Was Puerto Rico a European Settlement?

Puerto Rico was first a European discovery by Christopher Columbus in 1493. Columbus, in the service of Spain, landed on the northeastern coast of Puerto Rico (now called Aguadilla), on November 19, 1493. He claimed the island for Spain. In November 1508, Spanish colonialists arrived on the west coast of Puerto Rico where modern-day Aguadilla is now located.

Spain had an established settlement on the north coast of Puerto Rico by 1521. San Juan became the administrative center of the new colony, later the colonial capital, and eventually became the political capital of today's Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.