Puerto Rico

Upon reaching the mountainous Caribbean island in 1493, explorer Christopher Columbus called the spot where he landed Puerto Rico, or "rich port." But it was Ponce de Leon who declared that name should refer to the entire island when he established the country's first permanent European settlement.

The fourth-largest island in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico lies at the eastern end of the island chain called the Greater Antilles; it includes the islands of Vieques and Culebra in its territory.

A self-governing commonwealth that has been part of the United States since 1952, Puerto Rico offers numerous luxury resorts along its more than 500 miles of coastline, and is visited by more than 5 million tourists annually.

The past 50 years have seen rapid economic development as Puerto Rico has supplemented tourism and its traditional exports of coffee, sugarcane, and tobacco with manufacturing jobs in major pharmaceutical and electronics industries.