PORTO RICO 



177G 



PORTO RICO 



Monument Marking 

 Landing Place of 

 Columbus in 1493 



The majority of the inhabitants are of the 

 Roman Catholic faith. 



Education. Since 1899 education has made 

 remarkable progress in Porto Rico. It has been 

 made compulsory, and a system of elementary 

 schools on the American plan is in operation. 

 In 1916 there were over 4,300 public elementary 

 schools and six complete high schools, besides 

 continuation schools, night schools, kindergar- 

 tens and private schools. Salaries of teachers 

 are paid from the insular treasury, and they 

 compare favorably with the salaries paid the 

 average teachers in America. More than half 

 of the rural teachers are men, and all are native 

 Porto Ricans. At the University of Porto Rico, 

 seven miles from San Juan, normal training 

 courses are given, and many natives are being 

 prepared as teachers. In 1916 this institution 

 had an enrolment of about 925. In San Juan 

 there was recently erected a $100,000 Carnegie 

 Library. The English language is spoken in 

 the schools, and textbooks in English are used, 

 though Spanish is taught throughout the course. 

 Many of the children of the wealthy class are 

 educated in the United States and in Europe. 



History. In 1493 Porto Rico was visited by 

 Columbus, and was named San Juan Bautista. 

 In 1508 Ponce de Leon reached the island and 



two years later began its conquest. He founded 

 the town of Caparro, now known as Puerto 

 Viejo, and the city of San Juan, which in 1595 

 was sacked by Drake and three years later by 

 the Duke of Cumberland. Under the rigorous 

 Spanish rule the natives were soon swept away, 

 and negroes were imported from Africa as 

 slaves. In the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- 

 turies the island was attacked by Dutch and 

 English adventurers, but it remained in .the 

 possession of Spain. In 1820 and again in 1867 

 the Porto Ricans were unsuccessful in an at- 

 tempt to declare their independence, and in 

 1870 the island was made a Spanish province. 

 For eleven years it was allowed representation 

 in the Spanish Parliament, being referred to by 

 the home government as the "ever loyal and 

 faithful isle." In 1873 forced labor was abol- 

 ished and the last traces of slavery disappeared. 

 Being alarmed by the revolt in Cuba in 1895, 

 Spain instituted a reform in the government of 

 Porto Rico, which was put into effect in 1897. 



This government seemed to be working suc- 

 cessfully when war was declared between Spain 

 and the United States in 1898. Admiral Samp- 

 son in May bombarded San Juan, in July 

 Ponce surrendered, and after a campaign which 

 lasted but nineteen days the American army 



