African Immigration To Puerto Rico
The history of African people in Puerto Rico begins with the immigration of African free men who accompanied the invading Spanish Conquistadors. The Spaniards enslaved the Taínos (the native inhabitants of the island), and many of them died as a result of Spaniards' oppressive colonization efforts. This presented a problem for Spain's royal government, which relied on slavery to staff their mining and fort-building operations. Spain's 'solution': import enslaved west-Africans. As a result, the majority of the African peoples who immigrated to Puerto Rico did so as a result of the slave trade from many different societies of the African continent.
When the gold mines in Puerto Rico were declared depleted, the Spanish Crown no longer held Puerto Rico as a high colonial priority, and the island became a garrison for naval vessels. Africans from British and French possessions in the Caribbean were encouraged to emigrate to Puerto Rico, thereby providing a population base to support the Puerto Rican garrison. The Spanish decree of 1789 allowed the slaves to earn or buy their freedom, however this did little to help their situation. Throughout the years there were many slave revolts in the island. Slaves, who were promised their freedom, joined the short lived uprising against Spanish colonial rule in what is known as the "Grito de Lares". On March 22, 1873, slavery was abolished in Puerto Rico. Their contributions to music, art, language, and heritage have become instrumental to Puerto Rican culture.
Read more about African Immigration To Puerto Rico: First Africans in Puerto Rico, Royal Decree of Graces of 1789, Spanish-American War, Discrimination, African Influence in Puerto Rican Culture, Current Demographics, Notable Puerto Ricans of African Ancestry
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—Frances Beale, African American feminist and civil rights activist. The Black Woman, ch. 14 (1970)
“I was interested to see how a pioneer lived on this side of the country. His life is in some respects more adventurous than that of his brother in the West; for he contends with winter as well as the wilderness, and there is a greater interval of time at least between him and the army which is to follow. Here immigration is a tide which may ebb when it has swept away the pines; there it is not a tide, but an inundation, and roads and other improvements come steadily rushing after.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)