A brief Look at Some Issues Affecting the Existence of a Minority Group

A Problem of Identity: A Brief Look at Some Issues Affecting the Existence of a Minority Subgroup By Bienvenido Gonzalez Brief Introduction The Island of Puerto Rico Puerto Rico is the smallest and easternmost of the Greater Antilles, with a total land area of 3,435 square miles (almost half the size of New Jersey’s land area). The island was discovered by Cristobal Colon on November 19, 1493, and he named it, San Juan Bautista. The Indian name for the island was Boriquen or Borinquen. (The old form, Porto Rico, was officially changed to the present spelling in 1932.) And, on August 12, 1508, Conquistador Ponce de Leon landed on the island; he established relations with Indian tribes and built a settlement, Caparra. From San German, Puerto Rico, on March 3, 1512, he led an expedition in search of the fountain of youth. And, on April 11, 1512, he discovered Florida (thus, it can be said that a Puerto Rican actually discovered it, as Ponce de Leon spent so much of his life and energies in Puerto Rico). The island of Puerto Rico has roughly the shape of a tall, standing bear, and it is located in the northern part of the north tropical zone, between latitudes 17°¢and 18° 32¢ N. and longitudes 65° 35¢ and 67° 17¢ W., and is separated from the island of Hispaniola by the 75-mile wide Mona Passage; it thus dominates one of the principal entrances from the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Sea and one of the main approaches to the Isthmus of Panama.