Arthurian legends are some of the most popular stories from British history, recounting the life of the heroic Brittonic King Arthur, who fought against the invading Anglo-Saxons while creating a utopian kingdom based on merit and chivalry. The stories are full of mystery and magic, featuring characters like the wizard Merlin and the sorceress Morgan le Fey, and acts of heroism, such as facing the Green Knight and finding the Holy Grail. But while we have a modern idea of the corpus of stories that make up the Arthurian legends, what do the original versions of these stories actually say, and are they based on real historical people and events? This is an introduction to Arthurian mythology.   1. Who Was King Arthur? Depiction of King Arthur from the Nuremberg Chronicle, by Michael Wolgemut or Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, 1493. Source: Wikimedia Commons   King Arthur was a legendary Brittonic war leader who fought against the Anglo-Saxons in Britain in the post-Roman era. Ever since the first half of the 5th century, the Anglo-Saxons had been at war against the native Britons, progressively conquering the land. Arthur was a war leader who emerged several generations into this centuries-long conflict. He is first mentioned in the Historia Brittonum, written in c. 830, as the leader of an alliance of kings. Arthur himself is not explicitly called a king in that source, but as early as c. 900, Welsh texts refer to him as “emperor.” He was said to have led the British kings into battle against the Saxons at 12 different battles, the last being the Battle of Badon.   Later sources present Arthur as a powerful ruler with allies all over Britain. His court was famous for its chivalry, inspiring many princes and kings to travel to Arthur’s court, align themselves with his rulership, and learn from him.   2. What Was Excalibur? A depiction of Morgan giving Arthur a fake Excalibur from an illuminated manuscript, Post-Vulgate Cycle, c. 14th century. Source: British Library   In the Arthurian legends, Excalibur was King Arthur’s special sword. In the most famous version of the story of its origin, the Lady of the Lake gave it to him. In earlier versions, it is called Caliburn and is said to have been forged on the mysterious island of Avalon. The sword ultimately comes from Welsh tradition, where it is called Caledfwlch, and its origin is never explicitly stated.   Both Welsh tradition and non-Welsh romances agree that this special sword was not special simply because it was Arthur’s. Rather, it had inherent, supernatural properties. This is what made it so effective at killing. In Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, written in the 15th century, the blade of Excalibur shines a bright light, giving Arthur a major advantage over his enemies.   Furthermore, Malory explains that the scabbard of Excalibur prevented Arthur from bleeding out from any of his injuries. However, this scabbard was stolen and lost early in his reign through the schemes of Morgan le Fey, Arthur’s evil half-sister.   3. Where Was Camelot? Some of the Roman ruins of Caerwent, Gwent. Source: Michael Garlick via Geograph   In most versions of the Arthurian legends, Camelot is the name of King Arthur’s main royal court. Like many medieval kings, Arthur had a peripatetic arrangement, that is, he traveled from one court to another. For example, he is also described as having held court at York and Caerleon-upon-Usk. Nevertheless, Camelot was generally portrayed as his capital city in sources from the 13th century onwards.   The earliest mention of Camelot comes from Chretien de Troyes, writing in the middle of the 12th century. He referred to it as being within a day’s journey from Caerleon-upon-Usk in southeast Wales. This logically places Camelot in southeast Wales as well. Interestingly, the preface of Le Morte d’Arthur, written by William Caxton in the 15th century, referred to the grand stone walls of Camelot that were still visible in Wales. Based on this, many researchers believe that Caxton had in mind the Roman ruins of Caerwent, not far from Caerleon. This is consistent with Chretien’s original reference to Camelot.   4. What Was the Round Table? An illustration of King Arthur and his knights at the Round Table, from manuscript BNF 112, Evrard d’Espinques, 1470. Source: Biblioteque Nationale de France   The Round Table was a large, circular table that was used by Arthur and his many knights. It was said to have been constructed by Merlin, Arthur’s wise advisor and wizard. The reason that Merlin made it round was to avoid any dispute among Arthur’s men over who was the greatest since one’s position at a rectangular table usually held meaning. The first mention of the Round Table comes from the poet Wace in his Roman de Brut, written in c. 1155. Usually, the Arthurian legends place the Round Table at Camelot. However, this was not always the case.   Wace explicitly places the Round Table at Caerleon-upon-Usk, not Camelot. Furthermore, Wace explains that Arthur’s numerous allies—numbering into the dozens, at least—all sat at this table. This would make it implausibly large for an actual table. Some later versions even state that it could seat literally hundreds of people. Based on these descriptions, many scholars conclude that it must have been a distorted version of the amphitheater at the Roman ruins of Caerleon.   