Cultural diversity in Puerto Rico

Puerto Ricans with non-Hispanic surnames

Agustín Stahl

Antonio Mattei Lluberas

Mathias Brugman

Arturo Alfonso Schomburg

Kenneth McClintock

Alejandrina Benítez de Gautier

Non-Hispanic cultural diversity in Puerto Rico and the basic foundation of Puerto Rican culture began with the mixture of the Spanish, Taíno and African cultures in the beginning of the 16th century. In the early 19th century, Puerto Rican culture became more diversified with the arrival of hundreds of families from non-Hispanic countries such as Corsica, France, Germany and Ireland. To a lesser extent other settlers came from Lebanon, China, Portugal and Scotland.

Factors that contributed to the immigration of non-Hispanic families to Puerto Rico included the advent of the Second Industrial Revolution, and widespread crop failures in Europe. All this, plus the spread of the cholera epidemic, came at a time when desire for independence was growing among Spanish subjects of Spain's last two colonies in the Western Hemisphere, Puerto Rico and Cuba.

As a consequence the Spanish Crown made concessions with the establishment of the "Real Cédula de Gracias de 1815" (Royal Decree of Graces of 1815), which allowed European Catholics to settle in the island with land allotments in the interior of the island, provided they agreed to pay taxes and continue to support the Catholic Church.^[1] In 1870, the Spanish Courts also passed the "Acta de Culto Condicionado" (Conditional Cult Act), a law granting the right of religious freedom to all those who wished to worship another religion other than the Catholic religion.

In Puerto Rico they adopted the local customs and intermarried with the locals. One of the consequences of the diversification of the cultures is that there are many Puerto Ricans and people of Puerto Rican descent who have non-Hispanic surnames. Puerto Rican surnames are not limited to those from Spain. Puerto Ricans commonly use both their father's and mother's surnames. It is thus not unusual to find someone with a non-Hispanic surname and a Hispanic surname. Two examples are Ramón Power y Giralt and Demetrio O'Daly y Puente. Both of these Puerto Ricans have their father's Irish surname and their mother's Spanish surname.^[2]

Other factors, such as the Great Depression and World War II, contributed to the large migration of Puerto Ricans to the United States mainland. Many Puerto Ricans married with non-Hispanics and had children of Puerto Rican descent who were inscribed with non-Hispanic surnames.^[2]

Since 2007, the Government of Puerto Rico has been issuing "Certificates of Puerto Rican Citizenship" to anyone born in Puerto Rico or to anyone born outside of Puerto Rico with at least one parent who was born in Puerto Rico.^[3][4] Puerto Rican citizenship was first legislated by the United States Congress in Article 7 of the Foraker Act of 1900^[5] and later recognized in the Constitution of Puerto Rico.^[6][7] Puerto Rican citizenship existed before the U.S. takeover of the islands of Puerto Rico and continued afterwards.^[6][8]

The contributions made by non-Hispanics to music, art, literature language, cuisine, religion and heritage, were instrumental in the development of modern-day Puerto Rican culture. The mixture of both the Hispanic and non-Hispanic immigrant cultures are evident in the island's political, commercial and religious structures.