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Island History

HISTORICALLY, VIEQUES HAS HAD SEVERAL NAMES.  IT WAS ORIGINALLY NAMED BIEQUES (SMALL ISLAND) BY THE ABORIGINES, WHOSE CHIEFS CAME TO BE KNOWN BY THIS NAME. 

THE FIRST SPANISH EXPLORERS CALLED IT AND OTHER NEARBY ISLANDS "LAS ISLAS INUTILES", THE USELESS ISLANDS, SINCE THE ISLANDS CONTAINED NO GOLD.  BUCCANEERS, WHO SOUGHT REFUGE IN ITS MANY COVES, CALLED VIEQUES "CRAB ISLAND" AFTER THE MANY LAND CRABS FOUND THERE.  ALONG WITH PUERTO RICO AND CULEBRA, VIEQUES WAS LATER KNOWN AS ONE OF THE SPANISH VIRGIN ISLANDS.

LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT THE ORIGINAL INDIAN INHABITANTS.  DURING THE INDIAN REBELLION AGAINST THE SPANISH IN 1511, MANY ARAWAK INDIANS FROM PUERTO RICO FOUND REFUGE ON THE ISLAND, LATER JOINING WITH THEIR ONCE DEADLY ENEMIES, THE CARIBS TO CROSS THE WATERS TO PUERTO RICO AND ATTACK SPANISH SETTLEMENTS.

COLUMBUS TOUCHED ON THE ISLAND IN 1493 ON HIS SECOND VOYAGE TO THE "NEW WORLD", BUT IT WAS NOT FULLY EXPLORED BY THE SPANISH UNTIL 1524, WHEN CAPTAIN CRISTOBAL DE MENDOZA, WHO SOME YEARS BEFORE HAD BEEN THE GOVERNOR OF PUERTO RICO, VISITED THE ISLAND.  IN THE LATTER HALF OF THE 16TH CENTURY, SPANISH SETTLERS FROM MAINLAND PUERTO RICO COLONIZED VIEQUES. 

IN LATER YEARS IT BECAME NECESSARY ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS FOR THE SPANISH TO LAUNCH EXPEDITIONS FROM PUERTO RICO AGAINST BRITISH AND LATER FRENCH FORCES ATTEMPTING TO ESTABLISH CLAIMS FOR THEIR COUNTRIES.  THE BRITISH, LED BY JOHN PINARD, WERE DEFEATED IN 1647; THE FRENCH A FEW YEARS LATER.  TWO MORE BRITISH ATTEMPTS TO HOLD THE ISLAND WERE REPULSED IN 1718 AND 1753.

 

BY 1839, SPAIN ORDERED THE CONSTRUCTION OF A FORT ON THE HEIGHTS AT PUERTO REAL, OVERLOOKING THE CARIBBEAN CLOSE TO THE CENTER OF THE SMALL ISLAND, BUT THIS DID NOT END THE CONTESTED STORMY POLITICAL LIFE OF THE SMALL ISLAND.  IN 1854, HOWEVER, THE GOVERNOR OF PUERTO RICO, DON RAFAEL ARISTEGUI, ANNEXED IT FORMALLY TO PUERTO RICO.  FINALLY IN FIRM POSSESSION, THE SPANISH DECLARED IT A FREE PORT, AND UNTIL 1880 IT WAS A POINT OF CALL FOR MANY FRENCH AND BRITISH MERCHANTMEN.

AT THE END OF THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR IN 1898, VIEQUES ALONG WITH PUERTO RICO WAS CEDED TO THE UNITED STATES.  THEIR PEOPLE BECAME CITIZENS IN 1917.  IN 1952, THE ISLANDS OF VIEQUES, CULEBRA, MONA AND PUERTO RICO WERE JOINED INTO THE COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO.

VIEQUES GOT LITTLE ATTENTION IN THIS CENTURY UNTIL 1948 WHEN THE U.S. NAVY ACTED ON A 1942 AUTHORIZATION OF THE CONGRESS AND TOOK POSSESSION OF APPROXIMATELY TWO-THIRDS OF THE ISLAND. 

IN MAY 2003 THE NAVY GAVE UP ALL OF ITS LAND ON VIEQUES, AND IT HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER BY THE US DEPT. OF THE INTERIOR, AND MANAGED BY THE FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE AS THE CARIBBEAN'S LARGEST WILDLIFE REFUGE.