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San Juan, Puerto Rico
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HistoryIn 1508, Juan Ponce de León founded the original settlement Caparra (named after the province Caceres, Spain, the birthplace of then-governor of Spain's Caribbean territories Nicolas de Ovando), which today is known as the Pueblo Viejo sector of Guaynabo, just to the west of the present San Juan metropolitan area. A year later, the settlement was moved to a site then called Puerto Rico, Spanish for "rich port" or "good port," after its similar geographical features to the island of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. In 1521, the newer settlement was given its formal name, San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico, in honor of John the Baptist, following the tradition of christening the town with both its formal name and the name which Christopher Columbus had originally given the island.
The ambiguous use of San Juan Bautista and Puerto Rico for calling both the city and the island led to a reversal in practical use by most inhabitants: by 1746, the name for the city (Puerto Rico) had become that of the entire island, while the name for the Island (San Juan Bautista) had become the name for the city.
San Juan, as a settlement of the Spanish Empire, was used by merchant and military ships traveling from Spain as the first stopover in the Americas.
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HistoryIn 1508, Juan Ponce de León founded the original settlement Caparra (named after the province Caceres, Spain, the birthplace of then-governor of Spain's Caribbean territories Nicolas de Ovando), which today is known as the Pueblo Viejo sector of Guaynabo, just to the west of the present San Juan metropolitan area. A year later, the settlement was moved to a site then called Puerto Rico, Spanish for "rich port" or "good port," after its similar geographical features to the island of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. In 1521, the newer settlement was given its formal name, San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico, in honor of John the Baptist, following the tradition of christening the town with both its formal name and the name which Christopher Columbus had originally given the island.
The ambiguous use of San Juan Bautista and Puerto Rico for calling both the city and the island led to a reversal in practical use by most inhabitants: by 1746, the name for the city (Puerto Rico) had become that of the entire island, while the name for the Island (San Juan Bautista) had become the name for the city.
San Juan, as a settlement of the Spanish Empire, was used by merchant and military ships traveling from Spain as the first stopover in the Americas. Because of its prominence in the Caribbean, a network of fortifications was built to protect the transports of gold and silver from the New World to Europe. Because of the rich transports, San Juan became a target of the foreign powers of the time.
The city was witness to attacks from the English led by Sir Francis Drake in 1595 and by George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, in 1598. Artillery from San Juan's fort, El Morro, repelled Drake; however, Clifford managed to land troops and lay siege to the city. After a few months of British occupation, Clifford was forced to abandon the siege when his troops began to suffer from exhaustion and sickness. In 1625 the city was sacked by Dutch forces lead by Boudewijn Hendricksz, but El Morro withstood the assault and was not taken. The English attacked again in 1797, during the French Revolutionary Wars, led by Sir Ralph Abercromby (who had just conquered Trinidad). His army laid siege to the city but was forced to withdraw in defeat as the Puerto Rican defenses proved more resilient than those of Trinidad. Various events and circumstances, including liberalized commerce with Spain, the opening of the island to immigrants as a direct result of the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815, and the colonial revolutions, led to an expansion of San Juan and other Puerto Rican settlements in the late 18th and early 19th century.
In May 1898, United States Navy ships, among them the USS Detroit, USS Indiana, USS New York, USS Amphitrite, USS Terror and USS Montgomery, commanded by Rear Admiral William T. Sampson, bombed San Juan during the Spanish-American War, though the city was not occupied. On July 25, General Nelson A. Miles landed at Guánica (in southwestern Puerto Rico) with 3,300 soldiers and took over the island with little resistance. Spain ceded the island to the United States later the same year by signing the Treaty of Paris.
Camp Las Casas, located in the district of Santurce, served as the main training camp for the Puerto Rican soldiers prior to World War I and World War II; the majority of the men trained in this facility were assigned to the 65th Infantry Regiment of the United States Army. This regiment has been active since 1898, and it is still active today. Camp Las Casas was eventually closed down, and in 1950 a public housing project by the name of Residencial Fray Bartolome de Las Casas was constructed on its former location.