5. What Was the Search for the Holy Grail? Depiction of King Arthur with his Knights of the Round Table having a vision of the Holy Grail, in manuscript BNF 120 fol. 524v, c. 15th century. Source: Bibliothèque Nationale de France   The search for the Holy Grail is a famous part of the Arthurian legends today, but it was not originally part of the legend of King Arthur. It first appears in Chretien de Troyes’ Percival, the Story of the Grail, written in c. 1185. This tells the story of Percival, an excessively innocent and holy knight who was raised away from society. One day, he came across the Grail Castle occupied by the lame Fisher King. His land was a wasteland, supernaturally connected to his injury. At the Grail Castle, Percival is shown a procession of all sorts of marvelous objects, including the Holy Grail. It is only later texts that associate the Holy Grail with the chalice used by Jesus during the Last Supper, or that used by Joseph of Arimathea to collect Jesus’ blood.   In any case, Percival fails to ask about the grail, which would have somehow miraculously cured the Fisher King and the land. Although Chretien’s story is unfinished, later continuations have Percival find the Grail Castle again and ask the right question. Later versions of the legend make the Grail hero Galahad, a different knight. However, many knights were interested in trying to find it, for they all received a vision of it at Camelot on one occasion.   6. How Did King Arthur’s Reign End? View of Camlan-Uchaf, the probable site of the Battle of Camlann. Source: Ian Capper via Geograph   In the Arthurian legends, King Arthur’s glorious reign came to an end through treachery. The earliest version of events is that his nephew, Mordred, usurped the throne of Britain while Arthur was away in Europe in a war against the Romans. This basic premise is essentially preserved through most subsequent versions. However, some of the later retellings have Arthur away in Gaul to fight a war against Lancelot rather than the Romans. In these versions, the fall of Arthur’s kingdom is closely associated with Lancelot’s affair with Guinevere, Arthur’s wife. This is what drove Arthur to wage war against his former ally, thus giving Mordred the perfect opportunity to take the throne for himself.   Furthermore, Arthur’s evil half-sister Morgan Le Fey is sometimes credited with being partially responsible for the end of Arthur’s reign. She, in some versions, is the one who reveals to Arthur that Lancelot was having an affair with Guinevere.   Whatever the background to it was, Mordred’s rebellion ultimately resulted in the Battle of Camlann, at which King Arthur was mortally wounded and taken to the Isle of Avalon.   7. Are the Arthurian Legends Based on Real History? Map of early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. Source: Wikimedia Commons   Is there any truth to the Arthurian legends? Or was it a Medieval fictional tale? The basic setting of the Arthurian legends is definitely historical. Arthur was said to have been a war leader who fought against the Anglo-Saxons in the 6th century. Based on archaeology and historical texts, we know that the Britons and the Saxons really were engaged in warfare at this time. Furthermore, one of the only clearly identifiable locations in the list of Arthur’s twelve battles is Linnuis, which was the region around Lincoln. Historically, we know that this was one of the most important Anglo-Saxon strongholds of the 6th century. Hence, this makes sense of the idea that Arthur fought a battle in that region.   Furthermore, many of the figures in the Arthurian legends are known to have been historical. For instance, knights such as Uriens, Yvain, and Percival are all accepted as being derived from historical figures.   The Secrets of Arthurian Mythology King Arthur Asking the Lady of the Lake for Excalibur, by Henry Gilbert, 1911. Source: Wikimedia Commons   In conclusion, what do we know about the Arthurian legends? The titular character, King Arthur, was a powerful war leader who fought against the Anglo-Saxons. He fought twelve battles against them, the last of which was the Battle of Badon. He had a special sword, variously called Caledfwlch, Caliburn, or Excalibur, which had supernatural powers. Camelot was King Arthur’s capital city in most versions of the legend, although it was originally just one of many courts that Arthur had. There is good reason to believe that it was the Roman city of Caerwent in southeast Wales.   At Camelot, King Arthur had his Round Table, a large circular table at which Arthur sat with his knights. Originally, this was said to have been at Caerleon-upon-Usk, thus indicating that it was actually the Roman amphitheater there. The Knights of the Round Table received a vision of the Holy Grail, a sacred chalice. They went on a quest to find it. While Percival was the original Grail hero, this position was assigned to Galahad in later versions. Eventually, Arthur’s rule ended when his nephew, Mordred, tried to usurp the throne.

