Pre-Columbian era The
Taíno people were the original inhabitants of the area before the arrival of the
Europeans to the island of
Puerto Rico in 1493. Remains of a small indigenous fishing village have been found in
Puerta de Tierra where the
Puerto Rico National Guard Museum stands today, however most archaeological sites in the region have been destroyed and lost throughout the colonial history. The area of San Juan used to be the boundary between the tribal regions (yucayeques) of
Guaynabo and
Haimanio, led by the chiefs (
caciques)
Mabo and
Yuisa (also known as Loaíza), respectively, at the time of the arrival of the
Spanish conquistadors.
Founding 's residence at
Caparra|left In 1508,
Juan Ponce de León founded the original settlement which he called
Caparra. It was named after a
former Roman city in the province of
Cáceres in Spain, the birthplace of
Nicolás de Ovando, then the Governor of Spain's Caribbean territories. Today, it is part of the
Pueblo Viejo district of
Guaynabo, directly to the west of the modern municipality of San Juan. A year later, the settlement was moved to a site then called
Puerto Rico, Spanish for "rich port" or "good port". The
local Catholic diocese, the second oldest in the Americas and the oldest in the United States, was founded in the newly built settlement on August 8 of 1511. In 1521, the newer settlement was given its formal name:
Ciudad de Puerto Rico de San Juan Bautista. Many of the oldest European-founded institutions in the Western Hemisphere, such as the
Santo Tomás de Aquino Convent and the Nuestra Señora de la Concepción Hospital, were established during this time in San Juan. The ambiguous use of
San Juan Bautista and
Puerto Rico for both the city and the island in time led to a reversal in practical use by most inhabitants: by 1746 the name for the city (Puerto Rico) had become that of the entire island, leading to the city being identified as
Puerto Rico de Puerto Rico on maps of the era.
Spanish Colonial era San Juan, as a settlement of the
Spanish Empire, was used by merchant and military ships traveling from Spain as the first stopover in the
Americas. Because of its prominence in the Caribbean, a network of fortifications was built to protect the transports of gold and silver from the
New World to Europe. Because of the rich cargoes, San Juan became a target of the foreign powers of the time. San Juan underwent attacks from the English led by
Sir Francis Drake in 1595 (in what is known as the
Battle of San Juan) and by
George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, in 1598. Artillery from San Juan's fort,
El Morro, repelled Drake; however, Clifford managed to land troops and lay siege to the city. After a few months of English occupation, Clifford was forced to abandon the siege when his troops began to suffer from exhaustion and sickness. In 1625 the city was sacked by Dutch forces led by Captain
Balduino Enrico (also known as Boudewijn Hendricksz/Bowdoin Henrick), but El Morro withstood the assault and was not taken. The Dutch were counterattacked by Captain
Juan de Amézqueta and 50 members of the civilian militia on land and by the cannons of the Spanish troops in El Morro castle. The land battle left 60 Dutch soldiers dead and Enrico with a sword wound to his neck which he received from the hands of Amézqueta. The Dutch ships at sea were boarded by Puerto Ricans who defeated those aboard. After a long battle, the Spanish soldiers and volunteers of the city's militia were able to defend the city from the attack and save the island from an invasion. On October 21, Enrico set
La Fortaleza and the city ablaze. Captains Amézqueta and Andrés Botello decided to put a stop to the destruction and led 200 men in an attack against the enemy's front and rear guard. They drove Enrico and his men from their trenches and into the ocean in their haste to reach their ships. The British
attack in 1797, during the
French Revolutionary Wars, led by
Sir Ralph Abercromby (who had just conquered
Trinidad). His army laid siege to the city but was forced to withdraw in defeat as the Puerto Rican defenses proved more resilient than those of Trinidad. Various events and circumstances, including liberalized commerce with Spain, the opening of the island to immigrants as a direct result of the
Royal Decree of Graces of 1815, and the colonial revolutions, led to an expansion of San Juan and other Puerto Rican settlements in the late 18th and early 19th century.
