What Is The Size Of Puerto Rico
| Native name: Borinquen (Taino) Nickname: Isla del Encanto (Island of Enchantment) | |
|---|---|
 Satellite photo of Puerto Rico | |
 | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Caribbean Sea |
| Coordinates | 18°15′N 66°30′W / xviii.250°North 66.500°West / 18.250; -66.500 |
| Archipelago | Greater Antilles |
| Total islands | 5 |
| Major islands | Vieques Culebra |
| Area | 9,104 km2 (3,515 sq mi) |
| Length | 170 km (106 mi) |
| Width | 60 km (37 mi) |
| Coastline | 501 km (311.3 mi) |
| Highest top | 1,338 m (4390 ft) |
| Highest betoken | Cerro de Punta |
| Administration | |
| United States | |
| Territory | Puerto Rico |
| Largest settlement | San Juan (pop. 434,374) |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 3,994,259 (2007) |
| Pop. density | 438.74/kmtwo (1136.33/sq mi) |
| Indigenous groups | White 80.five%, Mulatto 10.nine%, Black eight.0%, Amerindian 0.4%, Asian 0.2% |
The geography of Puerto Rico consists of an archipelago located between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Body of water, due east of the Dominican Republic or Hispaniola, w of the Virgin Islands and north of Venezuela. The main isle of Puerto Rico is the smallest and virtually eastern of the Greater Antilles. With an expanse of 3,515 square miles (9,104 km2), information technology is the third largest island in the U.s.a. and the 82nd largest island in the earth. Diverse smaller islands and cays, including Vieques, Culebra, Mona, Desecheo, and Caja de Muertos comprise the remainder of the archipelago with but Culebra and Vieques being inhabited year-round. Mona is uninhabited through large parts of the yr except for employees of the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources.
The mainland measures some 96 nautical miles (110.5 mi; 177.viii km) by 35 nautical miles (40.3 mi; 64.8 km), larger than the state of Rhode Isle but smaller than Connecticut. It is more often than not mountainous with large coastal areas in the north and southward regions of the island. Some popular beaches on the north-westward side of the island are Jobos Beach, Maria's Beach, Domes Beach and Sandy Beach. The chief mountainous range is called the Cordillera Central (Cardinal Mountain Range). The highest tiptop point of Puerto Rico, Cerro de Punta (4,390 feet or 1,338 meters),[1] is located in this range. Some other important peak is El Yunque, located in the Sierra de Luquillo at the El Yunque National Forest, with a maximum elevation of three,494 anxiety (i,065 m). The capital, San Juan, is located on the main island'southward north coast.
Concrete geography [edit]
The archipelago of Puerto Rico is located betwixt the Caribbean area Ocean and the Due north Atlantic sea, eastward of the Dominican Commonwealth and westward of the Virgin Islands. Located in the northeastern Caribbean Sea, Puerto Rico was fundamental to the Spanish Empire since the early years of exploration, conquest and colonization of the New World.
The topography of the principal isle is divided into iii major regions: the mountainous region, which includes the Cordillera Central, the Sierra de Luquillo, the Sierra de Cayey, and Sierra Bermeja; the coastal plains; and the northern karst region. The Cordillera Fundamental extends through the entire isle, dividing it into the northern and southern regions. The mountain region accounts for approximately 60% of the country area.
The archipelago of Culebra, located east of Puerto Rico, northward of Vieques, and w of the Virgin Islands, is composed of the chief isle of Culebra and 28 uninhabited islets.[2] Mainly mountainous, the island of Culebra possesses globe-renowned beaches.
Climate [edit]
Located in the tropics, Puerto Rico enjoys an average temperature of 81 °F (27 °C) throughout the year. The seasons do not change very drastically. The temperature in the south is ordinarily a few degrees higher than the north and temperatures in the central interior mountains are e'er libation than the rest of the island. The highest temperature tape was in the municipality of San German with 105 °F (40.6 °C) and the minimum registration is 39 °F (three.9 °C) in Aibonito. The dry flavour spans from December to April while the moisture flavor coincides with the Atlantic hurricane season from May to November.