  As the 19th century drew to a close, the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico was poised to reject the exploitative system it had existed under for more than three centuries. Sentiment in favor of independence as well as an incipient labor movement had begun to take shape. The unfortunate intersection of war and natural disaster would quickly quash both, reshaping the island’s economy and defining its relationship with its new owner: the United States.   Historical Background: US Invasion Kurz & Allison. Spanish-American Treaty of Peace, December 10, 1898. Source: Library of Congress   As deadly Hurricane San Ciriaco approached Puerto Rico, the island and its people were already facing a precarious situation. Just one year earlier, amidst a growing movement for independence from Spanish rule, the United States had invaded and occupied Puerto Rico during the Spanish American War. Though the outcome of the war was essentially already determined, the US saw the island as key to its economic and military interests in the region and chose to establish a foothold on Puerto Rico before engaging in peace negotiations. When the war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898, the US formally took possession of Puerto Rico.   As a result, when the storm arrived, Puerto Rico was under the control not of the Spanish government nor its own independent government, but a US military regime led by Brigadier General George W. Davis, who was still in the process of assessing the resources and challenges that US’s newest possession brought with it.   Hurricane: 24 Hours of Devastation Ponce after Hurricane San Ciriaco, 1899. Harper’s Weekly. Source: Colección Digital Escuela de Arquitectura   On August 8, 1899, Hurricane San Ciriaco, 60 miles in diameter, hit Puerto Rico. The storm’s eye took six hours to cross the island from southeast to northwest and dumped up to 23 inches of rain on parts of the island in 24 hours. Intense flooding and high winds devastated the countryside and destroyed the coffee crop just a month before harvest time, as well as sugar plantations and subsistence crops relied on by rural laborers.   The damage from the storm was calculated to be USD $20,000,000 at the time—$770,000,000 in today’s money—and the human toll was devastating. More than 3,000 lives were initially lost, and an estimated 250,000 people had no food or shelter in the storm’s immediate aftermath, nearly a quarter of the island’s population. With flooded lands came water-borne illnesses and an environment perfect for breeding mosquitoes, worsening already poor health on the island. Documented illnesses in the storm’s aftermath included malaria, uncinariasis-caused anemia, smallpox, dysentery, and typhoid fever. The number of people who starved to death or succumbed to illness in the following months is unknown, but the overall mortality rate for the year increased by 10 per 1,000 residents, far more than the acknowledged death toll.   Aftermath: Jíbaros vs. Planters Coffee plantation in Mayagüez. Report of the Census of Porto Rico, 1899. Source: Geoisla   Puerto Rico had a large population of jíbaros, often itinerant farm workers who labored on sugar and coffee plantations. Already living dangerously close to poverty, earning pittance wages that could usually only be spent in the plantation store, the storm left them with nothing. Subsistence crops they might grow to feed themselves as well as the island’s natural fruit-bearing vegetation were destroyed, the hastily constructed homes they occupied were flattened, the materials needed to rebuild had been swept away by floods, and work opportunities were almost nil.   The planter class, though their export crops had vanished, had begun from a much sturdier position and usually fared better—in general they still had homes to live in, food to eat and some savings to use for recovery. As the country’s economy relied on their landholdings and exports, they were also in a better bargaining position with the new government, and most were granted tax relief, and could solicit private investment as well.   The new US leadership saw in the disaster an opportunity to demonstrate American largesse. Eager to reassure Puerto Ricans that US rule was an improvement over that of Spain, the military government quickly appealed to the mainland for aid, from both the government and the American people. A New York relief committee, chaired by Governor Theodore Roosevelt, was selected to be the nation’s central collection agency for the disaster. He announced, “I appeal to all patriotic citizens to show to the suffering people of our new possessions that the extension of our flag over their territory is to be of immediate material as well as moral benefit to them.” Davis’s government worked quickly to devise plans for assessing damage, distributing food, and rebuilding, and ultimately claimed that US aid had saved over 100,000 people and distributed 32 million pounds of food.   