The History of Puerto Rico by R.A. Van Middeldyk

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The Expansion of the Republic Series.

THE HISTORY OF PUERTO RICO

FROM THE SPANISH DISCOVERY TO THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION

BY R.A. VAN MIDDELDYK

EDITED BY MARTIN G. BRUMBAUGH, PH.D., LL.D. PROFESSOR OF PEDAGOGY,
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA AND FIRST COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION FOR
PUERTO RICO

COPYRIGHT, 1903

[Illustration: Columbus statue, San Juan.]

EDITOR'S PREFACE

The latest permanent possession of the United States is also the
oldest in point of European occupation. The island of Puerto Rico was
discovered by Columbus in 1493. It was occupied by the United States
Army at Guanica July 25, 1898. Spain formally evacuated the island
October 18, 1898, and military government was established until
Congress made provision for its control. By act of Congress, approved
April 12, 1900, the military control terminated and civil government
was formally instituted May 1,1900.

Puerto Rico has an interesting history. Its four centuries under
Spanish control is a record of unusual and remarkable events. This
record is unknown to the American people. It has never been written
satisfactorily in the Spanish language, and not at all in the English
language. The author of this volume is the first to give to the reader
of English a record of Spanish rule in this "pearl of the Antilles."
Mr. Van Middeldyk is the librarian of the Free Public Library of San
Juan, an institution created under American civil control. He has had
access to all data obtainable in the island, and has faithfully and
conscientiously woven this data into a connected narrative, thus
giving the reader a view of the social and institutional life of the
island for four hundred years.

The author has endeavored to portray salient characteristics of the
life on the island, to describe the various acts of the reigning
government, to point out the evils of colonial rule, and to figure the
general historical and geographical conditions in a manner that
enables the reader to form a fairly accurate judgment of the past and
present state of Puerto Rico.

No attempt has been made to speculate upon the setting of this record
in the larger record of Spanish life. That is a work for the future.
But enough history of Spain and in general of continental Europe is
given to render intelligible the various and varied governmental
activities exercised by Spain in the island. There is, no doubt, much
omitted that future research may reveal, and yet it is just to state
that the record is fairly continuous, and that no salient factors in
the island's history have been overlooked.

The people of Puerto Rico were loyal and submissive to their parent
government. No record of revolts and excessive rioting is recorded.
The island has been continuously profitable to Spain. With even
ordinarily fair administration of government the people have been
self-supporting, and in many cases have rendered substantial aid to
other Spanish possessions. Her native life--the Boriquen
Indians--rapidly became extinct, due to the "gold fever" and the
intermarriage of races. The peon class has always been a faithful
laboring class in the coffee, sugar, and tobacco estates, and the
slave element was never large. A few landowners and the professional
classes dominate the island's life. There is no middle class. There is
an utter absence of the legitimate fruits of democratic institutions.
The poor are in every way objects of pity and of sympathy. They are
the hope of the island. By education, widely diffused, a great unrest
will ensue, and from this unrest will come the social, moral, and
civic uplift of the people.

These people do not suffer from the lack of civilization. They suffer
from the kind of civilization they have endured. The life of the
people is static. Her institutions and customs are so set upon them
that one is most impressed with the absence of legitimate activities.
The people are stoically content. Such, at least, was the condition in
1898. Under the military government of the United States much was done
to prepare the way for future advance. Its weakness was due to its
effectiveness. It did for the people what they should learn to do for
themselves. The island needed a radically new governmental
activity--an activity that would develop each citizen into a
self-respecting and self-directing force in the island's uplift. This
has been supplied by the institution of civil government. The outlook
of the people is now infinitely better than ever before. The progress
now being made is permanent. It is an advance made by the people for
themselves. Civil government is the fundamental need of the island.

