Full-blooded Taino were driven off the island almost entirely by the mid-sixteenth century, 150 years after Spanish occupation. When Christopher Columbus landed on Puerto Rico, which he called San Juan Bautista, in 1493, it was the Taino who guided his troops there from Hispaniola, where the Spanish had taken the Indians as guides and slaves. And it was the Taino who safeguarded Ponce de Leon's passage through Puerto Rico in search of gold when the Spanish government granted him authority to colonize the island in 1508.

   Upon entering office as Puerto Rico's first governor, Ponce de Leon quickly began converting the Taino to Christianity and subjecting them to forced labour. The church also began sanctioning intermarriage, rendering permissible the longstanding Spanish tradition of keeping Taino mistresses. Their offspring, called mestizos , sustained Taino heritage after the Indians fled the island to escape subjugation, save for the remnant who took refuge in the Central Mountain region.

   In 1511, the Spanish began migrating to a headland on the northern shore that naturally protected a large bay. Ponce de Leon named the settlement Puerto Rico, or rich port. Through a cartographic error, however, the name of the city and the island were eventually switched, and San Juan became the capital of the island of Puerto Rico. The colonists' second settlement, after Caparra across the bay, San Juan afforded the best natural fortification against invaders.

   The colonists grew sugarcane, plantains and bananas, citrus fruits and ginger. Once the Taino fled, the Spanish saw the need for new slave labourers and began importing West Africans in 1518; by 1530 they constituted half the population.

   With its peerless vantage in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico was soon caught between European rivals grappling to lay claim to its strategic position and rich natural resources. By 1521, sanjuaneros recognized the value and vulnerability of their port, and began building a massive stone wall around the perimeter of the settlement. Less than 20 years later, the Dutch raided San German, a settlement on the western coast, inspiring sanjuaneros to begin constructing the formidable stone fortification called Fuerte San Felipe del Morro, which still stands at the headland of Old San Juan. After a few failed attacks, the British managed to seize and burn San Juan in 1598, but they were done in by dysentery. The Dutch attacked successfully in 1625, again burning the city, but were also overcome by disease soon thereafter.

   Puerto Rico was left vulnerable, and islanders were impoverished and resentful that they were seeing so little return on their labour for the Spanish. They were not allowed to participate in government, trade with other nations, or move around the island. In rebellion, they began trading sugar and rum illegally.

   The Spanish empire, though weakening, sent General Alejandro O'Reilly to establish order in the latter half of the eighteenth century. He built roads and schools and encouraged literate Spaniards to immigrate to the island, while dropping trade restrictions and lowering taxes. From 1765 to 1800, the economy boomed and the population tripled, to 155,000.

   By the turn of the century, Puerto Rico was thriving. In the wake of the French Revolution, slaves began revolting in the French Caribbean colonies, driving white planters to Puerto Rico, and stepping up sugar and rum production on the island. Puerto Rico began a lucrative exchange with the US, exporting sugar, rum and coffee. Slavery wouldn't be abolished in Puerto Rico until 1873.

   From 1810 to 1822 Simon Bolivar, the "Liberator", began freeing Spanish colonies, leaving Spain with nothing but Puerto Rico and Cuba by the mid-1820s. To keep the islanders happy and nurture their loyalty, the Spanish further lowered taxes and opened up more ports for trade. And to guarantee their loyalty, they established a military government that lasted 42 years.

   The first move toward independence came in 1838, in a liberation movement led by Buenaventura Quinones. Spain quashed the effort, and a few subsequent ones, but by 1897 Puerto Rico finally got what it wanted - independence from Spain as an autonomous state. However, in the concluding battle of the Spanish-American War the next year, American forces took Ponce and gained another US territory.

   Islanders became US citizens in 1917, but revolutionary movements continued to brew, and led to several bloody altercations between radicals and police, such as the 1937 Ponce Massacre in which twenty protesters died. Soon, steered by Luis Munos Marin, head of the Popular Democratic Party and the island's first governor under US jurisdiction, Puerto Rico began making strides as an industrially developed entity; the island drafted its first constitution and elected Marin as governor in 1947.

   In 1967, in the first referendum addressing the issue of sovereignty, Puerto Ricans voted to remain a commonwealth, rather than become a full US state or independent nation. Two more referenda followed in 1993 and 1998, and both were voted down in favour of the status quo.

   The move for independence remains strong, fuelled in no small part by opposition to the US Navy's occupation of Vieques since World War II, and its use of this island for bombing practice (which the current administration says will cease in 2003). But thus far the voices of protest haven't been strong enough to outweigh the hefty subsidies that Puerto Rico receives from the US government each year

   Highways are fast and fairly well maintained. As in the US, motorists drive on the right side and speed limits are posted in miles per hour. Unlike the US, distances are posted in kilometres and road signs are in Spanish. In the cities, be aware that drivers are often reckless and impatient.

   While Puerto Rico is without islandwide bus or rail transportation from city to city, publicos are an inexpensive, if less than efficient, way to traverse the island. Part-bus, part-taxi, these vehicles transport up to ten people over somewhat flexible routes and distances Monday to Saturday. A trip from San Juan to Ponce costs about US$10 one-way, US$20 round-trip. Each city has its own terminal; most don't have phone numbers, however, so you have to go there in person to ask about schedules.

   In San Juan, the terminal is in Rio Piedras. You can also call the publico line and ask them to pick you up at your hotel, but expect to pay an additional US$3 or US$4. Don't be surprised if you have to wait at least an hour, at either the terminal or your hotel. While publicos are inexpensive, they make frequent stops, so travel over great distances can be extremely slow.

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