San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan is the largest city in Puerto Rico. It is also the capitol of the commonwealth. San Juan was founded in 1521 by Spanish explorers. It was originally named Ciudad de Puerto Rico, which translates into "Rich Port City". It's just about the oldest European settled city in the Americas, second only to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic (1496).

Fort San Cristobal in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico © 2010 nemcok.sk
used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License (CC BY-SA 3.0)

San Juan has an official population of just under a half million people. But, if you include the close surrounding territories, the San Juan metropolitan area holds almost 2 million people, or about half the population of Puerto Rico.

The city covers approximately 77 square miles, with almost 29 square miles being covered with water ... mostly from San Juan Bay and two natural lagoons (Contado and San Jose).

Old San Juan was built on the rocky shores of the northwest entrance to San Juan Bay. Due to the nature of the times, the city was built within the walls of military fortifications ... mostly for the defense and protection of the gold and silver shipments which flourished from the "New World" to Spain at the time.

Initially, the Spanish government built El Morro (Fort San Felipe del Morro) between 1539 and 1589. It was located at the Northwest entrance to San Juan Harbor. A complimentary garrison was built on the Northeast entrance, named Fort El Cañuelo (Fortín San Juan de la Cruz). It was built out of wood on Isla de Cabras and created a cross fire opportunity with El Morro, to secure the harbor entrance.

El Morro protected the city from a seaward attack by Sir Francis Drake in 1595. But in 198, fellow Englishman George Clifford, the 3rd Earl of Cumberland, successfully captured the citadel and occupied the city by way of a land attack. The English were forced to abandon the siege after only six weeks, due to exhaustion and disintery.

In 1625, a Dutch force tried to invade the city by utilizing a land attack as well ... and although they ransacked, looted and burned the city, El Morro itself withstood the onslaught.

This led to the building of Fort San Cristobal (Castillo de San Cristóbal) and the outer city walls from 1765 to 1783. Upon completion, the structure was the largest fortification in the new world built by Spain. It covered about 27 acres and effectively enclosed the city of San Juan.

A significant portion of which (about one-third -- from Fort San Cristobal to the San Juan Docks) torn down in 1897, after almost 100 years of relative piece.

Following World War II, there was tremendous industrialization in San Juan. San Juan is now one of the most important commercial ports in all of the Caribbean. It is a major tourist port, with cruise ships arriving daily, and over half a million square feet of space dedicated just for the unloading of cargo ships.

Today, the city of San Juan maintains much of it's old world charm. Particularly in the streets of Old San Juan, you get the feeling of it's past, combined with a vigorous zest for the modern day world.

Many the streets in Old San Juan are narrow and paved with old cobblestone bricks. Many of the buildings sport bright color schemes, and may actually be several hundred years old!

Old San Juan is the home of many tourist attractions, including the tomb of Juan Ponce de León, the Spanish Explorer, Puerto Rican Governor and the founder of the original Puerto Rican settlement, "Caparra" (which later moved to become the origin of what is now modern day San Juan).