Puerto Rico, officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and briefly called Porto Rico, is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeast Caribbean Sea, approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 km) southeast of Miami, Florida.
Vieques, in full Isla de Vieques, is an island–municipality of Puerto Rico, United States in the northeastern Caribbean, part of an island grouping sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands. Vieques is part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and retains strong influences from 400 years of Spanish presence in the island.
Ponce is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.
The University of Puerto Rico is the main public university system of Puerto Rico and a government-owned corporation of Puerto Rico. The institution consists of 11 campuses and has approximately 58,000 students and 5,300 faculty members. UPR has the largest and most diverse academic offerings in Puerto Rico, with 472 academic programs of which 32 lead to a doctorate.
José Luis Alberto Muñoz Marín was a Puerto Rican journalist, politician, statesman and was the first elected governor of Puerto Rico, regarded as the "Father of Modern Puerto Rico" and the "Architect of the Commonwealth."
The municipalities of Puerto Rico number seventy-eight incorporated towns and cities. Each municipality is led by a mayor and divided into barrios, though the latter are not vested with any political authority. Every municipality is governed 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 municipality's population. In contrast to other jurisdictions, both the mayors and the municipal legislators are elected on the same date and for the same term of office.
A hacienda, in the colonies of the Spanish Empire, is an estate, similar to a Roman latifundium. Some haciendas were plantations, mines or factories. Many haciendas combined these activities. The word is derived from the Spanish word "hacer" or "haciendo", which means: to make or be making, respectively; and were largely business enterprises consisting of various money making ventures including raising farm animals and maintaining orchards.
The University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus (UPRM) or Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez (RUM) in Spanish, is a land-grant, sea-grant, space-grant state university located in the city of Mayagüez. UPRM is the second-largest university campus of the University of Puerto Rico system.
Guayanilla is a municipality of Puerto Rico (U.S.) located in southern coast of the island, bordering the Caribbean Sea, south of Adjuntas, east of Yauco; and west of Peñuelas and about 12 miles (19 km) west of Ponce. Guayanilla is spread over 16 wards and Guayanilla Pueblo. It is part of the Yauco Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Manatí is a municipality of Puerto Rico (U.S.) on the northern coast, north of Morovis and Ciales; east of Florida and Barceloneta; and west of Vega Baja. Manatí is spread over 8 wards and Manatí Pueblo. It is part of the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo is a state university located in the city of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, and part of the eleven campuses that compose the University of Puerto Rico system. UPR-Arecibo is known from its previous names "Colegio Regional de Arecibo" and "Colegio Universitario Tecnológico de Arecibo" and its acronyms "CRA" and "CUTA".
Santiago Iglesias Pantín, was a Spanish-born Puerto Rican socialist and trade union activist. Iglesias is best remembered as a leading supporter of statehood for Puerto Rico, and as the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico in the U.S. Congress from 1933 to 1939.
Thespesia grandiflora is a tree in the family Malvaceae of the rosids clade. Its common name is maga. This tree is widely distributed throughout Puerto Rico where it is endemic. Although originally endemic to the humid mountains of limestone in the western and north-central portions of the Island, today it grows everywhere in Puerto Rico due to its extensive cultivation. It is also grown as an ornamental tree in Florida, Hawaii, Honduras and in various Caribbean islands. The maga is mostly used as an ornamental plant, but like the related Thespesia populnea its wood is also valued for its durable timber.
The Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 is a legal order approved by the Spanish Crown in the early half of the 19th century to encourage Spaniards and, later, Europeans of non-Spanish origin, to settle in and populate the colony of Puerto Rico.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Puerto Rico:
The history of Puerto Rico began with the settlement of the archipelago of Puerto Rico by the Ortoiroid people between 3,000 and 2,000 BC. Other tribes, such as the Saladoid and Arawak Native Puerto Ricans, populated the island between 430 BC and 1000 AD. At the time of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1493, the dominant indigenous culture was that of the Taínos. The Taíno people's numbers went dangerously low during the later half of the 16th century because of new infectious diseases carried by Europeans, exploitation by Spanish settlers, and warfare.
Megh R. Goyal is an engineer and professor in Puerto Rico, and a Methodist pastor. He has been called the father of irrigation engineering in Puerto Rico.
Carlos Eugenio Chardón Palacios, D.Sc., D.Litt, was the first Puerto Rican mycologist, a high-ranking official in government on agriculture during the 1920s, the first Puerto Rican appointed as Chancellor of the University of Puerto Rico (1931–1935), and the head of the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration in the mid-to late 1930s during the Great Depression. He was also known as "the Father of Mycology in Puerto Rico". He discovered that the aphid "Aphis maidis" was the vector of the sugar cane Mosaic virus. Mosaic viruses are plant viruses.
The Department of Agriculture of Puerto Rico is one of the few Cabinet-level government agencies explicitly created by the Constitution of Puerto Rico as the Department of "Agriculture and Commerce", most of the commerce at the time of its enactment being agriculture-based. DAPR oversees rural development work and conservation and is headed by a cabinet secretary. The current appointed secretary is Myrna Comas Pagan.
Ricardo Antonio Rosselló Nevares is a Puerto Rican politician, scientist, and businessman. In 2017, Rosselló began serving as the 12th governor of Puerto Rico, with his resignation coming into effect on August 2, 2019, after protests related to the Telegramgate scandal. He is the son of former governor of Puerto Rico and pediatric surgeon Pedro Rosselló.
