Growth Of Cities
The proceedings in the formation of a Spanish settlement in the
sixteenth century were the same everywhere. For the choice of a site
the presence of gold was a condition sine qua non, without gold, no
matter how beautiful or fertile the region, no settlement was made.
When a favorable locality was found the first thing done was to
construct a fort, because the natives, friendly disposed at first,
were not
long in becoming the deadly enemies of the handful of
strangers who constituted themselves their masters. The next requisite
was a church or chapel in which to invoke the divine blessing on the
enterprise, or maybe to appease the divine wrath at the iniquities
committed. Last, but certainly not least in importance, came the
smelting-house, where the King of Spain's share of the gold was
separated.
Around these the settlers grouped their houses or huts as they
pleased.
The first settlement on this island was made in 1508, on the north
coast, at the distance of more than a league from the present port of
San Juan, the space between being swampy. Ponce called it Caparra.
When the promising result of Ponce's first visit to the island was
communicated to King Ferdinand by Ovando, the Governor of la Espanola,
his Highness replied in a letter dated Valladolid, September 15, 1509:
"I note the good services rendered by Ponce and that he has not gone
to settle the island for want of means. Now that they are being sent
from here in abundance, let him go at once with as many men as he
can." To Ponce himself the king wrote: "I have seen your letter of
August 16th. Be very diligent in the search for gold-mines. Take out
as much as possible, smelt it in la Espanola and remit it instantly.
Settle the island as best you can. Write often and let me know what is
needed and what passes."
Armed with these instructions, and with his appointment as governor
ad interim, Ponce returned to San Juan in February, 1510, with his
wife and two daughters, settled in Caparra, where, before his
departure in 1509, he had built a house of stamped earth (tapia), and
where some of the companions of his first expedition had resided ever
since. Ponce's house, afterward built of stone, served as a fort. A
church or chapel existed already, and we know that there was a
smelting-house, because we read that the first gold-smelting took
place in Caparra in October, 1510, and that the king's one-fifth came
to 2,645 pesos.
With the reinstatement of Ceron and Diaz, complaints about the
distance of the settlement from the port, and its unhealthy location,
soon reached the king's ears, accompanied by requests for permission
to transfer it to an islet near the shore. No action was taken. In
November, 1511, the monarch wrote to Ceron: "Ponce says that he
founded the town of Caparra in the most favorable locality of the
island. I fear that you want to change it. You shall not do so without
our special approval. If there is just reason for moving you must
first inform me."
Caparra remained for the time the only settlement, and was honored
with the name of "City of Puerto Rico." A municipal council was
installed, and the king granted the island a coat of arms which
differed slightly from that used by the authorities till lately.
The next settlement was made on the south shore, at a place named
Guanica, "where there is a bay," says Oviedo, "which is one of the
best in the world, but the mosquitoes were so numerous that they alone
were sufficient to depopulate it." The Spaniards then moved to
Aguada, on the northwestern shore, and founded a settlement to which
they gave the name of their leader Soto Mayor.
This was a young man of aristocratic birth, ex-secretary of King
Philip, surnamed "the Handsome." He had come to the Indies with a
license authorizing him to traffic in captive Indians, and Ponce,
wishing, no doubt, to enlist the young hidalgo's family influence at
the court in his favor, made him high constable (alguacil mayor) of
the southern division (June, 1510).
The new settlement's existence was short. It was destroyed by the
Indians in the insurrection of February of the following year, when
Christopher Soto Mayor and 80 more of his countrymen, who had
imprudently settled in isolated localities in the interior, fell
victims of the rage of the natives.
Diego Columbus proposed the reconstruction of the destroyed
settlement, with the appellation of San German. The king approved, and
near the end of the year 1512, Miguel del Torro, one of Ponce's
companions, was delegated to choose a site. He fixed upon the bay of
Guayanilla, eastward of Guanica, and San German became the port of
call for the Spanish ships bound to Paria. Its proximity to the "pearl
coast," as the north shore of Venezuela was named, made it the point
of departure for all who wished to reach that coast or escape from the
shores of poverty-stricken Puerto Rico - namely, the dreamers of the
riches of Peru, those who, like Sedeno, aspired to new conquests on
the mainland, or crown officers who had good reasons for wishing to
avoid giving an account of their administration of the royal revenues.
