User talk:Richiar/Workspace 3.1
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Version 18:38 13 Feb 2006
Located in the northeastern Caribbean Sea, Puerto Rico was key to the Spanish Empire since the early years of conquest and colonization of the New World. The smallest of the Greater Antilles, Puerto Rico was a major military post during many wars between Spain and other European powers for control of the region during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It was a stepping stone in the passage from Europe to Cuba, Mexico, Central America, and the northern territories of South America. Throughout most of the nineteenth century, Puerto Rico and Cuba remained the last two Spanish colonies in the New World and served as the final outposts in Spanish strategies to regain control of the American continents. In 1898 Puerto Rico was invaded and become a possession of the United States of America. The first part of the 20th century was marked with the struggle to obtain greater democratic rights from Washington. The political status of Puerto Rico -- a "Commonwealth" controlled by the U.S.-- remains an anomaly, more than 500 years after the first Europeans settled the island.