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Jun 10

Puerto Rico – Mi Isla Bonita

Categories:

Front Page, News

by Soul Oasis

The city Ponce is named after the explorer Ponce de Leon.
Puerto Rico has won the Miss Universe title five times: Marisol Malaret (1970), Deborah Carthy-Deu (1985), Dayanara Torres (1993), Denisse Quiñones (2001), and Zuleyka Rivera (2006). It even hosted the Miss Universe pageant in 1972, and became the first Latin American country to host this contest.
Cockfighting is the most popular pastime on the island. In fact, every town has its own coliseum built for rooster fights. In Puerto Rico, cockfighting is considered to be a ‘gentleman’s sport’ and is legal, unlike other parts of the United States. In 2007, a new law was signed, which confirmed the sport’s legality across the island.

Economy:

Tourism is an important component of the Puerto Rican economy supplying an approximate $1.8 billion. In 1999 an estimated 5 million tourists visited the island, most from the United States. Nearly a third of these are cruise ship passengers. An increase in hotel registrations, which has been observed since 1998, and the construction of new hotels and the Puerto Rico Convention Center are indicators of the current strength of the tourism industry.

Puerto Rico’s flag
Puerto Rico’s flag was adopted in 1952. The red symbolizes blood, the white symbolizes liberty and rights, and blue symbolizes the 3 branches of the republican government.

Government:
Puerto Rico is a self governing commonwealth in association with the United States.

 

Education:
During the first three hundred years of Spanish rule education in the Island was limited to the teaching of Christian doctrine, arts, and grammar. The first text book published in the island was the “Catecismo de Doctrina Cristiana“, which appeared during the 1850′s written by Bishop Gil Esteve. Classes were held only in main cities (San Juan, Arecibo, San German and Coamo). Almost the entire population was illiterate. During the revolutionary period (1800-1840), the Spanish Government imposed a rigorous censorship on the colonies. Books were rare, importation was opposed by the authorities, who believed them to be instruments of sedition. This fact explains why, prior to 1840, there was very little printed matter in the Island.

 

source:

http://sbaspanish.wikispaces.com/DE+Spanish+2010–Puerto+Rico+