Under civil government the entire reorganization of the life of the
people is being rapidly effected. The agricultural status of the
island was never so hopeful. The commercial activity is greatly
increased. The educational awakening is universal and healthy.
Notwithstanding the disastrous cyclone of 1898, and the confusion
incident to a radical governmental reorganization, the wealth per
capita has increased, the home life is improved, and the illiteracy of
the people is being rapidly lessened.

President McKinley declared to the writer that it was his desire "to
put the conscience of the American people into the islands of the
sea." This has been done. The result is apparent. Under wise and
conservative guidance by the American executive officers, the people
of Puerto Rico have turned to this Republic with a patriotism, a zeal,
an enthusiasm that is, perhaps, without a parallel.

In 1898, under President McKinley as commander-in-chief, the army of
the United States forcibly invaded this island. This occupation, by
the treaty of Paris, became permanent. Congress promptly provided
civil government for the island, and in 1901 this conquered people,
almost one million in number, shared in the keen grief that attended
universally the untimely death of their conqueror. The island on the
occasion of the martyr's death was plunged in profound sorrow, and at
a hundred memorial services President McKinley was mourned by
thousands, and he was tenderly characterized as "the founder of human
liberty in Puerto Rico."

The judgment of the American people relative to this island is based
upon meager data. The legal processes attending its entrance into the
Union have been the occasion of much comment. This comment has
invariably lent itself to a discussion of the effect of judicial
decision upon our home institutions. It has been largely a speculative
concern. In some cases it has become a political concern in the
narrowest partizan sense. The effect of all this upon the people of
Puerto Rico has not been considered. Their rights and their needs have
not come to us. We have not taken President McKinley's broad, humane,
and exalted view of our obligation to these people. They have
implicitly entrusted their life, liberty, and property to our
guardianship. The great Republic has a debt of honor to the island
which indifference and ignorance of its needs can never pay. It is
hoped that this record of their struggles during four centuries will
be a welcome source of insight and guidance to the people of the
United States in their efforts to see their duty and do it.

M. G. BRUMBAUGH. PHILADELPHIA, _January 1, 1903_.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

Some years ago, Mr. Manuel Elzaburu, President of the San Juan
Provincial Atheneum, in a public speech, gave it as his opinion that
the modern historian of Puerto Rico had yet to appear. This was said,
not in disparagement of the island's only existing history, but rather
as a confirmation of the general opinion that the book which does duty
as such is incorrect and incomplete.

This book is Friar Inigo Abbad's Historia de la Isla San Juan
Bautista, which was written in 1782 by disposition of the Count of
Floridablanca, the Minister of Colonies of Charles III, and published
in Madrid in 1788. In 1830 it was reproduced in San Juan without any
change in the text, and in 1866 Mr. Jose Julian Acosta published a new
edition with copious notes, comments, and additions, which added much
data relative to the Benedictine monks, corrected numerous errors, and
supplemented the chapters, some of which, in the original, are
exceedingly short, the whole history terminating abruptly with the
nineteenth chapter, that is, with the beginning of the eighteenth
century. The remaining 21 chapters are merely descriptive of the
country and people.

Besides this work there are others by Puerto Rican authors, each one
elucidating one or more phases of the island's history. With these
separate and diverse materials, supplemented by others of my own, I
have constructed the present history.

The transcendental change in the island's social and political
conditions, inaugurated four years ago, made the writing of an English
history of Puerto Rico necessary. The American officials who are
called upon to guide the destinies and watch over the moral, material,
and intellectual progress of the inhabitants of this new accession to
the great Republic will be able to do so all the better when they have
a knowledge of the people's historical antecedents.

I have endeavored to supply this need to the best of my ability, and
herewith offer to the public the results of an arduous, though
self-imposed task.

R.A.V.M.