Lieutenant Teofilo Marxuach (Retired as a Lieutenant Colonel), a native of Arroyo, Puerto Rico, was responsible for the first bullet shot by the American military during World War I, when he ordered the "Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry" to open fire on the Odenwald, a German armed supply ship, when it was trying to force its way out of San Juan’s bay. This event occurred on April 6, 1917, the day that the United States declared war on Germany.
GeographySan Juan is located at, and is suitated along the north-eastern coast of Puerto Rico. It lies south of the Atlantic Ocean; north of Guaynabo and Trujillo Alto; east of and Bayamón; and west of Carolina. The city occupies an area of 76.93 square miles (199.2 km²), of which, 29.11 square miles (75.4 km²) is water. The majority San Juan's water territory is composed of San Juan Bay, and of two natural lagoons, the Condado and the San José.
ClimateSan Juan's climate is classified as tropical marine. San Juan enjoys an average temperature of 82 °F (28 °C) during the year, although or higher temperatures are often felt during the summer, especially if the winds come from the south. In the winter, temperatures can drop to the 60s, though the average winter low is . The coldest temperature ever recorded was on March 3, 1957, and the hottest was on October 9, 1981. Rainfall is well-distributed all year, but the months of February, March and April are the driest. San Juan is a tropical city.
CityscapeOld San Juan occupies the western end of a rocky islet at the mouth of San Juan Bay. During the 20th century, the main population centers surged well beyond the walls of the old city and onto Puerto Rico's main island, and merged with the existing settlements east and south of Old San Juan. As a result, the city is now composed of a variety of neighborhoods.
Old San Juan
During the Spanish colonial times most of the urban population resided in what is now known as Old San Juan. This sector is located on the western half of a small island called the Isleta de San Juan, which is connected to the mainland by two bridges and a causeway. The small island, which comprises an area of 47 mi² (122 km²), also hosts the working class neighborhood of Puerta de Tierra and most of Puerto Rico's central government buildings, including the Commonwealth's Capitol.
The main central part of the city is characterized by narrow cobblestone streets and picturesque colonial buildings, some of which date back to the 16th and 17th century. Sections of the old city are surrounded by massive walls and several defensive structures and notable forts. These include the 16th century Fort San Felipe del Morro and 17th century Fort San Cristóbal, both part of San Juan National Historic Site, and the 16th century El Palacio de Santa Catalina, also known as La Fortaleza, which serves as the governor's mansion. Other buildings of interest predating the 20th century are the Ayuntamiento or Alcaldía (City Hall), the San José Church (1523) and the adjacent Hotel El Convento, the former house of the Ponce de León family known as Casa Blanca, the Teatro Tapia, the former Spanish barracks (now Museum of Ballajá), La Princesa (former municipal jail, now a history museum), and the municipal cemetery of Saint María Madgalena of Pazzis, located just outside the city walls. The Cathedral of San Juan Bautista (construction began in the 1520s) is also located in Old San Juan, and contains the tomb of the Spanish explorer and settlement founder Juan Ponce de León. Old San Juan, also known as the "old city", is the main cultural tourist attraction in Puerto Rico; its bayside is lined by dock slips for large cruise ships.
DistrictsSan Juan is subdivided into 18 wards (barrios), 16 of which fall within the former (until 1951) municipio of Rio Piedras. Eight barrios are further subdivided in to sub-barrios, including both barrios of the former municipio of San Juan.
- Caimito
- El Cinco
- Cupey
- Gobernador Piñero
- Hato Rey Central
- Hato Rey Sur
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- Hato Rey Norte
- Monacillo
- Monacillo Urbano
- Oriente
- Pueblo
- Quebrada Arenas
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- Sabana Llana Norte
- Sabana Llana Sur
- San Juan Antiguo
- Santurce
- Tortugo
- Universidad
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East of Old San Juan lies the upscale tourist oriented neighborhood of Condado, which occupies land that used to be owned by entrepreneur Pablo Ubarri Capetillo, a Spanish railroad developer and Count of San José de Santurce under the Spanish colonial period. Beaches such as nearby Ocean Park, popular with swimmers, surfers and kitesurfers, are found all along the district's Atlantic coastline which is also the locus of numerous hotels.
