PUERTO RICO

Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus discovered the island in 1493. Columbus claimed the island for Spain. In 1508, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León started a permanent Spanish settlement. The settlers found gold in the rivers and named the island Puerto Rico, meaning “rich port” in Spanish. In the 1800s, plantations, or huge farms, in Puerto Rico were producing large amounts of sugar, coffee, and tobacco. These new work opportunities brought more people to the island. In 1800, 155,426 people lived in Puerto Rico. About 13,000 of these people were slaves. Slavery ended gradually and peacefully between 1866 and 1873.

Imagine discovering a hidden room in your house. Imagine it was filled with valuables worth a lot of money. That is what happened to Christopher Columbus, except that he found more than a room. Columbus discovered an entire part of the world no one knew existed before. Columbus first discovered South America in 1492. A year later, he discovered the island of Puerto Rico on his second trip to the new world of America.

The U.S. took control of Puerto Rico after winning the SpanishAmerican war in 1898. On October 18, 1898, American soldiers raised the United States flag in Puerto Rico, making it a territory of the United States. Territory is a word for land a country owns. One million people lived in Puerto Rico by this time.

Spanish is the primary language spoken on the island. Only a quarter of the population is fully bilingual, meaning able to speak two languages.

In 1917, Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship. Being a citizen means being a member of a country. This gave them the opportunity to travel to the States. Many Puerto Ricans left for jobs in large cities. As of 2022, over one million Puerto Ricans live in New York.

In 1947, the U.S. Congress allowed Puerto Ricans to vote for their own governor. In 1952, they approved a Puerto Rican constitution that made the island a U.S. commonwealth. A commonwealth makes all its own local laws, such as traffic laws.

Puerto Ricans do not pay federal income tax to the United States. Income tax is a portion of your money that the government takes to pay for the government to operate. Puerto Ricans also cannot vote for president even though they are U.S. citizens. They can only vote in the primary elections. The primary elections are when each party chooses a candidate to run for president.

plantations - huge farms used for planting territory - land a country owns bilingual - able to speak two languages citizen - a member of a country income tax - a portion of your money the government takes to pay for the government to operate

If Puerto Rico would become the 51st state of the United States, its residents, the people who live there, would begin to pay federal income tax. The new state would send two senators to the Senate. It would also send six voting members to the House of Representatives. These two parts of Congress write the laws of the United States. The people of Puerto Rico voted against becoming a state.

There are 50 stars on the United States flag, one for each state. Will Puerto Rico change its mind and give the flag a new star? Time will tell.