The Caribbean island of Puerto Rico

is an unincorporated territory or commonwealth

of the United States.

This basically means its status is

somewhere between being a state and being

an independent nation.

Puerto Ricans are citizens of the United States,

but if they live on the island of Puerto Rico,

they can't vote in US federal elections.

To better understand the current status of Puerto Rico,

we need to look back through centuries of history.

Puerto Rico's native population is called Taíno,

and their hunter-gatherer ancestors settled the island,

calling it Borinquén 1,000 years before the Spanish arrived.

Native people called themselves Boricua, which

is a phrase still used today.

In 1493, Christopher Columbus' second voyage

led him to the island, and he claimed it for Spain.

Then in 1508, Ponce de Leon founded

the first European settlement, Caparra

on the island's northern shore.

In 1521, Caparra was renamed Puerto Rico,

meaning rich coast, which then became

the name for the whole island.

The capital became San Juan, which is still the capital

today.

For nearly 400 years under Spanish rule,

Puerto Rico would produce cattle,

sugarcane, coffee, and tobacco.

To cultivate these commodities, the Spanish

brought enslaved Africans and forced them to work

under brutal conditions.

But Spanish rule of the island eventually came to an end.

In 1898, the USA was victorious in the four

months Spanish-American War.

Spain ceded Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Philippines, and Guam,

which all became US territories.

Under US rule, Puerto Rico continued

its plantation economy, with sugar being the main crop.

But the economy face changes in 1920

when in the wake of World War I, the Jones Act

made goods expensive to transport

to and from Puerto Rico, which made prices generally higher

on the island.

In the 1940s, the US began operation bootstrap,

a series of economic initiatives to industrialize

Puerto Rico's economy.

The initiatives were successful.

Cheap labor and tax laws attracted

American manufacturers.

Today, Puerto Rico is a leading producer of high tech equipment

and American pharmaceuticals.

Puerto Rico underwent many political changes as well.

In 1900, the Foraker Act required

all US laws apply to Puerto Rico and also established

a civilian government.

The President of the United States

appointed a governor and executive council,

and citizens of Puerto Rico were able to elect 35 members

of his own House of Representatives,

as well as one member of Congress.

That member, however, does not have

the right to vote on the federal laws governing the island.

Puerto Rico officially became a commonwealth in 1948,

and ever since, the future of Puerto Rico's status

has been up for debate.

Should it stay a commonwealth, become an American state,

or become an independent nation?

Three separate votes to answer that question have happened

on the island in 1967, 1993, and 1998, and they all

reaffirmed Puerto Rico's commonwealth status.