Near Condado are two separate business districts, Santurce and Miramar. Miramar is mainly a residential area rising south of the Condado Lagoon. It comprises the former barrio of Miraflores, as well as drained marshland and landfill over which was built San Juan's first airport, the Isla Grande airport, which was renamed Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci Airportin honor of Major Fernando Luis Ribas-Dominicci (USAF).
Miramar now hosts the Puerto Rico Convention Center as well as some of San Juan Harbor's cruise ship piers. In 2005 Miramar was designated an historical district of Puerto Rico.
Santurce, originally named San Mateo de Cangrejos (Saint Matthew of the Crabs), was a settlement for freed African slaves during the early days of the city. After Pablo Ubarri sought permission to link San Juan with Río Piedra proper via steam tramway in 1878, the time it took to travel between both points were shortened and thereby stimulated the colonization and growth of the district. At the beginning of the twentieth century an electric trolley was installed, the township was split into three parts, and its main settlement, merged with the city, was renamed using the Spanish spelling of Santurtzi (Saint George in Basque), Ubarri's birthplace in Vizcaya, Spain. The "Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico" and other important cultural venues are located in Santurce.
South of Santurce is Hato Rey, part of the former municipality of Río Piedras. Hato Rey was grazing ground for cattle owned by the royal government (hence its name, the King's Herd in Spanish) as early as the 16th century, and is now considered the financial center of the island. A section of this district is often referred to as the "Golden Mile" (actually long) due in part to the many banks and businesses located there.
In the southern part of the city is the socially diversified community of Río Piedras. Founded in the mid 1850s, Río Piedras was a separate town which hosted sugar cane plantations and the estates of some of San Juan's wealthiest inhabitants (as well as their working class staff). The Spanish colonial governors also had their summer home there on land which eventually gave way to the main campus of the University of Puerto Rico. In 1951 the municipalities of San Juan and Río Piedras were merged to redefine San Juan's current city limits. Today Río Piedras comprises the largest area of the municipality of San Juan.
and is home to the renowned, traditional “ Plaza del Mercado” (Río Piedras Marketplace), the main campus and the Medical Sciences campus of the University of Puerto Rico and the San Juan Botanical Garden.
Demographics
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!colspan=3|Race - San Juan, Puerto Rico - 2000 Census
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! Race
! Population
! % of Total
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| White||306,603||72.7%
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| Black/African American||50,102||11.9%
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| American Indian and Alaska Native||2,204||0.5%
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| Asian||2,002||0.5%
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| Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander||133||0.0%
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| Some other race||38,254||9.1%
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| Two or more races||22,660||5.4%
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San Juan is the largest city in Puerto Rico in population. From 1899 to 1950 the municipality of San Juan excluded the township of Río Piedras. For this reason, population data and land area for the period make reference only to the Antiguo San Juan and Santurce barrios, or subdivisions, of San Juan.
The old municipality of Río Piedras constituted the third most populated city of Puerto Rico at the time of its annexation in 1951. Its strategic location south of the capital served as a junction for all the principal ways of transportation of the Island and as a geographical entry to San Juan, which are factors that prompted Río Piedras's dramatic urban development in the 20th century.
EconomySan Juan experienced significant economic growth following World War II. During this period the city underwent an industrial revolution. The city’s economy relies mostly on companies dedicated to the manufacture of several products, including: Chemical substances (bleach and house cleaning products); medicines; rum and other beverages; fertilizers; electric tools; electronic devices; plastics, textiles, and food-based products. Tourism is also a key industry, based on San Juan’s proximity to Puerto Rico’s main airport, the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport.
The tourism focus of the city is located in the district of Condado Beach where there are numerous luxurious hotels. Historical locations such as El Morro, Old San Juan and El Cuartel de Ballaja are promoted in tourism campaigns. The district of Hato Rey contains a corporate sector known as “La Milla de Oro,” which serves as the headquarters of numerous local and international banks. San Juan is often referred to as the “Wall Street of the Caribbean,” due to the influence of the area on the city’s economy.
TourismDue to technological advances after World War II in the development of the airliner coupled with the island's climate and natural setting, has transformed San Juan into the springboard for tourism around the island, and has made the rest of the Caribbean known throughout the world during the last fifty years.
Today the capital boasts numerous hotels, museums, historical buildings, restaurants, beaches and shopping centers. In San Juan there are a lot of attractions, for example: Old San Juan, Ocean Park, Isla Verde and Condado.
