Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/328

PORTO RICO. must be natives of Porto Rico, apoointed in the same manner as the Governor; and a legislature, consisting of the Council as an upper chamber and a House of Delegates popularly elected for a term of two years. There is a small property qualification and a low educational test for the exercise of the suffrage. The judges of the Supreme and District courts are appointed by the President. There are also a treasurer, a commissioner of education, and an attorney-general, appointed in the same manner. The island is represented in Washington by a resident commissioner, although he has no seat in Congress. In 1902 comprehensive codes of law and of legal procedure for the island were prepared by a commission representing native Porto Ricans and Americans. By these the Spanish law and procedure are partly supplemented and partly superseded by the American system of jurisprudence. Public order throughout the island is maintained by an insular police force of 670 men. The capital is San Juan.

. The island of Porto Rico has from the beginning played a secondary part in the history of the West Indies. Overlooked by Columbus on his return from Hispaniola or Haiti in the spring of 1493, its southern shores were coasted by him on his second voyage in the winter of that year, when he gave it the name of San Juan Bautista. In 1508 Juan Ponce de Leon crossed the Mona channel from Hispaniola to investigate the reports of a rich and fruitful land in the island of San Juan. He was hospitably entertained by the native chief Agueynada, whose power seems to have extended over most of the island. Two years later, having secured authority to conquer and govern the island, Ponce de Leon returned thither with a large military force. He followed the northern coast till he discovered the spacious bay on which he established his headquarters, founding a city which he named San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico, whence comes the modern name for the whole island. Juan Ponce devoted himself for ten years, except during his first expedition to Florida, to the pacification of the island and the extirpation of the hostile Caribs from the islands toward the southeast. After his death in 1521, successive Spanish administrators continued to rule the island, which had a peaceful, uneventful history for nearly two hundred years. Under the repartimiento system, by which the Indians were forced to work on the Spanish plantations, the natives gradually decreased in numbers, and the consequent dearth of laborers resulted in the abandonment of many of the outlying estates. The Caribs in turn reëntered the island and occupied largely the eastern portions, so that for many years the Spaniards appear to have been restricted to the districts immediately dependent upon San Juan, Ponce, and one or two other towns. The corsairs and West Indian pirates also visited the island, using various places on the coast for more or less temporary headquarters. In 1595 Drake, after trying to induce the inhabitants to ransom the town with money which they did not possess, sacked San Juan, and three years later it again suffered similarly from the Duke of Cumberland. Heinrich, a Dutch sea captain, undertook to do the same thing in 1615, but was beaten off, losing his life in the assault. About the middle of the eighteenth century negro slaves and colonists

from Spain began to be introduced in considerable numbers, and by 1780 the population had risen to nearly eighty thousand. In 1797 San Juan successfully withstood a three days' attack from the English under Lord Abercrombie. During the first quarter of the eighteenth century the island became a popular resort for large numbers of those who desired to escape from the turmoil and disaster incident to the revolutionary movements in South America. As a result, the population came to have a large preponderance of whites over the black and colored elements. Another consequence was the marked aversion of the populace to strife of any sort. An attempted rising against Spain in 1820 made headway for two or three years, but had no strong popular support. In 1867 another revolt was attempted by those who were engaged in the plots to free Cuba, but this was speedily suppressed. In 1869 Porto Rico was created a province of Spain, with representation in the Spanish Cortes by delegates elected by popular vote under the same suffrage as in Spain. The Governor-General was made the resident representative of the Crown, and in practice all administrative power was in bis hands. In 1873 the Spanish Cortes passed an act for the abolition of slavery in Porto Rico. During the Spanish-American War the fortifications of San Juan were bombarded by a fleet under Admiral Sampson. On July 20, 1898, an expedition under General Miles landed on the island. Ponce surrendered on the 28th, and the American forces met with no effectual resistance until hostilities were terminated by the peace protocol of August 12th. On October 18th the United States flag was raised over San Juan. By the Treaty of Paris, signed December 10, 1898, Porto Rico was ceded to the United States. Following the establishment of a civil government in 1900, elections were held for the choice of a commissioner to Washington and members to the House of Delegates of the Porto Rican Legislature. With the beginning of representative government party lines were sharply drawn, the Republican and Democratic parties in the United States becoming the models for similar organization in the island.

Hill, Cuba and Porto Rico (New York, 1898); Davis, The Cuban and Porto Rican Campaigns (London, 1899); Dinwiddie, Porto Rico, Its Conditions and Possibilities (New York, 1899); Morris, Our Island Empire (Philadelphia, 1899); Hamm, Porto Rico and the West Indies (New York, 1899); Carroll, Report on the Island of Porto Rico (Washington, 1899); Ober, Puerto Rico and Its Resources (New York, 1899); Robinson, The Porto Rico of To-day (New York, 1899); Fiske, History of the Islands of the West Indian Archipelago (New York, 1899); Griffin, List of Books on Porto Rico (Washington, 1901).  PORTO SANTO,. One of the (q.v.).  PORTO TORRES,. A seaport in Sardinia. See.  PORTOVIEJO,. The capital town of the Province of Manabí, Ecuador, 98 miles north of Guayaquil (Map:, A 4). It is an old town with narrow streets. Its chief manufacture is that of straw hats. Portoviejo was first founded in 1534, but was several times