Rivers and lakes [edit]
Map of the Río Piedras Watershed, also known equally the San Juan Bay Estuary Watershed (2015), and ends in the San Juan Bay
Puerto Rico has lakes (none of them natural)[3] and more than than 50 rivers. Nigh of these rivers are built-in in the Cordillera Fundamental, Puerto Rico's principal mountain range located across the heart of the island. The rivers in the north of the isle are bigger and with higher menstruation capacity than those of the south. The south is thus drier and hotter than the n. These rivers make up 60 watersheds throughout the isle, where over 95% of the runoff goes dorsum to ocean.
Flora and fauna [edit]
Map of the ecosystems of Puerto Rico
As of 1998,[iv] 239 plants, 16 birds and 39 amphibians/reptiles take been discovered that are owned to the archipelago of Puerto Rico. The majority of these (234, 12 and 33 respectively) are found on the master isle. The almost recognizable endemic species and a symbol of Puerto Rican pride are the coquis (Eleutherodactylus spp.), pocket-sized frogs easily recognized past the sound from which they go their proper noun. El Yunque National Wood, a tropical rainforest, is abode to the majority (13 of xvi) of species of coqui. Information technology is also home to more than 240 plants, 26 of which are owned, and 50 bird species, including the critically endangered Puerto Rican amazon (Amazona vittata).
Forests [edit]
Greenery of Puerto Rico as seen in an OpenStreetMap map of Puerto Rico
Forests of Puerto Rico are well represented by the flora of the Luquillo Experimental Forest (LEF), a Long Term Ecological Research Network site managed by the United States Forest Service and University of Puerto Rico. At this site, there are iv master life zones, delineated on the basis of temperature and precipitation (Holdridge System), in the Sierra de Luquillo: subtropical moisture and subtropical rain forests are plant at depression and mid elevations, lower montane rain and lower montane moisture forests at loftier elevations. There is also an area of subtropical moist forest at low elevations on the southwest slope.
Tabonuco forest, so named for the dominant tabonuco tree (Dacryodes excelsa), covers lower slopes to about 2,000 ft (610 m). In well-developed stands the larger trees exceed 98 ft (30 chiliad) in tiptop, at that place is a adequately continuous canopy at 66 ft (twenty m), and the shaded understory is moderately dense. Tabonuco trees are especially large on ridges, where they are firmly rooted in the rocky substrate and connected past root grafts with each other. There are about 168 tree species in the tabonuco forest.
The palo colorado woods, named for the large palo colorado tree (Cyrilla racemiflora), begins above the tabonuco forest and extends up to most 3,000 ft (910 thou). Its awning reaches only virtually 49 ft (15 1000). Soils are saturated and root mats above the soil are common. There are some 53 tree species in this forest type. At this same elevation, but in especially steep and wet areas, is palm wood, heavily dominated by the sierra palm tree (Prestoea montana). Patches of palm forest are also constitute in saturated riparian areas in the tabonuco woods. The palm woods reaches almost 15 g in height.
At the highest elevations is dwarf woods, a dense wood as short equally 9.8 ft (3.0 thousand), on saturated soils. Hither the copse are covered with epiphytic mosses and vascular plants, particularly bromeliads, and these also cover large areas of the ground. Ascending the Luquillo mountains through these forest types, the boilerplate tree meridian and diameter, number of tree species, and basal surface area (cross sectional area of tree stems) tend to decrease, while stem density increases.
At that place are more than than 89 tree species in the LEF. The most common are Prestoea acuminata, Casearia arborea, Dacryodes excelsa, Manilkara bidentata, Inga laurina, and Sloanea berteroana. Common shrub species are Palicourea croceoides, Psychotria berteriana, and Piper glabrescens. Grasses, ferns, and forbs are frequent on the ground, especially in canopy gaps; epiphytes are adequately common, and vines are uncommon.[5]
Puerto Rican dry forests are dominated past plants in the families Rubiaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and Myrtaceae. In this regard they are similar to Jamaican dry out forests, just differ sharply from dry forests on the mainland of South and Central America, which are dominated by Fabaceae and Bignoniaceae.[6]
Mario Javier Fernandez-Vega is a Puerto Rican forester who uses silvicultural techniques. Fernandez is currently developing cutting edge forestry methods known as the "Borincano Model". The model capitalizes on the multifariousness of ecological niches in Puerto Rican forests and native disturbance regimes to formulate practices uniquely suited to the forests of the territory. About his model Fernandez has been known to comment, "Soy de aquí como el coquí" (I am from hither merely like the coqui), a common patriotic axiom that is used to demonstrate their native ties to the island. The coqui and its unique vocalizations are indigenous to the isle of Puerto Rico. However, in that location are thriving populations of coquis that, like the people of Puerto Rico, accept been transported to the island of Hawaii. The coqui is viewed as an ecological menace in Hawaii where its song of co kee co kee is found to be an irritant past many. Needless to say that efforts to eradicate its presence in Hawaii is not a popular issue among Puerto Ricans.[7]
Topography [edit]
Topographic map of Puerto Rico, 1952.
