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Puerto Rico (Esperanza)

Culture;

Puerto Rican culture is somewhat complex, - others will call it colorful. Culture is a series of visual manifestations and interactions with the environment that make a region and/or a group of people different from the rest of the world. Puerto Rico, without a doubt has several unique characteristics that distinguish their culture from any other.

Puerto Rican People;

Lets consider that the people of Puerto Rico represent a cultural and racial mix. During the early 18-century, the Spaniard in order to populate the country took Taino Indian women as brides. Later on as labor was needed to maintain crops and build roads, African slaves were imported, followed by the importation of Chinese immigrants, then continued with the arrival of Italians, French, German, and even Lebanese people. American expatriates came to the island after 1898. Long after Spain had lost control of Puerto Rico, Spanish immigrants continued to arrive on the island. The most significant new immigrant population arrived in the 1960s, when thousands of Cubans fled from Fidel Castro's Communist state. The latest arrivals to Puerto Rico have come from the economically depressed Dominican Republic. This historic intermingling has resulted in a contemporary Puerto Rico practically without racial problems.

Language is more than just words, it is the position of one's body, the look on their face, and their body's motion. Puerto Ricans are known for their friendliness and warmth. Hand gestures and movements are often used in daily conversation. Puerto Ricans tend to interrupt each other frequently, sometimes even finish the other's thought and are not upset when this occurs. Many Puerto Ricans will stand fairly close to one another in social settings. In contrast, North Americans and many Europeans believe that people should stand about an arm's length from one another. Moving away from a counterpart may be considered offensive or insulting.

Cocina Criolla;

Although Puerto Rican cooking is somewhat similar to both Spanish, Cuban and Mexican cuisine, it is a unique tasty blend of Spanish, African, Taíno, and American influences, using such indigenous seasonings and ingredients as coriander, papaya, cacao, nispero, apio, plantains, and yampee.
Locals call their cuisine "cocina criolla".

Cocina criolla (Créole cooking) can be traced back to the Arawaks and Tainos, the original inhabitants of the island, who thrived on a diet of corn, tropical fruit, and seafood. When Ponce de León arrived with Columbus in 1493, the Spanish added beef, pork, rice, wheat, and olive oil to the island's foodstuffs. Soon after, the Spanish began planting sugarcane and importing slaves from Africa, who brought with them okra and taro (known in Puerto Rico as yautia). The mingling of flavors and ingredients passed from generation to generation among the different ethnic groups that settled on the island, resulting in the exotic blend of today's Puerto Rican cuisine.

Geography

The island of Puerto Rico is almost rectangular in shape, and is the smallest and the most eastern island of the Greater Antilles. In addition to the principal island, the Commonwealth includes: Vieques, Culebra, Culebrita, Palomino (known by some by the Spanish Virgin Islands), Mona, Monito and various others isolated islands. Deep ocean waters fringe Puerto Rico. The territory is very mountainous (cover 60%), except in the regional coasts, but Puerto Rico offers astonishing variety: rain forest, deserts, beaches, caves, oceans and rivers.

Traditionally, tropical soils have been looked upon as infertile and unproductive and of poor agricultural value. However, tropical countries provide such high biomass products as sugar cane, bananas, coffee, and tobacco. Puerto Rico, due to its relatively short width and its east-west running mountain chain, does not have long rivers or large lakes. The longest river is the Grande de Arecibo, which flows to the northern coast. Other rivers include La Plata, Cibuco, Loíza, and, Bayamón all draining to the north, and the Grande de Añasco, draining to the west.

Climate;

The climate of Puerto Rico falls into the tropical climatic zone. Temperatures are moderate year round, averaging near 80 °F (27 °C) in lower elevations and 70 °F (21 °C) in the mountains. Easterly trade winds pass across the island year round. Puerto Rico has a rainy season which stretches from April into November.The mountains of the Cordillera Central are the main cause of the variations in the temperature and rainfall that occur over very short distances. Temperatures range from 70 °F (21 °C) to 90 °F (32 °C) in the lower elevations, while higher elevations in the central part of the island experience temperatures between 60 °F (16 °C) and 80 °F (27 °C) year round. Between winter and summer, there is only a temperature swing of around 6 °F (4 °C). This is mainly due to the warm waters of the tropical Atlantic ocean, which significantly modify cooler air moving in from the north and northwest. Persistent 19-knot (35 km/h) trade winds move from east to west across the island year round.In puerto rico there are many tropical cyclones, which pass by every 5 years. Puerto Rico experiences the Atlantic hurricane season, similar to the remainder of the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic oceans. On average, a quarter of its annual rainfall is contributed from tropical cyclones, which is more prevalent during periods of La Niña than El Niño. A cyclone of tropical storm strength passes near Puerto Rico, on average, every 5 years. A hurricane passes in the vicinity of the island, on average, every 11 years. Only one category 5 hurricane has struck the island since 1851, the Lake Okeechobee Hurricane of September 1928.

History

The history of Puerto Rico began with the settlement of the archipelago of Puerto Rico by the Ortoiroid people between 3000 and 2000 BC. Other tribes, such as the Saladoid and Arawak Indians, populated the island between 430 BC and 1000 AD. At the time of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492, the dominant indigenous culture was that of the Taínos. The Taíno culture died out during the latter half of the 16th century because of exploitation by Spanish settlers, the war they waged on the Taíno, and diseases introduced by the invaders.

Located in the northeastern Caribbean, Puerto Rico formed a key part of the Spanish Empire from the early years of the exploration, conquest and colonization of the New World. The island was a major military post during many wars between Spain and other European powers for control of the region in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The smallest of the Greater Antilles, Puerto Rico was a stepping-stone in the passage from Europe to Cuba, Mexico, Central America, and the northern territories of South America. Throughout most of the 19th century until the conclusion of the Spanish–American War, Puerto Rico and Cuba were the last two Spanish colonies in the New World; they served as Spain's final outposts in a strategy to regain control of the American continents.

In 1898, during the Spanish–American war, Puerto Rico was invaded and subsequently became a possession of the United States. The first half of the 20th century was marked by the struggle to obtain greater democratic rights from the United States. The Foraker Act of 1900, which established a civil government, and the Jones Act of 1917, which granted Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship, paved the way for the drafting of Puerto Rico's Constitution and the establishment of democratic elections in 1952. However, the political status of Puerto Rico, a Commonwealth controlled by the United States, remains an anomaly more than 500 years after the first Europeans settled the island.

Government

The Government of Puerto Rico is a republican form of government subject to U.S. jurisdiction and sovereignty. Its current powers are all delegated by the United States Congress and lack full protection under the United States Constitution. The Government is composed of three branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial branches much like the United States. The executive branch is headed by the Governor, currently Mr. Luis Fortuño. The legislative branch consists of a bicameral Legislative Assembly made up of a Senate upper chamber and a House of Representatives lower chamber. The Senate is headed by the President of the Senate, while the House of Representatives is headed by the Speaker of the House. The judicial branch is headed by the Chief Justice of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court. The legal system is a mix of the civil law and the common law systems. The governor and legislators are elected by popular vote every four years. Members of the Judicial branch are appointed by the governor with the "advice and consent" of the Senate.