CHAPTER XVI 



HISTORY AND ADMINISTRATION 



Spanish character of its institutions and peoples. Uneventful course of 

 its progress. Government and administration. Religion and educa- 

 tion. 



THE island belongs to Spain, 1 to which country it is 

 indebted for its discovery and conquest and present 

 industrial and social status. It was discovered on Novem- 

 ber 16, 1493, by Columbus, who took possession three days 

 later. The conquest of the island from the aborigines 

 was made in 1508 by Ponce de Leon, who founded, in the 

 year 1509, the first village, near the present capital, which 

 he named Caparra. 



According to Colonel Flinter, who seems to have written 

 the best compendium of the island, the early history of 

 Porto Rico, aside from a few attacks by English bucaneers, 

 offers few features of interest. Although one of the oldest 

 colonies of Spain, it served for three centuries as a penal 

 station only, and its free population presented until a few 

 years ago a marked specimen of the besotted ignorance 

 which characterized the Spanish settlements of old times. 



The military and civil expenses during these years were 

 defrayed from remittances from Mexico, and it was not 



1 This was written before the signing of the protocol which gave it to the 

 United States. 



154 