Puerto Rico is mostly mountainous with large coastal areas in the north and southward. The main mountain range is chosen "La Cordillera Central" (The Primal Range). The highest summit in Puerto Rico, Cerro de Punta 4,393 feet (ane,339 m),[8] is located in this range. Another of import peak is El Yunque, the 2d highest peak in the Sierra de Luquillo at the El Yunque National Woods, with an acme of 3,494 ft (ane,065 chiliad).[9]
Geology [edit]
Puerto Rico is equanimous of Cretaceous to Eocene volcanic and plutonic rocks, which are overlain by younger Oligocene to contempo carbonates and other sedimentary rocks. Most of the caverns and karst topography on the island occurs in the northern Oligocene to recent carbonates. The oldest rocks are approximately 190 one thousand thousand years erstwhile (Jurassic) and are located at Sierra Bermeja in the southwest function of the island. These rocks may stand for function of the oceanic crust and are believed to come from the Pacific Body of water realm. Puerto Rico lies at the boundary between the Caribbean and North American plates. This means that information technology is currently existence deformed by the tectonic stresses caused by the interaction of these plates. These stresses may cause earthquakes and tsunamis. These seismic events, along with landslides, represent some of the most dangerous geologic hazards in the island and in the northeastern Caribbean. The most recent major earthquake occurred on October 11, 1918, with seismic moment estimated at seven.5 on the moment magnitude scale.[ten] Information technology originated off the declension of Aguadilla and was accompanied by a seismic sea wave.[11]
Lying well-nigh 75 mi (121 km) north of Puerto Rico in the Atlantic Ocean at the boundary betwixt the Caribbean and Northward American plates is the Puerto Rico Trench, the largest and deepest trench in the Atlantic. The trench is 1,090 mi (i,750 km) long and about 97 km (60 mi) broad. At its deepest point, named the Milwaukee Depth, information technology is 27,493 ft (eight,380 m) deep, or about 5.21 mi (8.38 km).
Political geography [edit]
| Historical Administrative Divisions [12] | |
|---|---|
| Departamento | Ayuntamiento |
| Aguadilla | |
| Aguada | |
| Aguadilla | |
| Isabella | |
| Lares | |
| Moca | |
| Rincón | |
| San Sebastian | |
| Arecibo | |
| Arecibo | |
| Barceloneta | |
| Camuy | |
| Ciales | |
| Hatillo | |
| Manatí | |
| Morovi | |
| Quebradillas | |
| Utuado | |
| Bayamón | |
| Bayamón | |
| Carolina | |
| Corozal | |
| Dorado | |
| Loiza | |
| Naranjito | |
| Rio Grande | |
| Rio Piedras | |
| Toa Alta | |
| Toa Baja | |
| Trujillo Alto | |
| Vega Alta | |
| Vega Baja | |
| San Juan | |
| Guayama | |
| Aguas Buenas | |
| Arroyo | |
| Caguas | |
| Cayey | |
| Cidra | |
| Guayama | |
| Gurabo | |
| Hato Grande | |
| Juncos | |
| Sabana del Palmar | |
| Salinas | |
| Humacao | |
| Ceiba | |
| Fajardo | |
| Humacao | |
| Luquillo | |
| Maunabo | |
| Naguabo | |
| Patillas | |
| Piedras | |
| Vieques | |
| Yabucoa | |
| Mayagüez[thirteen] | |
| Anasco | |
| Cabo Rojo | |
| Hormigueros | |
| Lajas, | |
| Las Marias | |
| Maricao | |
| Mayagüez | |
| Sabana Grande | |
| San German language | |
| Ponce district[14] | |
| Adjuntas | |
| Aibonito | |
| Barranquitas | |
| Barros | |
| Coamo | |
| Guayanilla | |
| Juana Diaz | |
| Penuelas | |
| Ponce | |
| Santa Isabel | |
| Yauco | |
Map of Puerto Rico'south municipalities, 2009
Every bit an unincorporated territory of the The states, Puerto Rico does non have any offset-guild administrative divisions as defined past the U.Due south. Government, only in that location are 78 municipalities at the second level. Municipalities are further subdivided into barrios, and those into sectors. Each municipality has a mayor and a municipal legislature elected for a 4-year term.