Ruins of sugar mill destroyed by hurricane of August 8, 1899. Añasco. Report of the Census of Porto Rico, 1899. Source: Geoisla   Such benevolence, however, did not come without strings—and racism. Puerto Rico’s laboring class was largely made up of former Black slaves, mestizos (European-Indigenous), mulattos (European-Black) and others of mixed racial background that both the US and the wealthy white planter class viewed with suspicion, if not disdain. Davis himself considered the island’s population “a horde of human beings called civilized but who are only a few steps removed from a primitive state of nature.” Officials believed that distributing food and aid to them for free would simply encourage their natural laziness.   The official presiding over the charity board, Major John Van Hoff, insisted, “Food … is intended for the worthy poor, and no able-bodied man shall receive any unless he gives a full day’s work in return.” The government, however, could provide few work opportunities and did not have sufficient resources or knowledge of the island to effectively distribute aid. As a result, most aid distribution was ultimately handed over to the planters, who were instructed to provide it in addition to wages to those willing to work—further cementing the wealthy planters’ control over the island’s laboring class, which had already faced decades of exploitation under Spanish rule.   Migration: Puerto Ricans in Hawaii Laborers clearing a sugarcane field in Puerto Rico. Report of the Census of Porto Rico, 1899. Source: Geoisla   Even those willing to work for pittance wages and food aid faced challenges—there wasn’t enough work to go around. The coffee industry had already been in decline and the 1899 crop had been destroyed. It would take five years for newly sown plants to produce a harvest. Sugar actually fared better after the hurricane, with the floods improving the soil for sugarcane production, and would go on to expand in the 20th century. But in the year of the hurricane only about a third of the normal harvest was produced. The primary work available in the storm’s immediate aftermath was rebuilding roads and bridges.   Coincidentally, the US had acquired another new island territory in 1898: Hawaii. Japanese migrant labor had long been employed in the land’s sugar plantations but had recently been organizing to demand better wages and improved conditions. Planters were eager to find a new source of labor and Puerto Rico’s unemployed jíbaros seemed like the perfect choice: they were experienced with farm labor, used to a similar climate and, perhaps most importantly, desperate for work after the hurricane. The fact that both islands were now US territories would ease immigration arrangements. The plantations began sending representatives to Puerto Rico to recruit laborers.   Puerto Ricans working on a sugar plantation in Hawaii. Source: Images of Old Hawaii   Lured by promises of good wages, medical care and free housing, the first group of Puerto Ricans arrived in Hawaii in December 1900, having traveled first by boat to New Orleans, then across the country by train, and then by boat again to the islands. Though ostensibly voluntary immigrants, reports of Puerto Ricans monitored by armed guards on trains and forced onto boats once in California suggest that though their initial decision to travel was their own, they were not allowed to change their minds once en route. Evidence exists of written agreements provided to laborers, suggesting they were contractually obligated to work once they signed on, but given that the estimated literacy rate on the island was 16%, it would be hard to argue they fully understood what they agreed to.   In Hawaii, Puerto Ricans were distributed among sugar plantations with varying conditions, but one thing in common: no one spoke Spanish. The new laborers were unable to effectively communicate with overseers, nor their fellow laborers, resulting in predictable struggles to adapt to their new way of life.   By October 1901, the decision was made to discontinue Puerto Rican immigration to Hawaii. The final group arrived in Hawaii on October 19; an estimated 5,800 Puerto Ricans had immigrated over the previous two years.   Legacy: Citizenship, Sugar, and Frogs Charles Herbert Allen, 1902 first governor of Puerto Rico appointed by President McKinley. Source: Library of Congress   At the time of the disaster, the US had just taken ownership of the island and how it would be administered moving forward was yet to be determined. Hurricane San Ciriaco prompted almost immediate dependence on the US, an unbalanced relationship that may or may not have developed had the storm spared the island. Shortly after the hurricane, in April 1900, the US passed the Foraker Act, establishing a civilian government in Puerto Rico, but one with limited autonomy and controlled by the US. The island’s governor and executive council were all appointed by the President, William McKinley, and all US federal laws came into effect. Puerto Rico has been governed as an unincorporated territory since 1900.   