Porto Rico

When Columbus’s ship appeared off Porto Rico in 1493, its people fled in terror. Sixteen years later, a native chief welcomed Ponce de León—and led the Spaniards to streams whose sands glittered with gold.

Writing as the island passes into American hands, A. D. Hall challenges the belief that Cuba is the West Indies’ only prize. He presents Porto Rico as a place of fertile valleys and buried promise, then turns to Borinquen’s people: their chiefs, ceremonies and daily life, and the first encounters that brought them under Spanish rule. The contrast is stark—a generous welcome answered by a conquest that would upend the island’s world. What riches, and what history, lie beneath the claims made for this newly important possession?

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