History [edit]
The get-go municipality (previously called "town") of Puerto Rico, San Juan, was founded in 1521. In the 16th century two more municipalities were established, Coamo (1570) and San Germán (1570). Three more than 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 thirty municipalities being established in the 18th century and 34 more in the 19th century. Only half dozen municipalities were founded in the 20th century with the last, Florida, beingness founded in 1971.[xv]
Map of Puerto Rico showing regional districts, 1886
Nether Spanish rule, as of the 1880s,[ chronology citation needed ] Puerto Rico was subdivided into regional districts (or "departamentos") that contained smaller ayuntamientes (municipalities).[sixteen]
References [edit]
- ^ "Elevations and Distances in the United States". U.South Geological Survey. Apr 29, 2005. Retrieved Oct 23, 2017.
- ^ "ISLAND, canton CULEBRA, state PR". Lat-Long.com. Archived from the original on March three, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2006.
- ^ Los Lagos de Puerto Rico Archived December 25, 2004, at the Wayback Automobile (in Spanish)
- ^ Isle Directory.
- ^ "Luquillo LTER – LUQ Description". Long Term {{subst:lc:Ecological}} Enquiry Network. Archived from the original on May 27, 2010.
- ^ Gentry, A.H. (1995) Diversity and floristic limerick of neotropical dry forests. pp. 146–194 in S.H. Bullock, H.A. Mooney and E. Medina (editors) Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
- ^ Times, Los Angeles. "Tiny coqui frog becomes a big trouble in Hawaii". latimes.com.
- ^ CIA – The Globe Factbook – Puerto Rico#Geography.
- ^ "Caribbean National Forest - El Yunque Trail #15 - GORP.com". Archived from the original on August eighteen, 2010.
- ^ Suarez, Luis Due east. (2012). Paz, Mario (ed.). "Puerto Rico". International Handbook of Earthquake Engineering: Codes, Programs, and Examples. Springer Science & Business Media: 401. ISBN9781461520696.
- ^ Reid, Harry Fielding; Taber, Stephen (1919). The Porto Rico earthquake of 1918 with descriptions of earlier earthquakes: Written report of the Earthquake Investigation Commission. Government Print Office.
- ^ José Gimeno Agius (1885). "Poblacion y comercio de la isla de Puerto Rico". Revista de España (in Spanish). Madrid. 102: 546+.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ K. de Magalhães (1898). "Towns and Townships of the Province of Mayaguez". Colonial Business Directory of the Island of Puerto Rico. New York. OCLC 39940968.
- ^ M. de Magalhães (1898). "Towns and Townships of the Province of Ponce". Colonial Business Directory of the Island of Puerto Rico. New York. OCLC 39940968.
- ^ LinktoPR.com – Fundación de los Pueblos (in Spanish). Archived September 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Porto Rico", Encyclopædia Britannica, Chicago, 1895
Farther reading [edit]
- Living with the Puerto Rico Shore, David Thou. Bush, Richard K. T. Webb, José González Liboy, Knuckles University Press, 1995
- Atlas de la Historia de Puerto Rico, Dr. Arturo Santana, Rafael Torrech, Editorial Cordillera, 1988, OCLC 912779331, ISBN 978-0884951513
- The Geographic Regions of Puerto Rico, Rafael Picó, 1950, OCLC number 1649057
- Nueva Geografía de Puerto Rico: Física, Económica y Social, Rafael Picó, 1975
- Elementos de Geografía de Puerto Rico, Dr. José F. Cadilla, Ángel Cruz, Sara Diez-Trigo, 1988
- González Vales, Luis E. (Nov xv, 2005). "La geografía en la historiografía puertorriqueña" (PDF). Oficina de Servicios Legislativos (in Castilian).
Coordinates: xviii°15′Due north 66°xxx′W / 18.250°N 66.500°Due west / 18.250; -66.500
What Is The Size Of Puerto Rico,
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Puerto_Rico
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