Spanish Colonialism on the History of Puerto Rican People

1875 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The history of puerto ricans

Spanish Colonialism on the History of Puerto Rican People

"Puerto Rico". The name immediately brings to mind images of a beautiful lush tropical island of enchantment. The name "Puerto Rico" usually does not conjure the image of Taino Indians or African slaves, yet these populations have great importance in laying the foundation for the notion of identity of Puerto Ricans. In contemporary debates of Puerto Rican identity, it is essential to examine the history of the island to determine the effects of Spanish colonialism on Puerto Rican identity. As he demonstrates in his article "Puerto Rico: the Four-Storeyed Country", Jose L. Gonzalez discusses the notion of identity as a series of storeys, one built upon another in order further incorporate each aspect in the past that contributes to the idea of "Puerto Ricaness" in the present. Thus, in looking at the history of Puerto Rico and the effects of Spanish colonialism, we will see that Puerto Rican identity has been constructed storey by storey, catalyzed by the Spanish occupation.

At the time of the sixteenth century, the country of Spain was in its prime, enjoying its status as the most powerful empire in Europe; possessing the most land than any other European country . This was the time of Renaissance, the "rebirth", and in this time of the "new", Spain looked to further support and maintain its position in seeking wealth and empire overseas, not just in the European region. Christopher Columbus, as appointed by King Ferdinand and Queen Elizabeth, was sent in search of wealth and treasure, and in his travels, discovered what is known today as "America", the United States, in 1492. In November of 1493, Columbus discovered the island of Puerto Rico, which at that time was ...

... middle of paper ...

...o". From Negrón-Muntaner and Grosfoguel (Eds.), Puerto Rican Jam: Essays on Culture and Politics. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 257-285.

Rivera, Angel, Q. "Music, Social Classes, and the National Question in Puerto Rico". In Glasser.

Scarano, Francisco. "Sugar and Slavery in Puerto Rico, 1815-1849: An Overview," from Scarano, 1984, Sugar and Slavery in Puerto Rico: The Plantation Economy of Ponce, 1800-1850. Madison: U of Wisconsin Press. pp.3-34

Trías-Monge, J. (1997). "The Shaping of a Colonial Policy". From Trías-Monge, Puerto Rico: the Trials of the Oldest Colony of the World. New Haven: Yale University Press, 36-51.

Walker, Rich. (1998). A Multicultural Alternative to Language and Nationalism. Http://frontpage.trincoll.edu/rwalker.

Waxer, Lise. (October 29, 1998). Puerto Rican Music Between Rafael Hernandez and Rafael Cortijo.

Show More
Related

  • Should Puerto Rico Become America´s 51st State?

    2522 Words  | 6 Pages

    Puerto Rico. The. Tarrytown: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2007. 2.

    Read More

  • A Partial Remembrance Of A Puerto Rican Childhood Summary

    895 Words  | 2 Pages

    #1.The thesis in “A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood” by Judith Ortiz Cofer is that because of the stories her grandmother told every afternoon when she was a child, her writing was heavily influenced and she learned what it was like to be a ‘Puerto Rican woman’. The thesis of the selection is stated in the first and last sentence of the second paragraph: “It was on these rockers that my mother, her sisters, and my grandmother sat on these afternoons of my childhood to tell their stories, teaching each other, and my cousin and me, what it was like to be a woman, more specifically, a Puerto Rican woman . . . And they told cuentos, the morality and cautionary tales told by the women in our family for generations: stories that became

    Read More

  • Puerto Rican Identity and Spanish Colonial Rule

    1399 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gonzales, Jose Luis. Puerto Rico: the Four Storeyed Country and Other Essays (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishing Inc.)1-30.

    Read More

  • The Benefits of the Statehood for Puerto Rico

    1814 Words  | 4 Pages

    The intention of this essay is to demonstrate to a vision rational, concordant political leader to the Puerto Rican, American and worldwide reality. It responds to the necessity that to the statehood it is necessary to imagine it and to expose it with all the evidence available, since many Puerto Ricans, including many political leaders, do not know like defending it or exposing it before the peculiar ones or our adversaries.

    Read More

  • The Impact of United States Rule on Puerto Rico

    2264 Words  | 5 Pages

    Trías-Monge, José. "The Shaping of a Colonial Policy," from Trías-Monge, Puerto Rico:The Trials of the Oldest Colony in the World (New Haven: Yale U Press, 1997)45-121.

    Read More

  • The Fishing Industry in Gloucester

    1170 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the late 1990s fishermen were getting stressed and many of them turned in their boats. This is because the government made new rules and regulations for the fishing industry. These rules are supposed to help endangered fish, although some are not helping at all. The government allows small boat fishermen to catch only 500 pounds of cod per day and requires them to toss any extra overboard before they reach shore.

