 902 barrios of Puerto Rico represent officially established primary legal divisions of the seventy-eight municipalities that contain unique and permanent geographical land boundaries. Puerto Rico Act 68 of 7 May 1945 (Ley Num. 68 de 7 de mayo de 1945), ordered the commonwealth's Planning Board to prepare a map of each of the municipalities and each of the barrios within said municipalities and the corresponding barrio names. Said map and list of barrio names constitute the officially established primary legal barrio divisions. [32]
However, often the word "barrio" is also (mistakenly) used in Puerto Rico in an unofficial manner to represent a populated sector within a barrio, and in this latter case the name of the sector can be—and most often is—different from the official barrio where it is located. An example of this non-official usage is the reference to Puerto Rican nationalist Don Pedro Albizu Campos as having been born in barrio Tenerias in Ponce [33] [34] [35] yet, there has never been a barrio Tenerias in Ponce; [36] Tenerias is a populated sector—a settlement—of barrio Machuelo Abajo. [37] The problem is that populated places have been adopting names for themselves that do not appear in the official government maps, because such maps have not been updated, and there is no system in place for such updates. [38]
Puerto Rico barrio boundaries were established using landmarks such as "the top of a mountain", "the lot owned by Franscico Mattei", "the peak of a mountain ridge", "an almond tree" (árbol de húcar), and "to origin of Loco River". [lower-alpha 1] When describing the boundaries of Las Piedras, the official 1952 document by the Puerto Rico Planning Board stated "the border continues through Cándido Márquez's and Jesús Barrio's farms until reaching a mamey tree. This tree is about 50 meters south of Leoncio Rivera's home..." [39] As these descriptors tended to lend themselves to ambiguity and other problems, there was a 2002 initiative by the University of Puerto Rico to describe boundaries using GPS technology. [40] The GPS coordinates of barrios of Puerto Rico are available via a Puerto Rico government portal. [41]
Ponce is a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on August 12, 1692 and is named after Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the great-grandson of Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. Ponce is often referred to as La Perla del Sur, La Ciudad Señorial, and La Ciudad de las Quenepas.
The municipalities of Puerto Rico are the second-level administrative divisions in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. There are 78 such administrative divisions covering all 78 incorporated towns and cities. Each municipality is led by a mayor and divided into barrios, third-level administrative divisions, though the latter are not vested with any political authority. Every municipality is governed as stated by the Autonomous Municipalities Act of 1991, which establishes that every municipality must have an elected strong mayor with a municipal legislature as the form of government. Each legislature must be unicameral, with the number of members related to adequate representation of the total population of the municipality. In contrast to other jurisdictions, both the mayors and the municipal legislators are elected on the same date and for the same term of four years in office.
Peñuelas is a town and municipality in Puerto Rico located in the Peñuelas Valley on the southern coast of the island, south of Adjuntas, east of Guayanilla, west of Ponce and north of the Caribbean Sea. Peñuelas is spread over 12 barrios and Peñuelas Pueblo. It is part of the Yauco Metropolitan Statistical Area. Peñuelas is known as "La Capital del Güiro" and "El Valle de los Flamboyanes". In 2020, Peñuelas had a population of 20,399.
Adjuntas is a small mountainside town and municipality in Puerto Rico located central midwestern portion of the island on the Cordillera Central, north of Yauco, Guayanilla, and Peñuelas; southeast of Utuado; east of Lares and Yauco; and northwest of Ponce. Adjuntas is spread over 16 barrios and Adjuntas Pueblo. Adjuntas is about two hours by car westward from the capital, San Juan.
Barrio is a Spanish word that means "quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city delimited by functional, social, architectural or morphological features. In Spain, several Latin American countries and the Philippines, the term may also be used to officially denote a division of a municipality. Barrio is an arabism.