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, _November 3, 1902._

CONTENTS

PART I

HISTORICAL

CHAPTER

I.--THE DEPARTURE. 1493

II.--THE DISCOVERY. 1493

III.--PONCE AND CERON. 1500-1511

IV.--FIRST DISTRIBUTION OF INDIANS. "REPARTIMIENTOS" 1510

V.--THE REBELLION. 1511

VI.--THE REBELLION (_continued_.) 1511

VII.--NUMBER OF ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS AND SECOND
DISTRIBUTION OF INDIANS. 1511-1515

VIII.--LAWS AND ORDINANCES. 1511-1515

IX.--THE RETURN OF CERON AND DIAZ. PONCE'S FIRST
EXPEDITION TO FLORIDA. 1511-1515

X.--DISSENSIONS. TRANSFER OF THE CAPITAL. 1515-1520

XI.--CALAMITIES. PONCE'S SECOND EXPEDITION TO FLORIDA
AND DEATH. 1520-1537

XII.--INCURSIONS OF FUGITIVE BORIQUEN INDIANS AND CARIBS. 1520-1582

XIII.--DEPOPULATION OF THE ISLAND. PREVENTIVE MEASURES.
INTRODUCTION OF NEGRO SLAVES. 1515-1534

XIV.--ATTACKS BY FRENCH PRIVATEERS. CAUSE OF THE WAR WITH
FRANCE. CHARLES V. RUIN OF THE ISLAND. 1520-1556

XV.--SEDESO. CHANGES IN THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 1534-1555

XVI.--DEFENSELESS CONDITION OF THE ISLAND. CONSTRUCTION
OF FORTIFICATIONS AND CIRCUMVALLATION
OF SAN JUAN. 1555-1641
XVII.--DRAKE'S ATTACK ON SAN JUAN. 1595

XVIII.--OCCUPATION AND EVACUATION OF SAN JUAN BY
LORD GEORGE CUMBERLAND. CONDITION OF
THE ISLAND AT THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

XIX.--ATTACK ON SAN JUAN BY THE HOLLANDERS UNDER BOWDOIN. 1625

XX.--DECLINE OF SPAIN'S POWER. BUCCANEERS AND
FILIBUSTERS. 1625-1780

XXI.--BRITISH ATTACKS ON PUERTO RICO. SIEGE OF SAN
JUAN BY SIR RALPH ABERCROMBIE. 1678-1797

XXII.--BRITISH ATTACKS ON PUERTO RICO (_continued_).
INVASIONS BY COLOMBIAN INSURGENTS. 1797-1829

XXIII.--REVIEW OF THE SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN PUERTO RICO AND THE
POLITICAL EVENTS IN SPAIN FROM 1765 TO 1820

XXIV.--GENERAL CONDITION OF THE ISLAND FROM 1815 TO 1833

XXV.--POLITICAL EVENTS IN SPAIN AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON AFFAIRS
IN PUERTO RICO. 1833-1874

XXVI.--GENERAL CONDITIONS OF THE ISLAND, THE DAWN OF FREEDOM.
1874-1898

PART II

THE PEOPLE AND THEIR INSTITUTIONS

XXVII.--SITUATION AND GENERAL APPEARANCE OF PUERTO RICO

XXVIII.--ORIGIN, CHARACTER, AND CUSTOMS OF THE PRIMITIVE
INHABITANTS OF BORIQUEN

XXIX.--THE "JIBARO" OR PUERTO RICAN PEASANT

XXX.--ORIGIN AND CHARACTER OF THE MODERN INHABITANTS OF PUERTO
RICO

XXXI.--NEGRO SLAVERY IN PUERTO RICO

XXII.--INCREASE OF POPULATION

XXIII.--AGRICULTURE IN PUERTO RICO

XXXIV.--COMMERCE AND FINANCES

XXXV.--EDUCATION IN PUERTO RICO

XXXVI.--LIBRARIES AND THE PRESS

XXXVII.--THE REGULAR AND SECULAR CLERGY

XXXVIII.--THE INQUISITION. 1520-1813

XXXIX.--GROWTH OF CITIES

XL.--AURIFEROUS STREAMS AND GOLD PRODUCED FROM 1609 TO 1536

XLI.--WEST INDIAN HURRICANES IN PUERTO RICO FROM 1515 TO 1899

XLII.--THE CARIBS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Columbus statue, San Juan

