Besides this work there are others by Puerto Rican authors, each one elucidating one or more phases of the island's history. With these separate and diverse materials, supplemented by others of my own, I have constructed the present history. The transcendental change in the island's social and political conditions, inaugurated four years ago, made the writing of an English history of Puerto Rico necessary. The American officials who are called upon to guide the destinies and watch over the moral, material, and intellectual progress of the inhabitants of this new accession to the great Republic will be able to do so all the better when they have a knowledge of the people's historical antecedents. I have endeavored to supply this need to the best of my ability, and herewith offer to the public the results of an arduous, though self-imposed task. R.A.V.M. SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, _November 3, 1902._ CONTENTS PART I HISTORICAL CHAPTER I.--THE DEPARTURE. 1493 II.--THE DISCOVERY. 1493 III.--PONCE AND CERON. 1500-1511 IV.--FIRST DISTRIBUTION OF INDIANS. "REPARTIMIENTOS" 1510 V.--THE REBELLION. 1511 VI.--THE REBELLION (_continued_.) 1511 VII.--NUMBER OF ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS AND SECOND DISTRIBUTION OF INDIANS. 1511-1515 VIII.--LAWS AND ORDINANCES. 1511-1515 IX.--THE RETURN OF CERON AND DIAZ. PONCE'S FIRST EXPEDITION TO FLORIDA. 1511-1515 X.--DISSENSIONS. TRANSFER OF THE CAPITAL. 1515-1520 XI.--CALAMITIES. PONCE'S SECOND EXPEDITION TO FLORIDA AND DEATH. 1520-1537 XII.--INCURSIONS OF FUGITIVE BORIQUÉN INDIANS AND CARIBS. 1520-1582 XIII.--DEPOPULATION OF THE ISLAND. PREVENTIVE MEASURES. INTRODUCTION OF NEGRO SLAVES. 1515-1534 XIV.--ATTACKS BY FRENCH PRIVATEERS. CAUSE OF THE WAR WITH FRANCE. CHARLES V. RUIN OF THE ISLAND. 1520-1556 XV.--SEDESO. CHANGES IN THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 1534-1555 XVI.--DEFENSELESS CONDITION OF THE ISLAND. CONSTRUCTION OF FORTIFICATIONS AND CIRCUMVALLATION OF SAN JUAN. 1555-1641 XVII.--DRAKE'S ATTACK ON SAN JUAN. 1595 XVIII.--OCCUPATION AND EVACUATION OF SAN JUAN BY LORD GEORGE CUMBERLAND. CONDITION OF THE ISLAND AT THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY XIX.--ATTACK ON SAN JUAN BY THE HOLLANDERS UNDER BOWDOIN. 1625 XX.--DECLINE OF SPAIN'S POWER. BUCCANEERS AND FILIBUSTERS. 1625-1780 XXI.--BRITISH ATTACKS ON PUERTO RICO. SIEGE OF SAN JUAN BY SIR RALPH ABERCROMBIE. 1678-1797 XXII.--BRITISH ATTACKS ON PUERTO RICO (_continued_). INVASIONS BY COLOMBIAN INSURGENTS. 1797-1829 XXIII.--REVIEW OF THE SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN PUERTO RICO AND THE POLITICAL EVENTS IN SPAIN FROM 1765 TO 1820 XXIV.--GENERAL CONDITION OF THE ISLAND FROM 1815 TO 1833