Juana Díaz is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located on the southern coast of the island, south of Jayuya, Ciales, Orocovis and Villalba; east of Ponce; and west of Coamo and Santa Isabel and the Caribbean Sea to the south. Juana Díaz is spread over 13 barrios and Juana Diaz Pueblo. It is part of the Ponce Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Luquillo is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the northeast coast, northwest of Fajardo; and east of Rio Grande. Luquillo is spread over 5 barrios and Luquillo Pueblo. It lends its name to the Sierra de Luquillo, where El Yunque National Forest is located. It is part of the Fajardo Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Río Portugués is a river in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. In the 19th century, it was also known as Río de Ponce. Twenty-one bridges for motor vehicle traffic span Río Portugués in the municipality of Ponce alone. The river is also known as Río Tibes in the area where it flows through barrio Tibes in the municipality of Ponce. Río Portugués has a length of nearly 30 kilometers (19 mi) and runs south from the Cordillera Central mountain range into the Caribbean Sea. The Portugués is one of the best-known rivers in Ponce because of its prominent zigzagging through the city and its historical significance. The river is historically significant because the city of Ponce had its origins on its banks. It was originally known as Río Baramaya. It has its mouth at 17°58′51″N66°37′26″W. This river is one of the 14 rivers in the municipality.
María Eloisa Meléndez Altieri also known as Mayita, is a Puerto Rican politician who served as the mayor of the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, from 2009 to 2021. Meléndez Altieri was elected during the Puerto Rican general elections of 2008, becoming the first woman elected to the office in Ponce's political history. She was also the first mayor of a party other than the Popular Democratic Party in Ponce since 1989, when Rafael Cordero Santiago became mayor. This is Mayita's second candidacy in politics on the island and her first electoral win. In the Puerto Rico's 2004 general election, Mayita presented her candidacy for a senatorial seat representing Puerto Rico's 5th district, but lost in her bid for the position. Meléndez Altieri lost her bid for reelection in the 2020 general elections to Luis Irizarry Pabon from the Popular Democratic Party.
Río Piedras Pueblo, is one of 18 barrios in the municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Rio Piedras Pueblo is what used to be the urban center-barrio of the former municipality of Río Piedras until 1951, when the municipality of Rio Piedras was merged with the municipality of San Juan.
Anón is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Marueño, Coto Laurel, Guaraguao, Quebrada Limon, Real, and San Patricio, and the coastal barrios of Canas and Capitanejo, Anón is one of the municipality's nine bordering barrios. Anón borders the municipalities of Jayuya and Juana Diaz. The name of this barrio is of native Indian origin. It was founded in 1878. Barrio Anón is one of three Ponce barrios located on the Cordillera Central mountain range.
Canas is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Anón, Coto Laurel, Guaraguao, Quebrada Limón, Real, San Patricio, and Marueño, and the coastal barrio of Capitanejo, Canas is one of the municipality's nine bordering barrios. It borders the municipality of Peñuelas. Along with Playa, Bucana, Vayas and Capitanejo, Canas is also one of Ponce's five coastal barrios. It was founded in 1831.
San Antón is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Canas Urbano, Machuelo Abajo, Magueyes Urbano, and Portugués Urbano, San Antón is one of the municipality's five originally rural barrios that are now also part of the urban zone of the city of Ponce. It is totally enclosed within the Ponce city limits. It was founded in 1818.
Portugués Rural or, more commonly, simply Portugués, is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Magueyes, Tibes, Montes Llanos, Maragüez, Machuelo Arriba, Sabanetas, and Cerrillos, Portugués is one of the municipality's eight rural interior barrios. It was founded in 1831.
Portugués Urbano is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Canas Urbano, Machuelo Abajo, Magueyes Urbano, and San Antón, Portugués Urbano is one of the municipality's five originally rural barrios that are now also part of the urban zone of the city of Ponce. It was founded in 1953.
Lares barrio-pueblo is a barrio and the administrative center (seat) of Lares, a municipality of Puerto Rico. Its population in 2010 was 2,690.
Pueblo is a term primarily used in Puerto Rico to refer to the municipal district (barrio) that serves as the administrative, historic and cultural center of a municipality. The concept of pueblo is often used locally as analogous to the concept of downtown in U.S. cities. Pueblos are officially called barrio-pueblo by the United States Census since 1990.