Ruins of Caparra

Columbus monument, near Aguadilla

Statue of Ponce de Leon, San Juan

Inner harbor, San Juan

Fort San Geronimo, at Santurce, near San Juan

Only remaining gate of the city-wall, San Juan

A tienda, or small shop

Planter's house, ceiba tree, and royal palms

San Francisco Church, San Juan; the oldest church in the city

Plaza Alphonso XII and Intendencia Building, San Juan

Casa Blanca and the sea wall, San Juan

PART I HISTORICAL

CHAPTER I THE DEPARTURE

1493

Eight centuries of a gigantic struggle for supremacy between the
Crescent and the Cross had devastated the fairest provinces of the
Spanish Peninsula. Boabdil, the last of the Moorish kings, had
delivered the keys of Granada into the hands of Queen Isabel, the
proud banner of the united kingdoms of Castile and Aragon floated
triumphant from the walls of the Alhambra, and Providence, as if to
recompense Iberian knighthood for turning back the tide of Moslem
conquest, which threatened to overrun the whole of meridional Europe,
had laid a new world, with all its inestimable treasures and millions
of benighted inhabitants, at the feet of the Catholic princes.

Columbus had just returned from his first voyage. He had been scorned
as an adventurer by the courtiers of Lisbon, mocked as a visionary by
the learned priests of the Council in Salamanca, who, with texts from
the Scriptures and quotations from the saints, had tried to convince
him that the world was flat; he had been pointed at by the rabble in
the streets as a madman who maintained that there was a land where the
people walked with their heads down; and, after months of trial, he
had been able to equip his three small craft and collect a crew of
ninety men only by the aid of a royal schedule offering exemption from
punishment for offenses against the laws to all who should join the
expedition.

At last he had sailed amid the murmurs of an incredulous crowd, who
thought him and his companions doomed to certain destruction, and now
he had returned[1] bringing with him the living proofs of what he had
declared to exist beyond that mysterious ocean, and showed to the
astounded people samples of the unknown plants and animals, and of
_the gold_ which he had said would be found there in fabulous
quantities.

It was the proudest moment of the daring navigator's life when, clad
in his purple robe of office, bedecked with the insignia of his rank,
he entered the throne-room of the palace in Barcelona and received
permission to be seated in the royal presence to relate his
experiences. Around the hall stood the grandees of Spain and the
magnates of the Church, as obsequious and attentive to him now as they
had been proud and disdainful when, a hungry wanderer, he had knocked
at the gates of La Rabida to beg bread for his son. It was the acme of
the discoverer's destiny, the realization of his dream of glory, the
well-earned recompense of years of persevering endeavor.

The news of the discovery created universal enthusiasm. When it was
announced that a second expedition was being organized there was no
need of a royal schedule of remission of punishment to criminals to
obtain crews. The Admiral's residence was besieged all day long by the
hidalgos[2] who were anxious to share with him the expected glories
and riches. The cessation of hostilities in Granada had left thousands
of knights, whose only patrimony was their sword, without
occupation--men with iron muscles, inured to hardship and danger,
eager for adventure and conquest.

Then there were the monks and priests, whose religious zeal was
stimulated by the prospect of converting to Christianity the benighted
inhabitants of unknown realms; there were ruined traders, who hoped to
mend their fortunes with the gold to be had, as they thought, for
picking it up; finally, there were the proteges of royalty and of
influential persons at court, who aspired to lucrative places in the
new territories; in short, the Admiral counted among the fifteen
hundred companions of his second expedition individuals of the bluest
blood in Spain.