Places and monuments emphasized in tourism campaigns consist of: Old San Juan, promoting the historic nature of its colonial buildings and narrow streets covered by adoquine, a blue stone cast from furnace slag; they were brought over as ballast on Spanish ships. This includes the city's ancient defensive wall and forts, most notably El Morro and the Castle of San Cristóbal. On January 23, 1984 both of these edifications were catalogued as being part of humanity's cultural patrimony. The numerous restaurants and art galleries in the zone are frequently visited by visitors. The local universities are promoted as historic places, most notably the campus of University of Puerto Rico located in Rio Piedras, which is the oldest university in the island being founded in 1903.
CultureSan Juan is the birthplace of numerous artists and musicians, locally known as Sanjuaneros, who have significantly influenced the Puerto Rican culture. During the 20th century the musical aspect of the city was influenced by performers including Afro-Caribbean dancer and choreographer Sylvia del Villard and José Enrique Pedreira who became a renowned composer of Puerto Rican Danzas. International musicians such as renowned opera singer Justino Díaz and Grammy Award winners Raymond Ayala and Ricky Martin were born in the city. Other notable residents include writers Manuel A. Alonso and Tomas Blanco, award-winning actors Raúl Juliá and Benicio del Toro, and comedian Jose Miguel Agrelot. Rafael Cordero (1790–1868), was influential in the development of Puerto Rican education and is renowned as “ The Father of Public Education in Puerto Rico.” The city is also the home of numerous contemporary and classic art museums. The Puerto Rico Arts Museum owns the largest collection of contemporary art in Puerto Rico, housing over 1,100 permanent art pieces and displaying numerous temporary exhibitions containing artwork from various locations trough Latin America.
The Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico, located in Santurce, specializes in contemporary artwork from locations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The paintings displayed in the permanent exhibition are either acquired by the museum’s administrative personnel or donated by artists and collectors. They are judged by a panel of painters, art critics, and scholars before being displayed.
Other museums such as the Pablo Casals Museum, the Book Museum, Americas Museum and the National Gallery display historic items and artwork alongside contemporary art. Miscellaneous museums such as the Children’s Museum and the Bacardi Distillery (also known as the "Rum Cathedral") in nearby Cataño appeal to different audiences through interactive exhibitions.
GovernmentAs one of Puerto Rico's 78 municipalities, San Juan, has a popularly elected mayor and municipal assembly. The current mayor is the Honorable Jorge A. Santini Padilla and is responsible for appointing a secretary-auditor and a treasurer. The municipal assembly is made up of 17 officials.
San Juan's City Hall or Casa Alcaldia, is located at 153 San Francisco Street in front of the Plaza de Armas or Military Square at the center of Old San Juan. It was constructed based on Madrid's City Hall starting in 1604 and was finally completed in 1789.
Law enforcement in San Juan is the joint responsibility of the San Juan Police Department and the Puerto Rico Commonwealth Police. The San Juan Police Department was created in 1521 (as the San Juan Municipal Guard which had both military and police functions) and currently employs about 1,000 sworn officers plus civilian staff.
EducationSan Juan is influential in the educational aspect of Puerto Rico, serving as location to many universities and colleges. The most prestigious university in the area, the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras Campus is located in San Juan, along with the University of Puerto Rico's Medical Sciences Campus. Other colleges located in San Juan are the University of the Sacred Heart, the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico, the Ana G. Méndez University System's Metropolitan University, the Metropolitan Campus of the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, the Carlos Albizu University, the Evangelic Seminary of Puerto Rico and the Center for Advanced Studies on Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. There are numerous minor colleges located in the city, including the ICPR Junior College, the "Instituto de Banca y Comercio" and the International Junior College, located in Santurce. There are several technological campuses located in San Juan, such as the Technological College of San Juan, the "Liceo de Artes y Ciencias", Ramirez College of Business and Technology and the Puerto Rico Technical Junior College. The Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and the School of Plastic Arts in Old San Juan are specialized in education that promote the fine arts and music.
In addition to dozens of state-run elementary, junior- and senior-high schools, the San Juan City Government now operates two bilingual schools, including one sports-magnet school, the first municipal-run schools in Puerto Rico.
