Borinquen MadeA history magazine in Spanish
The history of Puerto Rico in one order of time
Puerto Rico is the easternmost island of the Greater Antilles, a Caribbean territory whose history reads as a single arc: the first Taíno peoples, the centuries of colony under Spain, the transfer of the island to the United States, the territory and the Free Associated State. Current events on that arc are dated on News. This magazine arranges that arc by the time of the events, with no sections breaking the reading. Choose the years you want to read and start there.
Freeze 2026-08-22. Not current events in these History essays; News is. Not original historical research.
Public Law 600, 1950
Authorization to organize a constitution, in the nature of a compact.
Jayuya and Utuado, October 30, 1950
The Nationalist uprising of that day; Blair House is the next lesson.
The 1950 uprisings and Albizu Campos's long struggle
Before the Estado Libre Asociado there was an armed uprising against that idea, and the man behind it went in and out of prison three times.
Attack in Washington, November 1, 1950
Blair House, November 1, 1950: Collazo, Torresola, Coffelt.
René Marqués, La carreta
A 1952 play about leaving, not a migration table.
ELA Constitution, July 25, 1952
The Estado Libre Asociado is proclaimed; not a state, not a UN member.
What "commonwealth" does not mean
Commonwealth is a translation fight, not a proof of sovereignty.
The 1952 Constitution and the Estado Libre Asociado
July 25, 1952 is the hinge date of this whole era: the day Puerto Rico stopped being barely a territory and became, on paper, a Free Associated State.
René Marqués and La Carreta: migration on stage
While real families made the same move, a playwright put that journey on stage and helped found Latino theater in New York.
The Great Migration, 1940s-1960s
The mid-century movement to the mainland, counted here so that a cultural page does not have to recount the totals.
Julia de Burgos: the poet who named herself
The poet, born 1914, died 1953, wrote against a world that kept trying to rename her.
Shooting in the Capitol, March 1, 1954
Four Nationalists, a public gallery, five wounded representatives.
The 1954 U.S. Capitol shooting
Four Puerto Rican nationalists walked into the U.S. House gallery and fired into the chamber below, wounding five congressmen.
The Piña Colada question
Who invented the piña colada, and what does a drink have to do with this history?
Roberto Clemente: the man beyond the numbers
A Hall of Fame career and an unanswerable question: did the island's great outfielder have to prove more, on and off the field?
Agriculture after Bootstrap
From cane to factories, and what that did to the countryside.
ICP, 1955
Law 89 of June 21, 1955; Ricardo Alegría, first director.
Pablo Casals and the Casals Festival
How a Catalan cellist became a symbol of Puerto Rican musical prestige, and what his festival did for the island's cultural ambitions.
Hurricane Santa Clara, 1956
The late-season hurricane that hit the island in August 1956.
Hurricane Santa Clara, 1956
In 1956, a hurricane moved through the island and its aftermath became part of the modern development story.