A U.S. Territory, Puerto Rico is the largest and most populated of an archipelago of several islands. It is a rectangular shaped island with fertile coasts and a rugged, fairly mountainous interior with lush rainforest. The island is one of the most densely populated areas of land in the world, with more than a third of the three million-plus inhabitants living in the busy capital, San Juan.
     Numerous American companies operate on the island, while tourism remains one of the main industries. Christopher Columbus first landed on Puerto Rico in 1493. Fifteen years later Spanish conquistadors arrived and fought off the objecting native Taino Indians, killing a large number of them. The first governor was Ponce de Leon, who had previously travelled with Columbus and who thought the island might be the location of the Fountain of Youth. When this proved not to be the case, he left the island to continue his quest elsewhere.
     Spain continued to develop the island, exploiting its crops of sugar and cotton and expanding its maritime activities. The Spanish hung on to the island in the face of rivalry from the English, French and Dutch, before losing out to the US in the 1898 Spanish-American war. The status of the island was consolidated by legal statute in 1917, when the population was given US citizenship, but not the US vote.
     The capital of San Juan is divided into two distinct areas. One, the walled old town, is reflected in delightful Spanish colonial buildings, cobbled streets and ancient churches, the other in modern hotels, restaurants and casinos. The cultural mix of the population is also distinctive, a combination of Taino Indians, Spanish and other Europeans, Africans, Americans and, more recently, Cubans. As one of Puerto Rico's best known citizens, Ricky Martin, once said of his country: "It is not one thing, it is one thousand things together and even if I could list them all, it would be better to simply say Puerto Rico; maybe this is why I find it so easy to sing in Spanglish, the language spoken in the quarter where I was born."