Puerto Rico

Future U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, toured Puerto Rico in 1919, visiting Ceiba. When he returned to Washington, D.C., he expressed a liking for the terrain where the base now sits. This was during the World War I era, and the United States could benefit from an air field in Ceiba. While Puerto Rico is a sub nation, its territorial rights belong to the United States, which made it perfectly feasible, and ideal, for the American government to build an airplane base in Ceiba.

It took many years, however, for the United States Government to become convinced of the need for an air base to be constructed in Ceiba. It was not until Adolf Hitler and Nazi-led Germany began to invade other European countries, that the United States Government, led by then President Roosevelt, let the thought of a Naval air station in Ceiba being a necessity, cross their minds. But with warfare going on in the European and Pacific theatres, they saw an airbase in the Caribbean area as an unneccesary commodity, if at least only for the period being.

The base had been inaugurated, but scaled down to a maintenance status with a public works office in 1944; from that moment on and until 1957, the base went through many shifts, being opened seven times and closed eight times. Meanwhile, it continued on being a source of work for the citizens of Ceiba as well as for American military pilots and soldiers, because Ceiba's citizens gained jobs around town doing different things, such as working for the Puerto Rican Electric company's Ceiba branch, as a consequence of the airbase's operations, when it was operating.

In 1957, it was upgraded to Naval Station status. Fort Bundy was set there, but it crossed over to parts of Vieques, a fact which would later become important in the history of the base. An American military mission, the M3, was also set there. It was part of the "Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station, Puerto Rico Base Communication Department". "N3" had a fleet center, a technical control facility and a Tactical support communications department, among other things. The "M3" was designated to help Puerto Rico, the United States and other Caribbean and Latin American countries that were members of NATO to deal with drug trafficking, illegal immigration and other, much more complex subjects such as enemy airplanes during war, terrorism, etc.

For the next 47 years, the base would be utilized by military airplanes for landings and take-offs, as well as for other missions and control of the area's air-space. In 2001, a Hercules C-130 airplane carrying seven soldiers, including a Mexican-American woman, crashed in the town of Caguas, while en route from Roosevelt Roads to Rafael Hernandez Airport in Aguadilla. All seven soldiers perished, in the largest air tragedy ever to happen in Caguas. Shortly after the base was closed in 2004, a 71-year-old pilot decided to take a hobby flight in a one-passenger airplane from Fajardo Airport in nearby Fajardo, to the already abandoned Roosevelt Roads Naval Station. Before landing, however, his airplane stalled and crashed in a baseball field nearby. The man was able to escape without injury.

The Caribbean National Forest located on the island of Puerto Rico, and commonly known as El Yunque (named after the Taíno Indian spirit Yuquiyú, and meaning "Forest of Clouds") is the only tropical forest in the United States National Forest System.

The forest is located on the slopes of the Sierra de Luquillo Mountains in Puerto Rico, and encompasses over 28,000 acres (113 km²) of land; making it the largest block of public land on the Island of Puerto Rico. The highest portion of the mountain rises 1074 meters (3494 ft) above sea level.

The forest covers lands of the municipalities of Canovanas, Las Piedras, Luquillo, Fajardo, Ceiba, Naguabo, and Rio Grande.

The forest region was set aside in 1876 by the Spanish Crown, and represents one of the oldest reserves in the Western Hemisphere. It is home to over 240 species of trees and plants, 26 of which are found nowhere else.

Typical yearly rainfall can be up to 240 inches (6 m) per year. More than 100 billion US gallons (380,000,000 m³) of rainwater fall on the forest per year.

El Yunque is composed of four different forest ecosystems

Tabonuco Forest
Palo Colorado Forest
Palma Sierra Forest
Dwarf Forest

San Juan is the capital city of Puerto Rico. The city is located in the northeastern part of the island of Puerto Rico.

San Juan was founded by Spanish colonists in 1521 and is regarded as the oldest city in the United States of America (the oldest city in the continental United States is St. Augustine, Florida). Today, San Juan serves as Puerto Rico's most important seaport, as well as the main manufacturing, financial, cultural, and tourist center of the island. The population of the metropolitan area, including San Juan and the municipalities of Bayamón, Carolina, Guaynabo, Cataño, and Trujillo Alto is about 1.1 million inhabitants, hence about 1 in 4 Puerto Ricans now lives in this area. The main airports serving the city is Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, located in Carolina and Isla Grande Airport.

