Puerto Rico and the United States
Evolution of the Current Relationship
During the age of European discovery and colonialism, and later in the Revolutionary War period when the American political culture was born, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean islands were geographically, economically, and politically an integral part of the North American experience. Puerto Rico was one of Christopher Columbus’s landfalls, and thus was an important part of the European discovery and exploration of the New World. Spanish-American War and the Treaty of Peace Although the Spanish-American War was decided on Cuban soil, by July 1898 the progress of the war made the time right for the U.S. occupation of Spanish-ruled Puerto…