    Read More

  • Hard Lives in South Bronx depicted in The Boy Without a Flag

    2097 Words  | 5 Pages

    In this story, the reader can see exactly how, many Puerto Ricans feel when living on other grounds. Throughout this time, the boy that Rodriguez presents us realizes he has his culture and that he wants to preserve it as much as he can. “Because I’m Puerto Rican”. I ain’t no American. And I’m not a Yankee flag-waver”

    Read More

  • The Relationship between Sugar and Slavery in the Early Modern Period

    3555 Words  | 8 Pages

    The Dutch seaborne empire (London, 1965) Canny, Nicholas: The Oxford History of the British Empire,vol I, TheOrigins of the Empire (New York 1998) Curtin, Philip D: The rise and fall of the plantation complex:essays in Atlantic history (Cambridge, 1990). Dunn, Richard S: Sugar and Slaves (North Carolina,1973) Haring, C.H: The Spanish Empire in America(New York, 1947) Hemming, John: Red gold: the conquest of the Brazilian Indians (Southampton 1978) Hobbhouse, Henry: Seeds of Change: Five plants that transformed mankind (1985) Mattoso, Katia M de Queiros: To be a slave in Brazil 1550-1888 (New Jersey, 1986) Mintz, Sidney W: Sweetness and Power (New York 1985) Winn, Peter: Americas:The changing face of Latin America and the Caribbean (California, 1999)

    Read More

  • Fishing History in Illinois

    2600 Words  | 6 Pages

    People used a lot of different methods to catch fish. Different people use different methods and believe that their method is the best or is the most ethical. Commercial fisherman and the native methods both have their similarities and their differences. Both have been effective. Native Americans for the most part used homemade tools from the resources that they had around them. Flint, bone and wood were some of the natural resources used by Native Americans for their equiptment (Primitive Fishing Tackle). Tools like spears, hooks and gaffs, nets, and weirs were all used by Native Americans for nothing more than catching fish and maybe some other aquatic life. The hooks and gaffs were generally carved from bone. A gaff is bigger than a hook, but gets lodged in the fish once it takes the bait on it. Spears were nothing more than a wooden shaft with a sharp tip (Nickson). The tips were generally carved from bone, flint, and sometimes metal. Three pronged tips were used on smaller fish so it would increase their chances of hitting the fish (Spear Fishing- Native American Way to Survival). Lines with hooks and fish traps were also used to catch fish. The natives used leather and vegetable fibers as line for their hooks an...

    Read More

  • El inconformismo femenino en La Bella Durmiente

    1707 Words  | 4 Pages

    La autora Puertoriqueña Rosario Ferré sin duda pertence a ese grupo the escritores que critícan la sociedad en la que les tocó vivír en sus creaciónes literárias. Ferré nació en Ponce, Puerto Rico la ciudad mas grande y poderosa del sur de la isla. Su familia es una de las mas importante economicamente y politicamente poderosa. Su padre fue gobernador de la isla durante los años del 1968 al 1972. Como todas las mujeres en esa época se casó y comenzó una familia, destinada a una vida como dama elegante y ociosa. Pero se dió cuenta que su vida pertenecía a la literatura. Ella rompió un taboo y molde cultural, que convertía a las mujeres de clase media alta, en muñecas. Esa generación de mujeres exigiendo cambios en la sociedad se encontraban en el medio de la revolución femenina. Cualquier mujer que quisiera cambiar su vida o trabajar era considerada extraña o loca. Esta opreción se convirtió en su inspiración. Ferré nos comunica a travez de esta novela, la realidad de la mujer puertoriqueña a mediados de siglo. En La Bella Durmiente, Rosario Ferré muestra la mujer como sujeto y objeto. Esta obra es un manisfiesto de los derechos de la mujer y del inconformismo femenino que eventualmente lleva a la mujer a rechazar la realidad. Analizare y demonstrare por medio de este ensayo, los papeles que le toca jugar (a la mujer) en esta sociedad, la corrupcion moral y social que le rodea y su reacción ante todo esto resultando en un trágico final.

    Read More

  • Puerto Rican Cultural And Religion

    486 Words  | 1 Pages

    which is a predominantly Hispanic area of the city. I myself am also a Roman

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Puerto Rico

    1102 Words  | 3 Pages

    Puerto Rico is a small island in the Caribbean that holds a vast, and rich culture. Due to its accessible geographical location, it is often called the key to the Caribbean. Puerto Rico enriched its people with one of the most innate and unique culture different from the rest of the world. The colonization of Spaniards left us not only with myriad architectural heritage, but also with language and cultural traditions that beholds Hispanic imagery and representations. Our music, our love of dancing and festivities, as well as our practice of Catholic beliefs represents

    Read More

  • Impact of Imperialism on Latin America and Southeast Asia

    1373 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the year of 1492, the Queen and King of Spain developed thoughts of strengthening their power and seeking new sources of wealth. This being stated the Queen and King had agreed on financing Christopher Columbus’s expedition, hoping it would bring the kingdom wealth (Ellis 2004). On October 12 Columbus had discovered a new location, due to this discovery; Latin America had been colonized by the Spanish conquistadors sent by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Overall, Latin America had been colonized for the sake of seeking wealth (Ellis 2004). Obtaining gold was the simple way of gaining wealth. Gold was the resource that attracted Spaniards to the Island of Hispaniola, because it was also King Ferdinand's interest (De la Riva 2003 ). Thus it ended up becoming the ultimate goal of the Christian Spaniards sent to Hispaniola to acquire gold and swell themselves in riches. (Las Casas 1552).Trading was also the key to getting wealthy; the more resources available for trade the more wealth will be gained. Resources in the New World attracted the Spanish conquistadors to Latin America; it was also what he...

    Read More

  • Comparing Freshwater vs. Saltwater Fishing

    1303 Words  | 3 Pages

    On the first casts with our modified lures, we got bites and set our hooks, but only to the dismaying result of slackened line. Upon retrieval, we fou...

    Read More

  • Coca Cola and Coco Frio

    1717 Words  | 4 Pages

    Every day , Puerto Rico is slowly adapting into the American way of life and is gradually losing what is left of their culture. Perhaps this is because Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United States. The poem “ Coca Cola and Coco Frio” by Martin Espada is a great example of someone who encounters the Americanized culture of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is struggling to preserve their own identity.

    Read More

More about Spanish Colonialism on the History of Puerto Rican People

Open Document