In 1508 Juan Ponce de León founded the original settlement, Caparra, today known as Pueblo Viejo, behind the almost land-locked harbor just to the west of the present San Juan metropolitan area. A year later, the settlement was abandoned and moved to a site which was called at the time Puerto Rico, meaning "rich port" or "good port". In 1521, the name of the settlement name was switched with the name "San Juan", the name which Christopher Columbus had originally given the island in honor of John the Baptist.

Old San Juan
In Spanish colonial times, most of the urban population resided in what is known now as Old San Juan. The old city is the main cultural tourist attraction for the island, and the bay side is lined by slips for large cruise ships. Old San Juan is located on the western half of a small island connected to the mainland by bridges and a causeway. The core old city is characterized by its narrow cobblestone streets and colonial buildings, and encompasses less than a mile by a mile and a half. The buildings in Old San Juan date back to the 16th and 17th century. Parts of the old city remain partly enclosed by massive walls and contains several defensive structures and notable forts, such as Fort San Felipe del Morro (begun 1539) and Fort San Cristóbal (17th century), both part of San Juan National Historic Site, and El Palacio de Santa Catalina, also known as La Fortaleza (begun in 1533), which serves as the governor's mansion. Other buildings of interest predating the nineteenth century are the Ayuntamiento or Alcaldia (City Hall), the San Jose Church (1523) and the adjacent former Dominican monastery; and the former house of the Ponce de Leon family known as Casa Blanca. Other buildings of interest from Spanish colonial times, among many, are the Teatro Tapia, the Ayuntamiento (City Hall), the former Spanish barracks (now museum de Ballaja), La Princesa (former municipal jail, now a history museum), the municipal cemetery just outside the city walls. Also on the island where Old San Juan is situated is the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista (begun in the 1520s), which contains the tomb of the Spanish explorer and settlement founder Juan Ponce de León. Strict building codes enforce restoration.

Subjected to attacks

San Juan was used as a stopover for ships returning from Spain, making it an important port in the Spanish system. However, this also made it the target of the foreign powers of the time. The Spanish built a network of fortifications to protect the transportation of gold and silver from the New World to Europe.

The city saw attacks from the English in 1595 by Sir Francis Drake and 1598 led by George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland. The artillery from the fortification of El Morro repelled Drake, however Clifford managed to land troops and lay siege to the city. A few months into the British occupation, Clifford was forced to abandon his expedition when his troops began to suffer from exhaustion and sickness. Later, the city was sacked by the Dutch in 1625, but Fort San Felipe del Morro withstood the assault and was never taken. The English returned in 1797, during the French Revolutionary Wars, led by Sir Ralph Abercromby, who had just conquered Trinidad. His army laid siege to the city but was forced to withdraw in defeat as the Puerto Rican defenses proved more resilient than those of Trinidad. Various events and circumstances, including liberalized commerce with Spain, opening of the island to immigrants, and the colonial revolutions, led to an expansion of the island and city in the late 18th and early 19th century.

In 1898, United States troops bombed, shelled and subsequently occupied the city during the Spanish-American War. Spanish rule ended after 1898 and the island became a territory of the United States of America.

In 1951 the Municipalities of San Juan and Rio Piedras were merged to form what is is today as the munipality of San Juan.

During the 20th century, the main population centers surged well beyond the walls of the old city, on to the mainland of the island. The city has a diversity of neighborhoods. East of Old San Juan lies the hotel and condominium filled district of Condado. Beaches popular with swimmers and surfers are present all along the Atlantic coastline. Nearby, are two separate business districts, Santurce, where The "Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico" (Art Museum of Puerto Rico) is located. Miramar is mainly a residential area rising south of the Condado Lagoon. Hato Rey, which at the beginning of the 20th century was grazing ground for cattle, is now considered the financial center of the island. A section of this district is often referred to as the "Golden Mile", due in part to the many banks and businesses located there. In the southern part of the city is the residential area of Río Piedras, where the main campus of the University of Puerto Rico is located.

San Juan made an unsuccessful bid for hosting the 2004 Summer Olympics. As with many large metropolitan areas, automobile traffic congestion has been a growing concern in the city which prompted city planners to build a train system dubbed "Tren Urbano" (The Urban Train) which is now in operation.