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Puerto Rico: An Interpretive History from Pre-Columbian Times to 1900
Because many of the documents and books about Puerto Rico have been written by the island's colonizers, only the victors were celebrated. With this in mind, the author has expressly composed this book from the viewpoint of the colonized, suppressed, and exploited. She challenges a previously-held notion that the Taínos simply gave up at the first sight of the Spaniards, and shows that they not only fought the intruders, but continued to resist them for more than sixty years after the battle of Yagüecas. The author discusses the fate and contributions of Africans who, as slaves or as free persons, became instrumental in Puerto Rico's social and economic development and shows how this multi-cultural Caribbean island brings together the global traditions of the Americas, Africa, and Europe.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
291 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 16, 2008
Being of Puerto Rican descent I found this book to be a self-awareness. It is informative about the Puerto Rican history, struggle and multi-ethnic culture. It's an important book and should be a must read for anyone wanting to learn more about this small Carribean island I call my home away from home.
May 8, 2026
I've seen the name Olga Jimenez de Wagenheim on a number of books about Puerto Rico, and got the impression that she is a major scholar for the history of the island.
I was not disappointed in this impression when I picked up this book. This is a comprehensive survey of Puerto Rican history and culture up to the annexation of the island by the United States.
That said, I'm somewhat confused by the title, since Wagenheim says it is an interpretive history. It reads more like a general history, faithfully recounting facts, as far as they can be ascertained, but there is little in the way of interpretation.
There are a few sections involving, say, the partidas in the aftermath of the US invasion where some interpretive conjecture is offered. Were they social in origin? That is, hatred for the Spanish landowner. Or were they nationalist in origin? That is, against the US occupation? Wagenheim says it is inconclusive.
I was anticipated a final chapter that would attempt to interpret the meaning of Puerto Rican history, but alas.
Nonetheless, as a general history this work is very solid and well-written. It reads similarly to Byron Williams's work I read in parallel, but with more details on subjects such as the Taino and the political struggle against Spain.
It also includes far more statistical tables, and information on important aspects of Puerto Rican history such as the enormous expansion of population in the nineteenth century.
We learn specific details about incidents such as Cumberland's capture of San Juan, which he had to give up due to yellow fever which is an episode that would strengthen John Robert McNeill's work on disease and empire in the Caribbean.
We learn about the O'Reilly Mission and the Bourbon Reforms in Puerto Rico, about the strategic value of the island to Spain, and all aspects of Puerto Rican economics and demographics.
What I appreciated most about this book was the final chapters specifically devoted to Puerto Rican cultural figures and cultural movements. There are even Puerto Rican classical composers! There are playwrights, novelists, and we get a good background on Puerto Rican music and dance.
The picture that emerges is that the Puerto Ricans are a distinct and unique people, combining influences of the Taino, African cultural imports, Hispanic heritage, and now American influences too.
For example Wagenheim says that the Taino believed that the souls of the deceased walk around amidst the living, which is a belief that some Puerto Ricans continue today. Puerto Ricans like to collect santos, imagery of saints and Biblical figures, though strangely Wagenheim does not mention zemi.
Perhaps the collection of this Taino-inspired figures is of more recent innovation, a sort of invented tradition.
The sections that dragged the most were the ones involving the political relations with Spain. It is useful to know that there was a division between those who wanted greater autonomy (or independence), and those who wanted to be incorporated as a province of Spain. This was carried on by parties like e.g. those of Barbosa and Munoz Rivera who wanted either statehood or greater autonomy within the US.
But the dizzying political instability of Spain made this a repetitive and monotonous chore. Over and over again we here that the Spanish Government was replaced by a liberal coalition that would promulgate a constitution, either that of Cadiz (1812) or one based on it. They would invite the Puerto Ricans to elect their representatives and send them to Madrid to sit in the Cortes.
And then there would be a reactionary movement restoring the monarchy or some military dictator, and these reforms would be rescinded. But while this story is repeated several times over the nineteenth century, nothing ever seems to have been accomplished. Nothing ever seemed to really change.
This is boring for the reader but must have been awfully frustrating for the people of Puerto Rico, and the curious thing is that they didn't seek to secede from Spain much more vigorously.
The Grito de Lares is covered, of course, though Wagenheim has devoted a separate monograph to that subject. But apart from that and a conspiracy in 1838, the Puerto Ricans made no attempt to break with Spain in the way that the mainland colonies did, or that Cuba was to do repeatedly throughout the nineteenth century.
Wagenheim pays careful attention to the role of women, many of whom were leading revolutionaries advocating for Puerto Rican independence, and who had an important role in the economy and culture, though Wagenheim concedes that their history is difficult to reconstruct.
Wagenheim makes the clever suggestion that women were kept in subjection by the men of Puerto Rico because they felt their dignity was already eroded through colonial oppression. Lording it over women was one of the few ways they could still feel in control of their lives. Pathetic, but plausible.
One interesting point that Wagenheim makes is that the Puerto Rican workers were relatively organized when San Ciriaco hit and depressed the island by destroying the coffee crops and flooding the infrastructure. We saw much the same thing more recently, as recounted by Klein in a book I recently finished.
Wagenheim is not afraid to dispel the notion of an idyllic life before 1898, saying that already most Puerto Ricans were poor and landless even before the American occupation. The nationalist mythos holds that the jibaros were prosperous and owned their own plots before the US sugar companies seized all the property, but it's not true.