Coffee, already struggling because of reduced demand and increased competition, continued to decline. In 1899, it accounted for 54% of the country’s exports; within a decade, it had fallen to just 10%. Sugar, on the other hand, flourished. Though the storm had destroyed a large portion of the crop and some older plantations, the new crop was much faster to produce than coffee, and the outdated mills and plantations that had been toppled were replaced by more advanced technology and spurred increased private US investment. Within that same decade that coffee declined, sugar came to account for 64% of exports. Sugar production reached its peak in 1952 but has since all but disappeared.   The coqui, a tiny Puerto Rican frog that has become an invasive species in Hawaii. Source: Discover Puerto Rico   In Hawaii, though recruitment of Puerto Rican laborers had ended, those already there largely remained and continued to labor on sugar plantations. When Puerto Ricans were awarded US citizenship in 1917, more opportunities beyond plantation work opened to them, though they continued to face discrimination and fought numerous legal battles against the sugar plantation owners who sought to retain their cheap labor. Today, nearly 50,000 people of Puerto Rican descent call Hawaii home, as does the coqui, a small but very loud Puerto Rican frog that stowed away on ships bringing immigrant laborers.

  Once populated by peaceful Indigenous tribes descended from South America’s Arawaks, the island now called Puerto Rico was first stumbled upon by Christopher Columbus’s men during his second voyage to the “New World” in 1493. Within a decade, Spain had established its first colonies in the Greater Antilles and a permanent and dominating presence in the Caribbean, controlling an essential network of ports, including San Juan. This region would eventually be the last stronghold of the Spanish empire in the Americas, enduring through the 19th century.   Pre-history: Borikén Arawak woman by John Gabriel Stedman, 1818. Source: Het Geheugen   Though less is known about the pre-colonial history of Puerto Rico than the lands once occupied by larger civilizations, like present-day Mexico and Peru, history has recorded more about it than is commonly known. The island originally known as Borikén was once home to the Taíno, who originated among the Arawaks of northern South America. This culture reached its peak between the 13th and 15th centuries and though it never rivaled empires like the Inca and Aztec, it became advanced enough to develop proto-writing, ceramics and pottery, political structures, small-scale agriculture and regional trade.   When the Spanish arrived in what they erroneously named the West Indies, Puerto Rico was populated by tens of thousands of Taíno and led by a chief, cacique, named Agüeybaná. Some researchers contend that the eastern part of Puerto Rico was also inhabited by Caribs at this point, a separate indigenous group who largely resided in the Lesser Antilles but often raided the larger islands of the Greater Antilles.   “Discovery” Portrait of a Man, said to be Christopher Columbus, Sebastiano del Piombo, 1519. Source: Met Museum   The Taíno of the present-day Bahamas were the first to encounter Christopher Columbus, but during his second voyage in 1493, the conquistadors made their way to Borikén, which they renamed San Juan Bautista. The Taíno, a largely peaceful people, were initially welcoming to the explorers. Their cacique knew from stories of Columbus’s first voyage the brutality that could be expected from the Spanish and sought to establish a cooperative relationship to ensure the safety of his people.   The relationship between the Spanish and the natives deteriorated rapidly after conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon, a lieutenant under Columbus, determined to take over the island having heard of its riches—while gold had no value to the Taíno, it was panned in waterways and used for ornamentation by the elites. In 1508, with the blessing of the crown, he established the first capital, Caparra, and set about wresting power from the Taíno. A second representative of the Spanish crown, Cristobal de Sotomayor, established another outpost on the southern part of the island. A system of forced labor was quickly established.   Statue of Agüaybaná II, who led a rebellion against the Spanish in Borikén. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Source: Wikimedia Commons   The Taíno fought back. In 1511, under Agüeybaná II, who adopted a more offensive approach than his recently deceased brother, the Indigenous declared war on the colonizers, burning down settlements and attacking both the Spanish and caciques who were allied with them. Sotomayor was killed and his settlement destroyed. The Spanish, led by Ponce de Leon, launched counterattacks, arresting, enslaving and slaughtering, making no distinction between natives rebelling and those who were not.   Ultimately, with many Taíno forced into slavery and killed by Old World disease, they were unable to retake the island. Still, they did not give up, but opted for more guerrilla-style warfare, launching surprise attacks from the sea. Some fled to neighboring islands in the Lesser Antilles, making peace with the Caribs, and continued carrying out attacks into the 1520s. Still others disappeared into the jungles and did their best to survive in isolated communities outside the Spanish sphere of influence.   Early Colonial Life Casta painting containing complete set of 16 casta combinations, racial classifications in Spanish colonies. Unknown artist, 18th century. Source: Wikimedia Commons   Though deposits were not as large as elsewhere in the Americas, there was more gold in Puerto Rico than what could be found in the rivers and streams, and the Spanish quickly set up mining operations. In the first few decades of the 16th century, 2 million gold pesos were sent to Spain from San Juan alone. Yet, due to their own brutality, disease and exploitative working conditions, the colonizers lacked sufficient labor to extract the gold as quickly as they wanted—and they certainly weren’t going to do it themselves. By 1517, the colonizers had begun importing enslaved Africans, first from Spain itself, and later from Africa, ultimately creating the stratified society that marked most of its colonies: white European-born Spaniards at the top, followed by Spaniards born in the “New World,” criollos, then people of mixed European-Indigenous and European-African heritage occupying various castas in the middle, and enslaved or formerly enslaved Black and Indigenous peoples at the bottom.   Engraving showing Spanish brutality in the Americas, Theodore de Bry for the German edition of Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias, Bartolome de las Casas, 1552. Source: Wikimedia Commons   In response to accusations of mistreatment of the Americas’ indigenous population, notably reported by Bartolomé de las Casas, outright enslavement of the native population was largely “forbidden” by the Church by the early 16th century, with easily abused exceptions. But the encomienda system, allowing the Spanish colonizers to extract labor and tribute from their native “subjects,” ostensibly in exchange for education and protection, was instituted with essentially the same result: forced labor, harsh conditions, and little recourse. Estimated to have been home to 30,000-60,000 Taíno pre-contact, by the 1780 census, the recorded number was 2,300.   Throughout that first century of colonization, Puerto Rico—a name first used for the port of present-day San Juan, which became the capital, and later adopted for the entire island—faced rebellions by Indigenous tribes and slave revolts as well as attacks from European powers, including England, France and the Netherlands in the course of the numerous wars Spain was fighting. It also had difficulty retaining settlers, many of whom believed life in other parts of New Spain, namely present-day Mexico and Peru, would be more rewarding after the island’s gold had been sufficiently stripped. As Spanish colonies on mainland North and South America expanded, Caribbean outposts lost their once prominent status in the “New World.”   From Mines to Plantation Economy Fort San Felipe del Morro, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2004, photographed by Tomás Fano. Source: Wikimedia Commons   As gold was rapidly exhausted, Puerto Rico became more prominent as a strategic military outpost, the so-called “key to the Indies.” Given its geographic location, it stood as a bulwark against foreign naval incursions. Several forts were constructed on the island, and it became the first line of defense against European strikes on the mainland Spanish colonies—meaning the small island was frequently under attack.   New industries developed on the island to replace gold mining, primarily sugar, tobacco and coffee farming. The Spanish imposed strict restrictions on commerce, however, and the island was not permitted to trade with foreign countries. As a result, while it didn’t lack for food, other essential goods—fabric for clothing, for example—were scarce on the island, particularly as Spain became embroiled in various wars and the number of supply boats from Europe dwindled. Ultimately a shadow trade network developed, smuggling Puerto Rican goods to other countries and vice versa, and became essential to Puerto Ricans’ survival in the 17th and 18th centuries.   