2678 UNITED STATES (Puerto Rico) - Puerto Rico map and flag

Puerto Rico, an archipelago that includes the main island of Puerto Rico and a number of smaller islands, is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean Sea. The capital and most populous city is San Juan, the second oldest European-established capital city in the Americas, after Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), founded by Spanish colonists in 1521. Its official languages are Spanish, which is predominant, and English. The island's population is approximately 3.5 million.

1676 UNITED STATES (Puerto Rico) - La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico (UNESCO WHS)

1676 San Jose - Castillo San Cristóbal

In 1508, Juan Ponce de León founded the settlement Caparra, which today is known as the Pueblo Viejo sector of Guaynabo. A year later, the settlement was moved to a site then called Puerto Rico (Rich Port), which in 1521 received the name San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico, in honor of John the Baptist. As a settlement of the Spanish Empire, it was used by merchant and military ships traveling from Spain as the first stopover in the Americas. Because of its prominence in the Caribbean, a network of fortifications was built to protect the transports of gold and silver from the New World to Europe.