As a side note, the word jibaro itself was taken from an anthology of poems by Manuel Alonso, El Gibaro, which commemorated the lush tropical landscape and natural environment on the picturesque island.
I think this book does a very good job in establishing that there is a deep and rich history for Puerto Rico, that the island underwent a considerable evolution over the long centuries under Spanish rule and the Puerto Ricans constitute their own recognizable nation. A nation whose political self-determination has been consistently denied by imperial powers, and one whose very existence is often obscured by comparative neglect and ignorance.
Wagenheim does justice to these people and provides a strong introduction to the bases of Puerto Rican culture and political development.
I was not disappointed in this impression when I picked up this book. This is a comprehensive survey of Puerto Rican history and culture up to the annexation of the island by the United States.
That said, I'm somewhat confused by the title, since Wagenheim says it is an interpretive history. It reads more like a general history, faithfully recounting facts, as far as they can be ascertained, but there is little in the way of interpretation.
There are a few sections involving, say, the partidas in the aftermath of the US invasion where some interpretive conjecture is offered. Were they social in origin? That is, hatred for the Spanish landowner. Or were they nationalist in origin? That is, against the US occupation? Wagenheim says it is inconclusive.
I was anticipated a final chapter that would attempt to interpret the meaning of Puerto Rican history, but alas.
Nonetheless, as a general history this work is very solid and well-written. It reads similarly to Byron Williams's work I read in parallel, but with more details on subjects such as the Taino and the political struggle against Spain.
It also includes far more statistical tables, and information on important aspects of Puerto Rican history such as the enormous expansion of population in the nineteenth century.
We learn specific details about incidents such as Cumberland's capture of San Juan, which he had to give up due to yellow fever which is an episode that would strengthen John Robert McNeill's work on disease and empire in the Caribbean.
We learn about the O'Reilly Mission and the Bourbon Reforms in Puerto Rico, about the strategic value of the island to Spain, and all aspects of Puerto Rican economics and demographics.
What I appreciated most about this book was the final chapters specifically devoted to Puerto Rican cultural figures and cultural movements. There are even Puerto Rican classical composers! There are playwrights, novelists, and we get a good background on Puerto Rican music and dance.
The picture that emerges is that the Puerto Ricans are a distinct and unique people, combining influences of the Taino, African cultural imports, Hispanic heritage, and now American influences too.
For example Wagenheim says that the Taino believed that the souls of the deceased walk around amidst the living, which is a belief that some Puerto Ricans continue today. Puerto Ricans like to collect santos, imagery of saints and Biblical figures, though strangely Wagenheim does not mention zemi.
Perhaps the collection of this Taino-inspired figures is of more recent innovation, a sort of invented tradition.
The sections that dragged the most were the ones involving the political relations with Spain. It is useful to know that there was a division between those who wanted greater autonomy (or independence), and those who wanted to be incorporated as a province of Spain. This was carried on by parties like e.g. those of Barbosa and Munoz Rivera who wanted either statehood or greater autonomy within the US.
But the dizzying political instability of Spain made this a repetitive and monotonous chore. Over and over again we here that the Spanish Government was replaced by a liberal coalition that would promulgate a constitution, either that of Cadiz (1812) or one based on it. They would invite the Puerto Ricans to elect their representatives and send them to Madrid to sit in the Cortes.
And then there would be a reactionary movement restoring the monarchy or some military dictator, and these reforms would be rescinded. But while this story is repeated several times over the nineteenth century, nothing ever seems to have been accomplished. Nothing ever seemed to really change.
This is boring for the reader but must have been awfully frustrating for the people of Puerto Rico, and the curious thing is that they didn't seek to secede from Spain much more vigorously.
The Grito de Lares is covered, of course, though Wagenheim has devoted a separate monograph to that subject. But apart from that and a conspiracy in 1838, the Puerto Ricans made no attempt to break with Spain in the way that the mainland colonies did, or that Cuba was to do repeatedly throughout the nineteenth century.
Wagenheim pays careful attention to the role of women, many of whom were leading revolutionaries advocating for Puerto Rican independence, and who had an important role in the economy and culture, though Wagenheim concedes that their history is difficult to reconstruct.
Wagenheim makes the clever suggestion that women were kept in subjection by the men of Puerto Rico because they felt their dignity was already eroded through colonial oppression. Lording it over women was one of the few ways they could still feel in control of their lives. Pathetic, but plausible.
One interesting point that Wagenheim makes is that the Puerto Rican workers were relatively organized when San Ciriaco hit and depressed the island by destroying the coffee crops and flooding the infrastructure. We saw much the same thing more recently, as recounted by Klein in a book I recently finished.
Wagenheim is not afraid to dispel the notion of an idyllic life before 1898, saying that already most Puerto Ricans were poor and landless even before the American occupation. The nationalist mythos holds that the jibaros were prosperous and owned their own plots before the US sugar companies seized all the property, but it's not true.
As a side note, the word jibaro itself was taken from an anthology of poems by Manuel Alonso, El Gibaro, which commemorated the lush tropical landscape and natural environment on the picturesque island.
I think this book does a very good job in establishing that there is a deep and rich history for Puerto Rico, that the island underwent a considerable evolution over the long centuries under Spanish rule and the Puerto Ricans constitute their own recognizable nation. A nation whose political self-determination has been consistently denied by imperial powers, and one whose very existence is often obscured by comparative neglect and ignorance.
Wagenheim does justice to these people and provides a strong introduction to the bases of Puerto Rican culture and political development.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews