Borinquen MadePeriod
1800-1899
The entries in this magazine that fall in these years, in the order the events occurred. Freeze 2026-08-22. Not current events in these History essays; News is. Not original historical research.
Military government, 1898-1900
After the landing, the Treaty of Paris ceded the island. It was not liberation.
Treaty of Paris, December 10, 1898
Article II: Spain cedes Puerto Rico and Guam. The island was not liberated. It was transferred.
A country traded without a vote
The Treaty of Paris handed Puerto Rico to the United States. No Puerto Rican signed it, voted on it, or was consulted.
Coffee versus sugar
Two crops, two altitudes, two clocks. Highland shade versus coastal cane, before the factories took the hands.
The storm that would not move
Thirteen days into American rule, the longest-lived Atlantic hurricane on record hit the island.
San Ciriaco, August 8, 1899
A saint's-day hurricane, the coffee harvest in the mud, and a death toll the Weather Bureau still prints.