SAN JUAN
San Juan is the capital and most populated city of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a United States unincorporated territory. The Catholic diocese, the second oldest in the Americas and the first in the United States, was established on August 8, 1511, in the freshly formed colony. The newer community received its formal name in 1521: Ciudad de Puerto Rico de San Juan Bautista. Many of the Western Hemisphere’s oldest European-created institutions, such as the Santo Tomás de Aquino Convent and the Nuestra Señora de la Concepción Hospital, were founded in San Juan during this period.
Juan Ponce de León, who established the first village, named it Caparra in 1508. It was named after the Spanish province of Cáceres, the hometown of Nicolás de Ovando, the Governor of Spain’s Caribbean holdings at the time. A year later, the village was relocated to a location known as Puerto Rico, which translates as “rich port” due to its physical similarities to the town of Puerto Rico de Gran Canaria on the Canary Islands.
With a population of 395,326 as of the 2010 census, San Juan is the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of the United States and the third oldest European-established capital city in the Americas, behind Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, founded in 1496, and Panama City in Panama, founded in 1521. San Juan is home to several historical structures, the most noteworthy of which are the city’s former defensive forts, Fort San Felipe del Morro and Fort San Cristóbal, as well as La Fortaleza, Americas’ oldest executive palace in continuous use.
San Juan is now Puerto Rico’s most significant seaport, as well as the island’s financial, cultural, and tourism hub.
