Towns and Cities in Puerto Rico, USA

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is an island situated in the northeastern Caribbean Sea, its northern shore facing the Atlantic Ocean. Two small islands off the east coast, Vieques and Culebra, are administratively parts of Puerto Rico, as is Mona Island to the west. It lies approximately 50 miles east of the Dominican Republic, 40 miles west of the Virgin Islands, and 1,000 miles southeast of the U.S. state of Florida. Its governor is Pedro Pierluisi.

Puerto Rico, officially Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (or Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico in Spanish), is a self-governing island commonwealth of the West Indies associated with the USA.

Puerto Rico has a tropical climate with little seasonal variation, although local conditions vary according to elevation and exposure to rain-bearing winds. Plant life is abundant and varied. Tropical rainforests cover parts of the north side of the island. Puerto Rico has more than 200 species of birds, but land animals are mostly confined to nonpoisonous snakes, lizards, mongooses, and the coquí -a frog whose name is onomatopoeic with its call (“co-kee!”) and which has become a kind of national mascot.

In the early 16th century, Spanish explorers founded San Juan. The United States took possession of the island in 1898 until the mid-20th century. Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917, and can move freely between the island and the mainland; however, as residents of an unincorporated territory, American citizens in Puerto Rico are disenfranchised at the national level, do not vote for the president or vice president, and generally do not pay federal income tax.

Beginning in the mid 20th century, the U.S. government, together with the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company, launched a series of economic projects to develop Puerto Rico into an industrial high-income economy.