THE CULTURE OF PUERTO RICO

BY JOSE LARACUENTE

Puerto RicoChristopher Columbus landed in Puerto Rico in 1493, during his second voyage, naming it San Juan Bautista. The Taínos, the indigenous people, called the island Boriquén Tierra del alto señor ("Land of the Noble Lord"). In 1508, the Spanish granted settlement rights to Juan Ponce de León, who established a settlement at Caparra and became the first governor. In 1519 Caparra had to be relocated to a nearby coastal islet with a healthier environment; it was renamed Puerto Rico ("Rich Port") for its harbor, among the world's best natural bays. The two names were switched over the centuries: the island became Puerto Rico and its capital San Juan. The United States anglicized the name to "Porto Rico" when it occupied the island in 1898 after the Spanish-American War.

Drawings and MusicThe greatest art on the island is at the Museo de Arte de Ponce, Las Americas Avenue, in Puerto Rico's largest city. The collection, donated by former governor Luis A. Ferré, ranges from Jan van Eyck's Salvatore Mundi to Rossetti's confrontational Daugthers of King Lear. The museum building was designed by Edward Durell Stone, who also designed New York's Museum of Modern Art. Works are displayed here in a honeycomb of skylit hexagonal rooms. Puerto Rican artists who are represented include José Campeche (1751-1809) and Francisco Oller (1833-1917)

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