A boricua is someone who was born in Puerto Rico.
A boricua is someone born in Puerto Rico . Puerto Ricans, therefore, are Puerto Ricans .
For example: “The Puerto Rican singer will perform next Tuesday at the National Theater,” “The Spanish team hired a Puerto Rican pivot as reinforcement,” “The Puerto Rican writer will be the protagonist of the opening day of the book fair.”
Puerto Rican concept
Puerto Ricans are individuals born on the island of Puerto Rico . The majority of Puerto Ricans reside in said territory or in the United States : it is worth remembering that Puerto Rico has the status of “unincorporated territory” of the United States . It is a nation that maintains a self-governing regime, but is under the sovereignty of the United States .
But the definition of Puerto Rican is not so simple, since not all Puerto Ricans should be called or considered this way. To do this, it is not only necessary to have been born on the island of Puerto Rico , but also to descend from a family that has resided on the island for several generations . The exact number of generations does not seem to be well defined, but it is said that if it does not exceed two then we do not speak of Puerto Ricans, but of Puerto Ricans.
The island of Puerto Rico – “unincorporated territory” of the United States – is the birthplace of Puerto Ricans.
Communities outside the island
As we already indicated, to be Puerto Rican it is not essential to reside in Puerto Rico . Not only is this not one of the requirements, but some statistics indicate that a large part of the Puerto Rican citizens living in New York today are descendants of Puerto Rican families.
There are also large communities of Puerto Ricans in the US Virgin Islands , Dominican Republic , Canada and Mexico .
Etymology of boricua
The etymology of the term Puerto Rican is not clear. There are those who believe that the notion derives from Borinquén , which is an aboriginal name given to the island of Puerto Rico .
Others maintain that boricua comes from boricuá , a word from the Arawak language that referred to those who ate crabs . The Taíno people, who lived on the island , called themselves that way.
The story
In addition to the Taínos, among the original inhabitants of the island of Puerto Rico we find various ethnic groups . The most numerous are Europeans, since they include people from France , Spain (including the Canary Islands ), Germany, Scotland and Portugal . On the other hand, there are the Igbo and the Yoruba , from the African continent, as well as the Lebanese and the Chinese , from Asia .
A Puerto Rico llegaron también esclavos africanos, ya que muchos de los conquistadores los importaban para expandir sus colonias en el Caribbean. Entre todas las etnicas mencionadas hasta el momento se dio un evitable of mixed race, muy común en varias partes de Latin America, y esto explica en gran parte el detrimento de la población nativa.
famous Puerto Ricans
One of the most important names in Puerto Rican culture is Ramón Power y Giralt , one of the first men from the island to decide to call himself Puerto Rican. He was born in the autonomous municipality of San Juan Bautista on October 7, 1775 and dedicated his life to the fight for the rights of his compatriots, so that they would be represented equally before the Cortes Generales of Spain . His parents were of European origin: his mother, María Josefa , was French, while his father was Irish.
Currently, the singer and actor Ricky Martin is one of the most famous Puerto Ricans in the world . He was born on December 24, 1971 in the city of San Juan and began his musical career as part of the group Menudo .
Baseball player Roberto Clemente , boxer Héctor Camacho and basketball player JJ Barea are other Puerto Ricans known worldwide for the success they achieved in their professional activities.