The comparative prosperity which it enjoyed made San German the object
of repeated attacks by the French privateers. It was burned and
plundered several times during the forty-three years of its existence,
till one day in September, 1554, three French ships of the line
entered the port and landed a detachment of troops who plundered and
destroyed everything to a distance of a league and a half into the
interior. From that day San German, founded by Miguel del Torro,
ceased to exist.
The town with the same name, existing at present on the southwest
coast, was founded in 1570 by Governor Francisco Solis with the
remains of the ill-fated settlement on the bay of Guayanilla. The
Dominican friars had a large estate in this neighborhood, and the new
settlement enhanced its value. Both the governor and the bishop were
natives of Salamanca, and named the place New Salamanca, but the name
of New San German has prevailed. In 1626 the new town had 50 citizens
(vecinos).
San Juan. - Licentiate Velasquez, one of the king's officers at
Caparra, wrote to his Highness in April, 1515: " ... The people of
this town wish to move to an islet in the port. I went to see it with
the town council and it looks well"; and some time later: " ... We
will send a description of the islet to which it is convenient to
remove the town of Puerto Rico."
Ponce opposed the change. His reasons were that the locality of
Caparra was dry and level, with abundance of wood, water, and pasture,
and that most of the inhabitants, occupied as they were with
gold-washing, had to provide themselves with provisions from the
neighboring granges. He recognized that the islet was healthier, but
maintained that the change would benefit only the traders.
The dispute continued for some time. Medical certificates were
presented declaring Caparra unhealthy. The leading inhabitants
declared their opinion in favor of the transfer. A petition was signed
and addressed to the Jerome friars, who governed in la Espanola, and
they ordered the transfer in June, 1519. Ponce was permitted to
remain in his stone house in the abandoned town as long as he liked.
In November, 1520, Castro wrote to the emperor expressing his
satisfaction with the change, and asked that a fort and a stone
smelting-house might be constructed, because the one in use was of
straw and had been burned on several occasions. Finally, in 1521, the
translation of the capital of Puerto Rico to its present site was
officially recognized and approved.
There were now two settlements in the island. There were 35 citizens
in each in 1515, but the gold produced attracted others, and in 1529
the Bishop of la Espanola reported that there were 120 houses in San
Juan, "some of stone, the majority of straw. The church was roofed
while I was there." He says, "a Dominican monastery was in course of
construction, nearly finished, with more than 125 friars in it."
During the next five years the gold produce rapidly diminished; the
Indians, who extracted it, escaped or died. Tempests and epidemics
devastated the land. The Caribs and the French freebooters destroyed
what the former spared. All those who could, emigrated to Mexico or
Peru, and such was the depopulated condition of the capital, that
Governor Lando wrote in 1534: "If a ship with 50 men were to come
during the night, they could land and kill all who live here."
With the inhabitants engaged in the cultivation of sugar-cane, some
improvement in their condition took place. Still, there were only 130
citizens in San Juan in 1556, and only 30 in New San German. In 1595,
when Drake appeared before San Juan with a fleet of 26 ships, the
governor could only muster a few peons and 50 horsemen, and but for
the accidental presence of the Spanish frigates, Puerto Rico would
probably be an English possession to-day. It was taken by the Duke
of Cumberland four years later, but abandoned again on account of the
epidemic that broke out among the English troops. When the Hollanders
laid siege to the capital in 1625 there were only 330 men between
citizens and jibaros that could be collected for the defense. In 1646
there were 500 citizens and 400 houses in San Juan, and 200 citizens
in New San German. Arecibo and Coamo had recently been founded.
Scarcely any progress in the settlement of the country was made during
the remaining years of the seventeenth century. Toward the middle of
the eighteenth century great steps in this direction had been made.
From Governor Bravo de Rivera's list of men fit for militia service,
we discover that in 1759 there were 18 new settlements or towns in the
island with a total of 4,559 men able to carry arms; exclusive of San
Juan and San German, they were:
Ponce with 356 men.
Aguada with 564 "
Manati " 357 "
Anasco " 460 "
Yauco " 164 "
Coamo " 342 "
La Tuna " 104 "
Arecibo " 647 "
Utuado " 126 "
Loiza " 179 "
Toa-Alta " 188 "
Toa-Baja " 294 "
Piedras " 104 "
Bayamon " 256 "
Caguas " 100 "
Guayama " 211 "
Rio Piedras with 46 "
Cangrejos with 120 "
The oldest of these settlements is
La Aguada. - The name signifies "place at which water is taken," and
Aguadilla, which is to the north of the former and the head of the
province, is merely the diminutive of Aguada. The first possesses
abundant springs of excellent water, one of them distant only five
minutes from the landing-place. In Aguadilla a famous spring rises in
the middle of the town and runs through it in a permanent stream.
