Info Center \ worldwide \ North America \

Puerto Rico

Capital:	San Juan
Population:	3,667,084
Official Languages:	Spanish English
Time Zone:	-4
Dialing Code:	+1 787 / 939

Government:	Organized Unincorporated Territory
Area:	9,104 km2
largest city:	San Juan
Currency :	United States dollar
ISO 3166 code:	PR

Basic Info

Puerto Rico, officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico), is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.

Geography

Puerto Rico consists of the main island of Puerto Rico and various smaller islands, including Vieques, Culebra, Mona, Desecheo, and Caja de Muertos. Of these last five, only Culebra and Vieques are inhabited year-round. Mona is uninhabited most of the year except for employees of the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources. There are also many other even smaller islands including Monito and "La Isleta de San Juan" which includes Old San Juan and Puerta de Tierra and is connected to the main island by bridges.

Climate

Puerto Rico enjoys a tropical climate and is subject to the Atlantic hurricane season.

Religion

In 2007, there were about 5,000 muslims in Puerto Rico, representing about 0.13% of the population Eight Mosques are located throughout the island, with most muslims living in Rio Piedras.

Administrative divisions

As an unincorporated territory of the United States, Puerto Rico does not have any first order administrative divisions as defined by the U.S. Government, but there are 78 municipalities at the secondary level which function as counties. Municipalities are further subdivided into barrios, and those into sectors. Each municipality has a mayor and a municipal legislature elected for four-year terms.

The first municipality (previously called "town") of Puerto Rico, San Juan, was founded in 1521. In the 16th century two more municipalities were established, San Germán (1570) and Coamo (1579). Three more municipalities were established in the 17th century. These were Arecibo (1614), Aguada (1692) and Ponce (1692). The 18th and 19th century saw an increase in settlement in Puerto Rico with 30 municipalities being established in the 18th century and 34 more in the 19th century. Only six municipalities were founded in the 20th century with the last, Florida, being founded in 1971.