The decline of the indigenous population, followed by an influx of Spanish settlers, primarily from the Canary Islands and Andalusia, and African slaves vastly changed the cultural and demographic landscape of the archipelago.

[21] Eventually traders and other maritime visitors came to refer to the entire island as Puerto Rico, while San Juan became the name used for the main trading/shipping port and the capital city.

Some authorities have called it a euphemism and have charged that the official name in English of "Commonwealth" constitutes a fig leaf, i.e., associated with the covering up of an act that is actually embarrassing or distasteful with something of innocuous appearance.

[57] Puerto Rico remains a territory of the United States, exercising substantial internal self-government, but subordinated to the U.S. Constitution in areas such as foreign affairs or defense.

[61] Located in the northeastern Caribbean, Puerto Rico formed a key part of the Spanish Empire from the early years of the exploration, conquest and colonization of the New World.

Throughout most of the 19th century until the conclusion of the Spanish–American War, Puerto Rico and Cuba were the last two Spanish colonies in the New World; they served as Spain's final outposts in a strategy to regain control of the American continents.

The first years of the 20th century were marked by the struggle to obtain greater democratic rights from the U.S.[citation needed] The Foraker Act of 1900 established a civil government, ending rule by American generals and the Department of War.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Ortega v. Lara, 202 U.S. 339, 342 (1906),[o] involving the Foraker Act and referring to the island as "the acquired country", soon affirmed that the U.S. Constitution applied within its territory and that any domestic Puerto Rican laws which did not conflict with it remained in force.

[citation needed] In 2009, the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization approved a draft resolution calling on the U.S. government to expedite a process that would allow the Puerto Rican people to exercise fully their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.

The failure of the government to move rapidly to provide for the general welfare contributed to political activism by opponents and eventually to the rise of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party.

[139] In 1992, President George H. W. Bush issued a memorandum to heads of executive departments and agencies establishing the current administrative relationship between the federal government and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

In recent years, the U.S. Congress has considered their deactivations, but these have been opposed by diverse public and private entities in Puerto Rico – such as retired military who rely on Ft. Buchanan for the services available there.

[164][p][q] In recent years, it has also become a popular destination for MICE (meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions), with a modern convention center district overlooking the Port of San Juan.

[166] Puerto Rico's geography and political status are both determining factors for its economic prosperity, primarily due to its relatively small size; lack of natural resources and subsequent dependence on imports; and vulnerability to U.S. foreign policy and trading restrictions, particularly concerning its shipping industry.

[167] Academically, most of Puerto Rico's economic woes stem from federal regulations that expired, have been repealed, or no longer apply to Puerto Rico; its inability to become self-sufficient and self-sustainable throughout history;[r] its highly politicized public policy which tends to change whenever a political party gains power;[s] as well as its highly inefficient local government[t][u] which has accrued a public debt equal to 68% of its gross domestic product throughout time.

[177] A tourism campaign was launched by Discover Puerto Rico in 2018 intended to highlight the island's culture and history, branding it distinct, and different from other Caribbean destinations.

They also said that "Congress must enact measures recommended by both Republicans and Democrats that fix Puerto Rico's inequitable health care financing structure and promote sustained economic growth.

Just before that deadline, the control board gave the Commonwealth government until 28 February to present a fiscal plan (including negotiations with creditors for restructuring debt) to solve the problems.

This sparked an ongoing government-debt crisis after Puerto Rico's general obligation bonds were downgraded to speculative non-investment grade ("junk status") by three credit-rating agencies.

[220] The population of Puerto Rico reflects influences from initial Amerindian settlement, European colonization, slavery, economic migration, and the archipelago's status as unincorporated territory of the United States.

Puerto Ricans are characterized by a high degree of ethnic and cultural diversity, as well as a long history of intermarriage and acculturation among different demographics; racial and ethnic identity is subsequently complex and often nebulous, shaped by the broader attitudes and policies of the Spanish colonial period, 20th century American racial politics, and modern trends in cultural and identity in the 21st century United States.

[222] Censuses of Puerto Rico were completed by Spain in 1765, 1775, 1800, 1815, 1832, 1846 and 1857, yet some of the data remained untabulated and were considered reliable in a 1943 report by Irene Barnes Taeuber, an American demographer at the Office of Population Research at Princeton University.

There were also smaller numbers of settlers from outside Spain, including from Corsica, France, Lebanon, Portugal, Ireland, Scotland, Germany and Italy; this immigration from non-Hispanic countries was largely the result of the Real Cédula de Gracias de 1815 (Royal Decree of Graces of 1815), which provided European Catholics with land allotments in the sparsely inhabited interior of the island, provided they paid taxes and continued to support the Catholic Church.

[232] The study reportedly resulted in a resurgence of indigenous and Taino identity among Puerto Ricans; in the 2010 census, 19,839 respondents identified as "American Indian or Alaskan Native", an increase of almost 49 percent from 2000 count.

Starting soon after World War II, poverty, cheap airfares, and promotion by the island government caused waves of Puerto Ricans to move to the U.S. mainland, particularly to the northeastern states and nearby Florida.

Protestantism, which was suppressed under the Spanish Catholic regime, reemerged under U.S. rule, making contemporary Puerto Rico more interconfessional than in previous centuries, although Catholicism continues to be the dominant religion.

With its abundance of shops, historic places, museums, open air cafés, restaurants, gracious homes, tree-shaded plazas, and its old beauty and architectonical peculiarity, Old San Juan is a main spot for local and internal tourism.

Over the past fifty years, significant writers include Ed Vega (Omaha Bigelow), Miguel Piñero (Short Eyes), Piri Thomas (Down These Mean Streets), Giannina Braschi (Yo-Yo Boing!

With respect to opera, the legendary Puerto Rican tenor Antonio Paoli was so celebrated, that he performed private recitals for Pope Pius X and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.

[312] Consequently, practitioners of this style have earned participation in international teams, including Orlando "El Gato" Meléndez, who became the first Puerto Rican born athlete to play for the Harlem Globetrotters.