Early Colonial Period

Christopher Columbus, on his second voyage, reached the island in 1493 and called it San Juan Bautista. In 1508 Juan Ponce de León was sent to conquer the island for Spain. He founded the settlement of Caparra, later named Puerto Rico (Rich Port), west of San Juan harbor. Because the port was inadequate, the town was abandoned, and a new one was built on the small island at the harbor's mouth. Gradually the town came to be known as San Juan and the large island as Puerto Rico.

The Spaniards found gold on the island and forced the Indians to work in mines. The Indians did not long survive the rigors of slavery and the diseases introduced by the conquerors. Within a decade, the native population had been reduced to about 4,000. Slaves were imported from Africa to replace the Indians.

Although its gold mines were soon depleted, Puerto Rico remained an important outpost of Spain's rich colonial empire. The island was attacked repeatedly by French, English, and Dutch buccaneers. In 1797 a British force besieged Puerto Rico for a month, but was repelled.

Spain did not permit its colonies to trade with their neighbors. In Puerto Rico's rural areas, however, there was brisk commerce with smugglers who traded slaves, cloth, and implements for livestock, ginger, tobacco, and (after 1750) coffee.