Puerto Rico is an island in the Caribbean that is rich in history and culture. Its warmth and beauty make it very attractive. In Puerto Rico it summer all year around. What make Puerto Rico beautiful are the flowers and trees that grow on the island. Puerto Rico’s landscape is rich in vegetation. Coffee in fact is an important crop in Puerto Rico. All of this beauty wasn’t established until the U.S took control over Puerto Rico and made it a Commonwealth. On April 25, 1898 the U.S declared war on Spain. The U.S later won the war and signed a treaty called the Treaty of Paris in December of 1898. The treaty stated that Spain lost Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Philippians to the U.S. In exchange the U.S paid Spain 20 million dollars. Later in 1967 when Puerto Rico took a vote between state hood and Commonwealth. Statehood is when a country wants to become a state. Puerto Rico wanted to become part of the U.S but the vote showed that 60% of the Puerto Ricans voted for commonwealth an only 39% voted for statehood. Power in Puerto Rico can be demonstrated in a negative way through the violence of the Spaniards and a positive way through the Tianos organization and tradition. Also, power is shown in Puerto Rico through the force of the Spaniards and the responsibility and resistance of the Taino’s.

The Tainos demonstrate their power by their way of living and carrying out their responsibility. Edit

The Tianos, the native people of Puerto Rico, demonstrate their power by maintaining their way of living and carrying out their responsibilities. Men had to hunt for their family’s food. They would hunt for food outside the village so they can feed their family. Also they would create weapons such as axes, and Bows and arrows so they can protect themselves from wild animals. This is how they demonstrated their power. Another example of the Taino’s responsibility is the role of the women in society. Women had way more responsibilities than men. They had a number of things. The women would raise the children in the house so they can teach them how to act. The women would also plant crops. They would mostly plant corn so they can have it with their meal. The women also created tools. They created gardening tools for the crops. They also made medicine for the men and children who were sick and they would nurse them back to health. All of these responsibilities that the men and women had to carry out demonstrate how the native people of Puerto Rico maintain their way of living.

The Spaniards show their power by taking control of puerto Rico and taking control of the Tainos. Edit

While the Tainos were living peacefully on their land little did they know that the King and Queen of Spain sent out a man by the name of Christopher Columbus to scope the island for resources. The Spaniards felt they had power going to this island. The Spaniards show their power by taking control of the Tainos. They then claimed the land for the King and Queen of Spain in 1493. But Columbus and his crew didn’t have all the power. In fact the King and Queen demonstrate more of this power because they were the ones who sent out Christopher Columbus and his crew to find them an island. Columbus soon also demonstrates his power by taking the Tianos as slaves! As time went on the Spaniards increased their power over the Tainos. They took the Taino as slaves and made them work in gold mines so the Spaniards can take the gold from the island and give it to their country to make a profit off of it. Also the Spaniards brought new diseases that the Tainos couldn’t cure. Also one reason they took the Tainos as slaves because there were not Christian. This demonstrated how the Spaniards show their power by taking over Puerto Rico.

puerto Rico's use of resistance from colonial control have had little effect. Edit

The Tainos were sick of how the Spaniards were treating them so they decided to revolt against them. They showed their power by Bringing down their forts, destroying Spanish gold mines and by fighting the Spaniards. That is how they demonstrate their power. The Tainos didn’t want to be controlled any longer and they felt taken advantage of. However the revolts lead the Tianos now where. More and more of their people were dying. As they kept fighting, their culture was slowly being lost. They finally went to war with the Spaniards and by the end of the war 3,000 of the original Tainos died. Their were very little Tainos left on Puerto Rico but there were however some Taino women still alive and as life went on after the war they were able to pass on their culture to the next generation and hoped that it would go far. But in the end the one who had more power in the end was the Spaniards due to the fact that they went to war and nearly wiped out half their country and this is how they demonstrated this power.

Power in Puerto Rico can be demonstrated in a negative way, through the violence of the Spaniards and a positive way through the Tainos organization and traditions. I have seen many people being taken advantage of in the past. The Tainos were taken advantage of in the past by the Spaniards. Similar situations like this have accurred even after Puerto Rico was freed from Spain. This really connected to me because I gained some Knowledge of how my native country became a commonwealth of the U.S. It also gave me a better look at Christopher Columbus and what kind of person he really was. As a little kid I thought that he discovered America but it turns out he was more than that. He was a person who was sent out to see what islands that he can get for the King and Queen of Spain. I compare them to Hitler only for the simple fact that when they got one island they wanted more. Also the slavery that took place on the Island of Puerto Rico which was really wrong. I also compare this struggle of power to the lesson we learned about Africa. We learned that European countries had power over certain countries in Africa but there were many people that were sick of how there country was being controlled so they stood up for their country and pushed for their country to become independent. They had great leaders like Jomo Kentaya who was a leader of one of the countries that wanted to become independent. He used non-violent acts to push toward independence and finally his country became independent. This shows how positive power beats negative power. This shows why struggling for power matters. Power is shown in Puerto Rico through the force of the Spaniards and the responsibility and resistance of the Tainos. I really do believe that this matters because if my child wants to know where we come from can tell him about our native people and how our country struggled with being freed by the Spaniards and how the U.S helped us become Commonwealth.