Puerto Rico: landmarks, animals & facts for kids

Puerto Rico is a Caribbean island east of the Dominican Republic, in the Greater Antilles. It is a territory of the United States, not an independent country, and the people born there are US citizens. Its capital, San Juan, is one of the oldest cities founded by Europeans in the Americas.

Puerto Rico is known for warm beaches, a tropical rainforest, glowing bays and lively music. On the globe you can find the Castillo San Felipe del Morro, a Spanish fortress guarding San Juan Bay, the giant Arecibo Observatory radio telescope and the legend of the chupacabra, a mysterious creature first reported here.

Geography and nature

Puerto Rico is mostly mountainous, with the Cordillera Central running across the middle and flat coastal plains around the edge. In the north-east, El Yunque is the only tropical rainforest in the US National Forest System. Underground rivers have carved huge caves in the limestone. A few bays, such as Mosquito Bay on the island of Vieques, glow blue at night because of tiny living organisms in the water. The island's mascot is the coquí, a tiny tree frog whose loud 'ko-KEE' call fills the night.

People, languages and culture

Spanish and English are both official, but Spanish is spoken in most homes. Puerto Rican culture mixes Taíno, Spanish and African roots. Music is everywhere: salsa, the drum-based bomba and plena, and reggaeton, which grew up partly here. Popular foods include mofongo, mashed fried plantains with garlic, and arroz con gandules, rice with pigeon peas. Baseball is a passion; Roberto Clemente, one of the game's greats, was born here. Most people are Christian.

History in a nutshell

The Taíno people called the island Borikén. Christopher Columbus arrived in 1493, and Spain made it a colony, building forts like El Morro, begun in 1539, to defend San Juan from attackers. After the Spanish-American War in 1898, Spain gave Puerto Rico to the United States. Puerto Ricans became US citizens in 1917, and in 1952 the island became a self-governing commonwealth with its own constitution. Its future political status is still a subject of debate among Puerto Ricans.