In 1511 the king directed his officers in Seville to make all ships,
leaving that port for the Indies, call at the island of San Juan in
order to make the Caribs believe that the Spanish population was much
larger than it really was, and thus prevent or diminish their attacks.
The excellence of the water which the ships found at Aguada made it
convenient for them to call, and the Spanish ships continued to do so
long after the need of frightening away the Caribs had passed.
The first regular settlement was founded in 1585 by the Franciscan
monks, who named it San Francisco de Asis. The Caribs surprised the
place about the year 1590, destroyed the convent, and martyrized five
of the monks, which caused the temporary abandonment of the
settlement. It was soon repeopled, notwithstanding the repeated
attacks of Caribs and French and English privateers. Drake stopped
there to provide his fleet with water in 1595. Cumberland did the same
four years later. The Columbian insurgents attempted a landing in 1819
and another in 1825, but were beaten off. Their valiant conduct on
these occasions, and their loyalty in contributing a large sum of
money toward the expenses of the war in Africa, earned for their
town, from the Home Government, the title of "unconquerable" (villa
invicta) in 1860.
Aguada, or rather the mouth of the river Culebrinas, which flows into
the sea near it, is the place where Columbus landed in 1493. The
fourth centenary of the event was commemorated in 1893 by the
erection, on a granite pedestal, of a marble column, 11 meters high,
crowned with a Latin cross. On the pedestal is the inscription:
1493
19th of November
1893
Loiza. - Along the borders of the river which bears this name there
settled, about the year 1514, Pedro Mexia, Sancho Arango, Francisco
Quinaos, Pedro Lopez, and some other Spaniards, with their respective
Indian laborers. In one of the raids of the Indians from Vieyques or
Aye-Aye, which were so frequent at the time, a cacique named Cacimar
met his death at the hands of Arango. The fallen chief's brother
Yaureibo, in revenge, prepared a large expedition, and penetrating at
night with several pirogues full of men by way of the river to within
a short distance of the settlement, fell upon it and utterly destroyed
it, killing many and carrying off others. Among the killed were Mexia
and his Indian concubine named Louisa or Heloise. Tradition says that
this woman, having been advised by some Indian friend of the intended
attack, tried to persuade her paramour to flee. When he refused, she
scorned his recommendation to save herself and remained with him to
share his fate.
In the relation of this episode by the chroniclers, figures also the
name of the dog Becerrillo (small calf), a mastiff belonging to
Arango, who had brought the animal from the Espanola, where Columbus
had introduced the breed on his second voyage. In the fight with the
Indians Arango was overpowered and was being carried off alive, when
his dog, at the call of his master, came bounding to the rescue and
made the Indians release him. They sprang into the river for safety,
and the gallant brute following them was shot with a poisoned
arrow.
Arecibo is situated on the river of that name. It was founded by
Felipe de Beaumont in 1616, with the appellation San Felipe de
Arecibo.
Fajardo. - Governor Bravo de Rivero, with a view to found a
settlement on the east coast, detached a number of soldiers from their
regiment and gave to them and some other people a caballeria of
land each, in the district watered by the river Fajardo. Alexander
O'Reilly, the king's commissioner, who visited the settlement in 1765,
found 474 people, and wrote: " ...They have cleared little ground and
cultivated so little that they are still in the very commencements.
The only industry practised by the inhabitants is illicit trade with
the Danish islands of Saint Thomas and Saint Cross. The people of
Fajardo are the commission agents for the people there. What else
could be expected from indolent soldiers and vagabonds without any
means of clearing forests or building houses? If no other measures are
adopted this settlement will remain many years in the same unhappy
condition and be useful only to foreigners." In 1780 there were 243
heads of families in the district; the town proper had 9 houses and a
church.
With regard to the remaining settlements mentioned in Governor Bravo
de Rivero's list, there are no reliable data.
From 1759, the year in which a general distribution of Government
lands was practised and titles were granted, to the year 1774, in
which Governor Miguel Muesas reformed or redistributed some of the
urban districts, many, if not most of the settlements referred to were
formed or received the names they bear at present.