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Pueblos in Puerto Rico

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Pueblo is a term primarily used in Puerto Rico to refer to the municipal district (barrio) that serves as the administrative, historic and cultural center of a municipality. The concept of pueblo is often used locally as analogous to the concept of downtown in U.S. cities.[1] Pueblos are officially called barrio-pueblo by the United States Census since 1990.[2]

Overview

City hall building of the former municipality of Río Piedras.

The Spanish word pueblo[3] translates to town in English, since many of these correspond to the original European-founded settlements in their respective contemporary municipalities; however, its usage in Puerto Rican Spanish today corresponds more closely to the concept of downtown in English.[4][5] In some cases, the concept of pueblo might also refer to municipality, but the term municipality never applies to pueblos.[1] With a few exceptions, the barrio-pueblo is also the historic district of the municipality and usually contains the main town square (plaza, and in some cases, plaza de armas) surrounded by the municipal administrative buildings (alcaldía) and the main Catholic church in town (either a cathedral or parish church).[2]

The central plaza or square, is a place for official and unofficial recreational events and a place where people can gather and socialize. The Laws of the Indies, the Spanish law which regulated life in Puerto Rico in the early 19th century, stated the plaza's purpose was for celebrations and festivities (Template:Lang-es), most notably the town patron saint festivals (fiestas patronales), and that the square should be proportionally large enough for the number of neighbors (Template:Lang-es). These Spanish regulations also stated that the streets nearby should be comfortable portals for passersby, protecting them from the elements: sun and rain.[6]

As of the 2010 census, Mayagüez is the most populated pueblo in Puerto Rico with a population of 26,903, while Las Marías has the lowest population with 262 inhabitants. The largest barrio-pueblo in Puerto Rico is Fajardo with a total area of 3.23 square miles, while Toa Alta is the smallest with an area of 0.03 square miles.[7]

Exceptions

Although all barrio-pueblos correspond to the administrative and downtown area of Puerto Rican municipalities, some barrios and clusters of barrios (such as in Ponce) also function and are categorized as the pueblos of their respective municipalities. The municipality of San Juan is a good example of this: the barrios Pueblo and San Juan Antiguo correspond to the pueblos of the former municipalities of Río Piedras and San Juan (pre-1951). Both of these contained a main town square or plaza de armas with a city hall and a church. When San Juan and Río Piedras merged into a single municipality in 1951, the former pueblo of Río Piedras retained its name.[8] Florida and Ponce are the two other municipalities in Puerto Rico that do not contain a designated barrio-pueblo. The exception of Florida is due to the fact that the municipality has no barrios,[9] while Ponce does not have a single designated barrio-pueblo but six barrios that correspond to the pueblo of Ponce.[10][11]

The name of the pueblo almost always is the name as the municipality is located in. For example, the barrio-pueblo of the municipality of Caguas is also called Caguas (Pueblo de Caguas). The exception to this occurs with the island municipalities of Culebra and Vieques. Although the barrio-pueblo of Culebra is known as Culebra (Pueblo de Culebra) today, its former name used to be Dewey,[12] while the name of the barrio-pueblo of Vieques today remains Isabel II.[13] Both of these are also the main settlements of the islands they are located in.

History

1905 postcard depicting Colón Square, the main plaza of the pueblo of Mayagüez where the city hall and Catholic cathedral are located.

Although the urban zones that today are designated as barrio-pueblo have existed since the Spanish colonization of Puerto Rico, the concept of barrio was first used in the island during the 19th century. Historians have speculated the creation of barrios as administrative units may have been related to the Puerto Rican representation at the Cortes of Cádiz.[14] All municipalities in the island had a distinct barrio officially called pueblo (this is where the contemporary usage of pueblo in Puerto Rico comes from). Many of these pueblos used to have a certain degree of autonomy and local governance in the form of councils. Today barrios and barrio-pueblos have no political autonomy, and their designation is now for statistical and municipal management purposes. In 1980, they were still referred to as pueblos on the US Census.[15] Beginning with the 1990 census, these pueblos have been officially referred to as barrio-pueblos by the United States Census Bureau.[2]

List of Pueblos

The following list includes all barrio-pueblos and equivalent barrios in Puerto Rico.[16][17][18] The municipality of Florida is not included in the list as it has no barrios nor barrio-pueblos.[9] Ponce today has no official barrio-pueblo designations, however six of its barrios (all given cardinal names, i.e., 'first', 'second', 'sixth') correspond to the original core equivalent to the concept of barrio-pueblo today.[10][11] The municipality of San Juan today, originally consisted of two separate municipalities with a barrio-pueblo each: San Juan Antiguo for the municipality of San Juan, and Pueblo for the former municipality of Río Piedras.[8]