Most of Puerto Rico's best private schools are located in San Juan, including Robinson and St. John's in the Condado, Perpetuo Socorro in Miramar, St. John's Episcopal and Santa Mónica in Santurce, La Merced and Espíritu Santo in Hato Rey, Nuestra Señora del Carmen, San Antonio, San Ignacio, and San José in Río Piedras and Cupeyville in Cupey.
TransportationThe Port of San Juan is the fourth busiest seaport in the Western Hemisphere, ranked among the top 17 of the world in terms of container movement. It is also the largest home-based cruise port in the world with over a dozen cruise ships plying its docks with new cruise ships either originating or calling at the port every year.
The Metropolitan Area is served by two airports. The Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, San Juan's primary commercial airport, is located eight miles (12.7 km) from Old San Juan in neighboring Carolina. The airport accommodates more than 30 domestic and international airlines and is the busiest airport in the Caribbean. It is often referred to as "The Gateway to the Caribbean" because it serves as the main connection to the island and the rest of the Caribbean for the United States and vice versa. The second airport in the area is the Fernando Ribas Dominicci Airport, which is located directly across the Caño San Antonio from Old San Juan in the Isla Grande district. Dominicci Airport is used mainly by general aviation aircraft, charter flights, and some domestic commercial flights. It used to be the city's and also the island of Puerto Rico's main international gateway until the opening of Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport. It is now also widely used by the Isla Grande Flight School and Caribbean Flight Center, the only flight schools on the island.
Public transportIncreased investment in public transportation has not changed the fact that San Juan is an automobile reliant city and its fast growth has sparked urban sprawl. It is currently served by five limited-access expressways and highways and numerous arterial avenues and boulevards and suffers from severe traffic congestion.
In an attempt to decrease vehicle dependency and road congestion, the City constructed a metro system dubbed “Tren Urbano” ("Urban Train"). The 10.7 mile (17.2 km) line connects to sixteen stations. The project, which opened in late 2004, cost 2.25 billion dollars and was more than $1 billion over budget and four years late. The Tren Urbano has received less than expected ridership than was originally projected and has failed to make a significant impact on reducing the city's traffic, despite a reported 7.5% ridership increase in 2006 over 2005.
Metropolitan Bus Authority (“Autoridad Metropolitana de Autobuses” or AMA in Spanish) provides daily bus transportation to residents of San Juan, Guaynabo, Bayamón, Toa Baja, Trujillo Alto, Cataño, and Carolina through 30 different routes. Its fleet consists of 277 regular buses and 35 buses for handicapped persons, and its ridership is estimated at 112,000 on work days.
A daily ferry service known as the Cataño Ferry, (“La Lancha de Cataño” in Spanish) which operates a route across San Juan Bay between Old San Juan and the municipality of Cataño.
There is a planned project to build a “interurban light rail system” connecting the cities of San Juan and Caguas.
Health and utilitiesThe main hospital and medical school in the city of San Juan is "El Centro Medico de Rio Piedras" (Rio Piedras Medical Center). The Medical Center is a conglomaration of Hospitals located in the same place. It has various helicopters in service, allowing patients and people in need of medical attention to be carried to the center from many places around the island.
Sports Teams based in San Juan have been notably successful in athletic competition. The Santurce Crabbers won the National Superior Basketball League championship on 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2003 during this period being recognized as a dynasty. The San Juan Senators and the Santurce Crabbers were the two major baseball teams in the city, winning the championship of the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League a total of seventeen times. The Santurce Crabbers are located third among teams with more championships in the Caribbean Series, winning championships in the 1951, 1953, 1955, 1993 and 2000 editions of the tournament. The city has also been the host of numerous events within the sports community; some examples include:
The recently-built $28-million San Juan Natatorium is beginning to attract islandwide and regional swim meets, as well winter training by top-rated mainland U.S. colleges and universities, including the United States Military Academy at West Point and the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis.
In July 2007, the San Juan Golf Academy and its golf driving range began operating atop the city's former sanitary landfill in Puerto Nuevo and will eventually include the city's first and only 9-hole golf course.
Professional teams
Sister citiesThe following cities have been identified as sister cities by Sister Cities International:
Cartagena, Colombia
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
See also
External links
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