Palau was block-numbered for the first time for the 1990 census. To provide data for locally useful areas, the Census Bureau tried to delineate BGs that approximated the EDs used for the 1973 and 1980 censuses. It worked with Palau’s Office of Planning and Statistics (which delineated the CDPs and conducted the census) to review and refine these areas and group them into BNAs. Taking advantage of Palau being block-numbered for the first time, the Census Bureau selected block boundaries for the 1990 census that would permit approximate separate identification of most of the small settlements, thereby enabling data users to assemble block counts for each one.
The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is the easternmost island in the arc of submerged mountains that form the Greater Antilles and that separate the Atlantic Ocean on the north from the Caribbean Sea on the south. It lies about 1,000 miles east of Miami (see Figure 7-1). Puerto Rico includes the main island, where 99.7 percent of the population (1990 census) lives on approximately 97.3 percent of the land, and numerous small islands and cays (see Figure 7-8). The main island is about 100 miles long by 35 miles wide. Most of the other islands are uninhabited except for the largest ones, Culebra and Vieques, which lie between the main island and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The capital, the municipio of San Juan, was home to 12.4 percent of Puerto Rico’s inhabitants in 1990.
Puerto Rico, Spanish for rich port, was inhabited by Arawak Indians long before Christopher Columbus landed on the island in November 1493 during his second voyage. The Spanish established the first European settlement in 1508, near what is now San Juan. The Spanish maintained control of Puerto Rico until American troops invaded in April 1898 during the Spanish–American War. The Treaty of Paris (December 10, 1898) ceded Puerto Rico—together with Guam and the Philippines—to the United States. A military government ruled until May 1, 1900, when President McKinley appointed the colony’s first civilian governor; 47 years later, President Truman signed legislation that enabled Puerto Ricans to elect their own governor. Puerto Ricans have been able to elect their