Pueblo Designation Municipality Pop. (2010) Area (sq. mi)
Adjuntas barrio-pueblo Adjuntas 4,406 0.75
Aguada barrio-pueblo Aguada 1,324 0.11
Aguadilla barrio-pueblo Aguadilla 3,627 0.74
Aguas Buenas barrio-pueblo Aguas Buenas 1,711 0.18
Aibonito barrio-pueblo Aibonito 3,539 0.8
Añasco barrio-pueblo Añasco 912 0.09
Arecibo barrio-pueblo Arecibo 8,488 2.62
Arroyo barrio-pueblo Arroyo 1,206 0.38
Barceloneta barrio-pueblo Barceloneta 435 0.04
Barranquitas barrio-pueblo Barranquitas 2,695 0.77
Barrio Cuarto barrio Ponce 1,999 0.17
Barrio Primero barrio Ponce 3,175 0.26
Barrio Quinto barrio Ponce 568 0.11
Barrio Segundo barrio Ponce 7,213 0.53
Barrio Sexto barrio Ponce 3,529 0.27
Barrio Tercero barrio Ponce 668 0.08
Bayamón barrio-pueblo Bayamón 4,746 0.64
Cabo Rojo barrio-pueblo Cabo Rojo 1,078 0.1
Caguas barrio-pueblo Caguas 22,406 2.67
Camuy barrio-pueblo Camuy 3,354 0.95
Canóvanas barrio-pueblo Canóvanas 4,060 1.25
Carolina barrio-pueblo Carolina 1,201 0.08
Cataño barrio-pueblo Cataño 4,283 1.05
Cayey barrio-pueblo Cayey 15,298 2.45
Ceiba barrio-pueblo Ceiba 3,677 0.55
Ciales barrio-pueblo Ciales 1,009 0.11
Cidra barrio-pueblo Cidra 1,064 0.11
Coamo barrio-pueblo Coamo 6,685 0.89
Comerío barrio-pueblo Comerío 3,657 0.4
Corozal barrio-pueblo Corozal 2,631 0.35
Culebra barrio-pueblo Culebra 462 0.22
Dorado barrio-pueblo Dorado 780 0.07
Fajardo barrio-pueblo Fajardo 13,709 3.23
Guánica barrio-pueblo Guánica 3,514 0.98
Guayama barrio-pueblo Guayama 16,891 2.47
Guayanilla barrio-pueblo Guayanilla 3,757 0.54
Guaynabo barrio-pueblo Guaynabo 4,008 0.59
Gurabo barrio-pueblo Gurabo 1,509 0.11
Hatillo barrio-pueblo Hatillo 3,117 0.84
Hormigueros barrio-pueblo Hormigueros 1,204 0.23
Humacao barrio-pueblo Humacao 3,862 0.64
Isabel II barrio-pueblo Vieques 1,207 0.5
Isabela barrio-pueblo Isabela 7,826 1.46
Jayuya barrio-pueblo Jayuya 1,222 0.14
Juana Díaz barrio-pueblo Juana Díaz 3,977 0.51
Juncos barrio-pueblo Juncos 2,464 0.37
Lajas barrio-pueblo Lajas 564 0.06
Lares barrio-pueblo Lares 2,690 0.58
Las Marías barrio-pueblo Las Marías 262 0.06
Las Piedras barrio-pueblo Las Piedras 1,500 0.18
Loíza barrio-pueblo Loíza 3,875 0.66
Luquillo barrio-pueblo Luquillo 1,028 0.25
Manatí barrio-pueblo Manatí 5,746 0.77
Maricao barrio-pueblo Maricao 716 0.11
Maunabo barrio-pueblo Maunabo 317 0.14
Mayagüez barrio-pueblo Mayagüez 26,903 2.98
Moca barrio-pueblo Moca 1,735 0.32
Morovis barrio-pueblo Morovis 895 0.07
Naguabo barrio-pueblo Naguabo 1,514 0.25
Naranjito barrio-pueblo Naranjito 1,157 0.12
Orocovis barrio-pueblo Orocovis 682 0.11
Patillas barrio-pueblo Patillas 2,279 0.49
Peñuelas barrio-pueblo Peñuelas 1,422 0.25
Pueblo (Río Piedras) barrio San Juan 8,720 0.73
Quebradillas barrio-pueblo Quebradillas 3,103 0.65
Rincón barrio-pueblo Rincón 933 0.12
Río Grande barrio-pueblo Río Grande 1,772 0.2
Sabana Grande barrio-pueblo Sabana Grande 1,554 0.11
Salinas barrio-pueblo Salinas 2,453 0.46
San Germán barrio-pueblo San Germán 2,660 0.33
San Juan Antiguo barrio San Juan 7,085 2.63
San Lorenzo barrio-pueblo San Lorenzo 2,045 0.22
San Sebastián barrio-pueblo San Sebastián 1,424 0.12
Santa Isabel barrio-pueblo Santa Isabel 5,133 0.87
Toa Alta barrio-pueblo Toa Alta 397 0.03
Toa Baja barrio-pueblo Toa Baja 565 0.05
Trujillo Alto barrio-pueblo Trujillo Alto 673 0.15
Utuado barrio-pueblo Utuado 5,856 1.19
Vega Alta barrio-pueblo Vega Alta 1,169 0.1
Vega Baja barrio-pueblo Vega Baja 816 0.11
Villalba barrio-pueblo Villalba 729 0.15
Yabucoa barrio-pueblo Yabucoa 2,593 0.52
Yauco barrio-pueblo Yauco 3,091 0.32