Laborers clearing a sugarcane field in Puerto Rico. Report of the Census of Porto Rico, 1899. Source: Geoisla   As in other Spanish colonies, the country’s white European families were the ones who owned the land and the profitable haciendas on them while those further down on the social ladder did the laboring. By the 19th century, inequality on the island was stark, even with the abolition of slavery in 1873. Laborers earned dismal pay, often in the form of script that could only be used in the company store. Because the laboring class far outnumbered the elites and the work available from them, hacendados could hold wages low and reap the benefits.   The island’s elites, too, were dissatisfied—with their political power. Under Spanish authority and that of the military governors the crown imposed, Puerto Ricans had little say in how their government was run and the liberal ideas that had been sweeping westward began to take root on the island as well. Spain, with few remaining colonies, was determined to retain its island properties, but pro-autonomy sentiment continued to grow throughout the 19th century. Two independence revolts were put down by Spain in 1868 and 1897, but the latter year, those in favor of increased autonomy won a significant concession from Spain: the right to self-government.   It would be short lived.   Spanish-American War: US Takeover Kurz & Allison, Destruction of the U.S. battleship Maine in Havana Harbor Feb 15th. Cuba Havana, ca. 1898. Source: Library of Congress   By the late 19th century, yet another war was on the horizon for Spain, this time with the United States. When Cuba declared its independence, a cause the US was sympathetic to, Spain responded with military force to retain its possession and tensions between the nations began to rise. After a US naval ship, ostensibly sent to protect US citizens in Cuba, exploded in Havana harbor in early 1898, the blame was laid at Spain’s feet. By April, the US had declared war. It launched offensive operations in the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico, defeating the Spanish easily, particularly in Puerto Rico, where it faced almost no opposition.   With the signing of the Treaty of Paris in December 1898, Puerto Rico became a US territory. How it would be administered was still being determined when Hurricane San Ciriaco ravaged the island in 1899, killing 3,000 people and leaving an estimated one quarter of the population homeless. Despite the growth of a pro-independence movement before the war began, post-hurricane conditions left Puerto Rico almost entirely dependent on its new ruling power, a situation that would play a major role in determining the island’s fate.   President Theodore Roosevelt at Military barracks, Cayey, Puerto Rico, ca. 1905. Source: Library of Congress   In 1900, the Foraker Act established a civilian government in Puerto Rico, its highest representatives appointed by the US. However, Puerto Ricans were permitted to elect their own House of Representatives. By 1901, the so-called Insular Cases ruled that the US Constitution did not apply to Puerto Rico, and it would remain an unincorporated territory, not a state. This undefined position resulted in piecemeal democracy throughout the 20th century. Puerto Rico was not permitted to elect its own governor until 1948. Though it officially became a US Commonwealth in 1952, the island has no representation in the US Congress which retains ultimate authority over it. Even in the 21st century, steps have been taken to limit the island’s self-governance. After changes to the US tax code in 2006 dramatically reduced investment on the island, it took on massive debts to maintain itself. In response, the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability (PROMESA) Act was signed into law in 2016 giving the US government sweeping fiscal authority over the island.   Statehood vs. Independence The US and Puerto Rican flags side-by-side. Source: Welcome to Puerto Rico   Puerto Ricans, though granted US citizenship in 1917—arguably so they could be drafted for service in World War I—have continued to experience unequal treatment and limited benefits of citizenship under the law ever since. Though Puerto Ricans are permitted to move freely within the US, meaning they can immigrate to the mainland, those on the island are not permitted to vote in US elections. They also face unequal access to federal benefits like Medicare and Medicaid, despite paying most federal taxes. They are subject to federal laws but have no voting power in Congress.   Yet there is no widespread agreement on the island regarding the need to change its status. Some favor independence, others favor statehood, and still others are happy with the current arrangement. The island’s residents have participated in a number of non-binding referendums on the issue, most recently in November 2024, in which 56% favored statehood while 31% preferred independence. Ultimately, only Congress can move to change the island’s status, and the most recent bill proposing a binding plebiscite to settle the issue has not moved forward.   Further Reading:   Puerto Rico: Historia de Una Nación. Jorell Meléndez-Badillo, 2024.

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