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History of Puerto Rico


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olutionary War under the command of Bernardo de Gálvez, named Field Marshal of the Spanish colonial army in North America. Puerto Ricans participated in the capture of Pensacola, the capital of the British colony of West Florida, and the cities of Baton Rouge, St. Louis and Mobile. The Puerto Rican troops, under the leadership of Brigadier General Ramón de Castro, helped defeat the British and Indian army of 2,500 soldiers and British warships in Pensacola.

In 1809, in a further move to secure its political bond with the island and in the midst of the European Peninsular War, the Supreme Central Junta based in Cádiz recognized Puerto Rico as an overseas province of Spain with the right to send representatives to the recently convened Spanish parliament with equal representation to Mainland Iberian, Mediterranean (Balearic Islands) and Atlantic maritime Spanish provinces (Canary Islands). The first Spanish parliamentary representative from the island of Puerto Rico, Ramon Power y Giralt, died after serving a three-year term in the Cortes. These parliamentary and constitutional reforms, which were in force from 1810 to 1814 and again from 1820 to 1823, were reversed twice afterwards when the traditional monarchy was restored by Ferdinand VII. Nineteenth-century immigration and commercial trade reforms further augmented the island's European population and economy, and expanded Spanish cultural and social imprint on the local character of the island.

Minor slave revolts had occurred in the island during this period; however, the revolt planned and organized by Marcos Xiorro in 1821, was the most important. Even though the conspiracy was unsuccessful, Xiorro achieved legendary status and is part of Puerto Rico's folklore.

In the early 19th century, Puerto Rico had an Independence movement which, due to the harsh persecution by the Spanish authorities, met in the island of St. Thomas. The movement was largely inspired by the ideals of Simón
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