As for the mariners, men-at-arms, mechanics, attendants, and servants,
they were mostly greedy, vicious, ungovernable, and turbulent
adventurers.[3]

The confiscated property of the Jews, supplemented by a loan and some
extra duties on articles of consumption, provided the funds for the
expedition; a sufficient quantity of provisions was embarked; twenty
Granadian lancers with their spirited Andalusian horses were
accommodated; cuirasses, swords, pikes, crossbows, muskets, powder and
balls were ominously abundant; seed-corn, rice, sugar-cane,
vegetables, etc., were not forgotten; cattle, sheep, goats, swine, and
fowls for stocking the new provinces, provided for future needs; and a
breed of mastiff dogs, originally intended, perhaps, as watch-dogs
only, but which became in a short time the dreaded destroyers of
natives. Finally, Pope Alexander VI, of infamous memory, drew a line
across the map of the world, from pole to pole,[4] and assigned all
the undiscovered lands west of it to Spain, and those east of it to
Portugal, thus arbitrarily dividing the globe between the two powers.

At daybreak, September 25, 1493, seventeen ships, three caracas of one
hundred tons each, two naos, and twelve caravels, sailed from Cadiz
amid the ringing of bells and the enthusiastic Godspeeds of thousands
of spectators. The son of a Genoese wool-carder stood there, the equal
in rank of the noblest hidalgo in Spain, Admiral of the Indian Seas,
Viceroy of all the islands and continents to be discovered, and
one-tenth of all the gold and treasures they contained would be his!

Alas for the evanescence of worldly greatness! All this glory was soon
to be eclipsed. Eight years after that day of triumph he again landed
on the shore of Spain a pale and emaciated prisoner in chains.

It may easily be conceived that the voyage for these fifteen hundred
men, most of whom were unaccustomed to the sea, was not a pleasure
trip.

Fortunately they had fine weather and fair wind till October 26th,
when they experienced their first tropical rain and thunder-storm, and
the Admiral ordered litanies. On November 2d he signaled to the fleet
to shorten sail, and on the morning of the 3d fifteen hundred pairs of
wondering eyes beheld the mountains of an island mysteriously hidden
till then in the bosom of the Atlantic Ocean.

Among the spectators were Bernal Diaz de Pisa, accountant of the
fleet, the first conspirator in America; thirteen Benedictine friars,
with Boil at their head, who, with Moren Pedro de Margarit, the
strategist, respectively represented the religious and military
powers; there was Roldan, another insubordinate, the first alcalde of
the Espanola; there were Alonzo de Ojeda and Guevara, true
knights-errant, who were soon to distinguish themselves: the first by
the capture of the chief Caonabo, the second by his romantic
love-affair with Higuemota, the daughter of the chiefess Anacaona.
There was Adrian Mojica, destined shortly to be hanged on the ramparts
of Fort Concepcion by order of the Viceroy. There was Juan de
Esquivel, the future conqueror of Jamaica; Sebastian Olano, receiver
of the royal share of the gold and other riches that no one doubted to
find; Father Marchena, the Admiral's first protector, friend, and
counselor; the two knight commanders of military orders Gallego and
Arroyo; the fleet's physician, Chanca; the queen's three servants,
Navarro, Pena-soto, and Girau; the pilot, Antonio de Torres, who was
to return to Spain with the Admiral's ship and first despatches.
There was Juan de la Cosa, cartographer, who traced the first map of
the Antilles; there were the father and uncle of Bartolome de las
Casas, the apostle of the Indies; Diego de Penalosa, the first notary
public; Fermin Jedo, the metallurgist, and Villacorta, the mechanical
engineer. Luis de Ariega, afterward famous as the defender of the fort
at Magdalena; Diego Velasquez, the future conqueror of Cuba; Vega,
Abarca, Gil Garcia, Marguez, Maldonado, Beltran and many other doughty
warriors, whose names had been the terror of the Moors during the war
in Granada. Finally, there were Diego Columbus, the Admiral's brother;
and among the men-at-arms, one, destined to play the principal role in
the conquest of Puerto Rico. His name was Juan Ponce, a native of
Santervas or Sanservas de Campos in the kingdom of Leon. He had served
fifteen years in the war with the Moors as page or shield-bearer to
Pedro Nunez de Guzman, knight commander of the order of Calatrava, and
he had joined Columbus like the rest--to seek his fortune in the
western hemisphere.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: March 15, 1493.]