In pop culture

The song "Me voy pal' pueblo" by El Trio Los Panchos sings of going to the pueblo.[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Sperling, Jonathan (1990). "Census Geography in Puerto Rico. A Technical Addendum for the 1990 Census". Caribbean Studies. 23 (3/4): 111–130. ISSN 0008-6533.
  2. ^ a b c José A. Mari Mut (2013-08-28). Los pueblos de Puerto Rico y las iglesias de sus plazas.
  3. ^ Pano, José Luis (July 15, 2020). "El proyecto 'Pueblos Vivos Aragón' lanza la campaña "Es el momento de volver al pueblo'". heraldo.es (in Spanish). Retrieved February 1, 2022.
  4. ^ History, 2000 Census of population and housing, p. 400, at Google Books, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, U.S. Census Bureau, 2009
  5. ^ Cartographic Boundary Files. Archived 2013-05-10 at the Wayback Machine U. S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
  6. ^ Santullano, Luis A. (10 March 2019). Mirada al Caribe. Vol. 54. Colegio de Mexico. pp. 75–78. doi:10.2307/j.ctvbcd2vs.12. JSTOR j.ctvbcd2vs.12.
  7. ^ United States Department of Commerce, United States Census Bureau (September 18, 2012). "2010 Census of Puerto Rico Assessment Report" (PDF). census.gov.
  8. ^ a b Picó, Rafael; Buitrago de Santiago, Zayda; Berrios, Hector H. Nueva geografía de Puerto Rico: física, económica, y social, por Rafael Picó. Con la colaboración de Zayda Buitrago de Santiago y Héctor H. Berrios. San Juan Editorial Universitaria, Universidad de Puerto Rico,1969.
  9. ^ a b Gwillim Law (20 May 2015). Administrative Subdivisions of Countries: A Comprehensive World Reference, 1900 through 1998. McFarland. p. 300. ISBN 978-1-4766-0447-3. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  10. ^ a b Ponce: Notas para su historia. Archived 18 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine Mariano Vidal Armstrong. Oficina Estatal de Conservacion Historica. San Juan, Puerto Rico. 1989. page 6. Accessed 19 February 2018.
  11. ^ a b Hacia un Estudio Integral de la Toponimia del Municipio de Ponce, Puerto Rico. Sunny A. Cabrera Salcedo. Ph.D. dissertation. May 1999. University of Massachusetts Amherst. Graduate School. Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Page 33.
  12. ^ "Culebra" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-02-01.
  13. ^ "Welcome to Isabel II | Vieques". Retrieved 2022-02-01.
  14. ^ Los alcaldes de los barrios. Archived 2014-04-13 at the Wayback Machine Rafael Torrech San Inocencio. "Barrios del Sur." El Sur a la Vista. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 16 January 2011. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
  15. ^ "1980 Census of Population. General Population Characteristics. Puerto Rico". Internet Archive. January 14, 2022. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  16. ^ Bureau, US Census. "Puerto Rico". Census.gov. Retrieved 2022-02-01. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  17. ^ El rastro de los primeros colonizadores en nuestros barrios. Archived 2018-12-26 at the Wayback Machine Rafael Torrech San Inocencio. El Sur a la Vista. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 14 November 2010. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  18. ^ "Población por Barrios". Programa Graduado de Demografía. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
  19. ^ Merlos, Jessica (October 15, 2021). "Música nacional Trío Cuscatlán presenta su disco "Remembranzas del 50"". Diario El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved February 1, 2022.
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