Spanish-American War in 1898 On May 8, 1898, United States Navy ships, among them , , , , and , commanded by
Rear Admiral William T. Sampson arrived at San Juan Bay. captured the Spanish freighter
Rita in San Juan Bay, thus being the first hostile encounter between the warring sides in Puerto Rico. On May 9,
Yale fought a brief battle with an
auxiliary cruiser of Spain, name unknown, resulting in a Spanish victory. Around this time, Captain
Ángel Rivero Méndez was assigned the command of the Spanish forces in the fortress of
San Cristóbal in San Juan. On May 10,
Yale returned to San Juan Bay, Rivero-Méndez ordered his men to open fire upon
Yale using an Ordoñez 15-centimeter cannon, thus becoming the first attack against the Americans in Puerto Rico during the
Spanish–American War. The residents of San Juan were furious with Rivero and blamed him for the destruction caused to their city by the American bombardments. Nothing came of those accusations and Capt. Rivero-Méndez was ordered to turn over the keys of all the military installations in San Juan to Captain
Henry A. Reed of the U.S. Army after the
Treaty of Paris of 1898 was signed. Spain ceded the island to the United States later the same year by signing the
Treaty of Paris.
20th century , San Juan, ca. 1900|left
Camp Las Casas, located in the district of
Santurce, served as the main training camp for the Puerto Rican soldiers prior to World War I and World War II; the majority of the men trained in this facility were assigned to the "Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry" which was renamed the
65th Infantry Regiment of the United States Army by the Reorganization Act of June 4, 1920. The 65th Infantry was deactivated in 1956 and became the only unit ever to be transferred from an active Army component to the
Puerto Rico National Guard. Lieutenant
Teófilo Marxuach (retired as a Lieutenant Colonel), a native of
Arroyo, Puerto Rico, fired what is considered to be the first shot of World War I fired by the regular armed forces of the United States against any ship flying the colors of the
Central Powers. Marxuach, who was a member of the "Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry" and Officer of the Day, on March 25, 1915, opened fire on the
Odenwald, an armed German supply vessel, when it was trying to force its way out of San Juan's bay. The shots ordered by Lt. Marxuach were the first fired by the United States in World War I. In 1919,
Félix Rigau Carrera, "El Aguila de Sabana Grande" (The Eagle from
Sabana Grande), the first Puerto Rican pilot, became the first native Puerto Rican to fly an aircraft in the island when he flew his
Curtiss JN-4 from Las Casas. At the time, the area was used by the military as an air base and it was also Puerto Rico's first commercial airport, and Rigau Carrera was allowed to perform his historic flight from the airfield. Camp Las Casas was eventually closed down, and in 1950 a public housing project by the name of
Residencial Fray Bartolome de Las Casas was constructed on its former location. On January 2, 1947, the people of San Juan elected
Felisa Rincón de Gautier (also known as Doña Fela) (1897–1994) as their mayor. Thus, she became the first woman to be elected as the mayor of a capital city in any of the Americas. During the
Cold War era, she ordered the establishment of the island's first Civil Defense system under the directorship of Colonel
Gilberto José Marxuach (Teófilo's son). Rincón de Gautier served as mayor until January 2, 1969. On October 30, 1950, San Juan was the scene of the
San Juan Uprising, one of many uprisings which occurred in various towns and cities in Puerto Rico, by the
Puerto Rican Nationalist Party against the governments of Puerto Rico and the United States. Among the uprising's main objective was to attack La Fortaleza and the
United States Federal Court House Building in
Old San Juan. The "La Fortaleza battle", which ensued between the nationalists and the police lasted 15 minutes and ended when four of the five attackers were killed.
21st century San Juan has experienced periods of both stagnation and development in the recent years.
Gentrification has been noticeable in areas of the city such as
Loíza Street in
Santurce and
Santa Rita in Río Piedras. In recent years the city has been the location of multiple strikes and protests, such as the
2001 protests against the
United States Navy in the island municipality of
Vieques, the
2010 and 2011 University of Puerto Rico strikes, and the
2019 protests against Governor
Ricardo Rosselló which resulted in his resignation. On September 20, 2017,
Hurricane Maria made a direct impact in Puerto Rico, causing widespread damage and a collapse of the infrastructure in San Juan and the rest of Puerto Rico. The damage caused in 2017 was extensive, affecting the electricity, potable water supplies, transportation, and communication, but significant progress had been made in the capital by April 2019, and particularly by October 2019. This was significant for tourism, which had rebounded by October of that year and was close to the pre-Maria era. San Juan today remains an important cultural, financial and industrial center not only of Puerto Rico but of the Caribbean region. As the biggest industrial center of Puerto Rico, it is the home of industries such as tobacco processors, breweries, refining facilities for petroleum and sugar, and distillers of rum as well as manufacturers of metal products, cement, pharmaceuticals, and clothing. The
Puerto Rico Convention Center, opened in 2005, is the largest of its kind in the Caribbean and one of the most advanced in the Americas. == Geography ==