[Footnote 2: Literally, "_hijos d'algo_," sons of something or
somebody.]

[Footnote 3: La Fuente. Hista. general de Espana.]

[Footnote 4: Along the 30th parallel of longitude W. of Greenwich.]

CHAPTER II

THE DISCOVERY

1493

THE first island discovered on this voyage lies between 14 deg. and 15 deg.
north latitude, near the middle of a chain of islands of different
sizes, intermingled with rocks and reefs, which stretches from
Trinidad, near the coast of Venezuela, in a north-by-westerly
direction to Puerto Rico. They are divided in two groups, the Windward
Islands forming the southern, the Leeward Islands the northern portion
of the chain.

The Admiral shaped his course in the direction in which the islands,
one after the other, loomed up, merely touching at some for the
purpose of obtaining what information he could, which was meager
enough.

For an account of the expedition's experiences on that memorable
voyage, we have the fleet physician Chanca's circumstantial
description addressed to the Municipal Corporation of Seville, sent
home by the same pilot who conveyed the Admiral's first despatches to
the king and queen.

After describing the weather experienced up to the time the fleet
arrived at the island "de Hierro," he tells their worships that for
nineteen or twenty days they had the best weather ever experienced on
such a long voyage, excepting on the eve of San Simon, when they had a
storm which for four hours caused them great anxiety.

At daybreak on Sunday, November 3d, the pilot of the flagship
announced land. "It was marvelous," says Chanca, "to see and hear the
people's manifestations of joy; and with reason, for they were very
weary of the hardships they had undergone, and longed to be on land
again."

The first island they saw was high and mountainous. As the day
advanced they saw another more level, and then others appeared, till
they counted six, some of good size, and all covered with forest to
the water's edge.

Sailing along the shore of the first discovered island for the
distance of a league, and finding no suitable anchoring ground, they
proceeded to the next island, which was four or five leagues distant,
and here the Admiral landed, bearing the royal standard, and took
formal possession of this and all adjacent lands in the name of their
Highnesses. He named the first island Dominica, because it was
discovered on a Sunday, and to the second island he gave the name of
his ship, Marie-Galante.

"In this island," says Chanca, "it was wonderful to see the dense
forest and the great variety of unknown trees, some in bloom, others
with fruit, everything looking so green. We found a tree the leaves
whereof resembled laurel leaves, but not so large, and they exhaled
the finest odor of cloves.[5]

"There were fruits of many kinds, some of which the men imprudently
tasted, with the result that their faces swelled, and that they
suffered such violent pain in throat and mouth[6] that they behaved
like madmen, the application of cold substances giving them some
relief." No signs of inhabitants were discovered, so they remained
ashore two hours only and left next morning early (November 4th) in
the direction of another island seven or eight leagues northward. They
anchored off the southernmost coast of it, now known as Basse Terre,
and admired a mountain in the distance, which seemed to reach into the
sky (the volcano "la Souffriere"), and the beautiful waterfall on its
flank. The Admiral sent a small caravel close inshore to look for a
port, which was soon found. Perceiving some huts, the captain landed,
but the people who occupied them escaped into the forest as soon as
they saw the strangers. On entering the huts they found two large
parrots (guacamayos) entirely different from those seen until then by
the Spaniards, much cotton, spun and ready for spinning, and other
articles, bringing away a little of each, "especially," says the
doctor, "four or five bones of human arms and legs."

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