Puerto Rico [antikvár]

The Island and the People Where the Atlantic meets the Caribbean, the tropical island of Puerto Rico is washed by exciting cross-currents of culture. Strains of the Spanish, African and Indian heritages intermingle. But the hospitable people who live here happen to be citizens of the United States of America. When Columbus first set eyes on Puerto Rico in 1493 he was too wrapped up in his career to stay more than a couple of days. Distracted by visions of gold and spices, he failed to appreciate the palm-lined beaches, verdant pastures, stark hills, waterfalls and an eerily primitive rain forest. Indeed, the Spanish were so shortsighted they didn't get around to colonizing the island for another 15 years. The Americans came along and took it away in the War of 1898. Now Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth (in Spanish, Estado Libre Asociado) of the United States. The smallest of the Greater Antilles, Puerto Rico is 1,000 miles southeast of Miami, 1,600 miles from New York. It's shaped rather like a rectangle about 110 miles across and 36