Anglo-American migration to Puerto Rico?

[Reflection]

Puerto Rico has existed as a territory of the United States since 1898, without ever gaining full statehood. It's easily the best known, and most populated, of the US territories today. But, for over sixty years, PR existed in the same vein as Alaska and Hawaii, both of which would gain full statehood in 1959.

But, famously, PR has not gained such statehood and the prospect that it will is limited at best. But one major reason why it's able to stay as such is the language barrier: Puerto Rico being Spanish speaking, and very much a part of the culture of both the Caribbean and Latin America. On the other end, Alaska and Hawaii were English speaking, and thus very much connected to the United States, making a clear path for them to achieve statehood. And that made me think about this possibility...

How feasible is it for there to be a substantial migration of Anglo-Americans to Puerto Rico, for reasons pertaining to business, religious services and other projects, that would in turn make PR more connected to America, and lead to a clearer path to statehood?

Between things like PR's natural resources of copper, nickel and oil, rich farmlands that produce valuable crops like sugar, coffee, pineapples and bananas, the overall natural beauty from the beaches to the forests and mountains, the strategic location in the Caribbean sea, as well as likely a desire to convert certain locals to Protestantism and educate them in "civilized" ways, I can see any one of those reasons for why PR would be more important.

This had happened for both Alaska and Hawaii, under different circumstances, that eventually led to them becoming a full part of the US. But in the case of Puerto Rico, it's always been divorced from the US in many ways, and it's not uncommon for someone in America to not even know Puerto Rico is part of the country.

Was there any real chance at this, and could it have led to the US state of Puerto Rico existing?

 

[Quintuplicate]

I think Puerto Rico is too dense for that.

 

[Clandango]

Unless you were dealing with silver or gold, you didn’t often get Americans moving en masse on an individual basis overseas to mine minerals. The fruit, tobacco, and other stuff could already be grown in the mainland US or the land was already owned by locals. Despite how the old stereotype of Hispanics was them being lazy and sleeping all day, it was similar to the stereotypes of Blacks. A bunch of white plantation owners and overseers force darker skinned people to work in the middle of the day under sweltering sun, while the more purely Europeans sat on a porch or stood with a whip and enjoyed the profits. You won’t be finding homesteaders coming down to this cramped island, where the climate, culture, food, and stuff grown would be so very different from what they were sued to. Besides, they had Central America for a lot of that stuff, where they could more easily evict people through middlemen and then have the locals work Or Else. I have think having Puerto Rico less American politically might help out if they become what Cuba was for a while, with the gambling and alcohol. Might be good for business, though rather a longer trip than from Miami to Havana, plus if Puerto Rico is independent at any point it will not become a State, merely another satellite.

 

[JohnBull]

Between things like PR's natural resources of copper, nickel and oil, rich farmlands that produce valuable crops like sugar, coffee, pineapples and bananas, the overall natural beauty from the beaches to the forests and mountains, the strategic location in the Caribbean sea, as well as likely a desire to convert certain locals to Protestantism and educate them in "civilized" ways, I can see any one of those reasons for why PR would be more important.

I don't think the Catholic White Spanish elite would appreciate that attitude, implying they need to be "civilized". They were/are, as the White US, spearhead of European colonialism, and therefore, they also had this sense of own superiority.

 

[Reflection]

I don't think the Catholic White Spanish elite would appreciate that attitude, implying they need to be "civilized". They were/are, as the White US, spearhead of European colonialism, and therefore, they also had this sense of own superiority.

I was referring to the lower classes.

 

[JohnBull]

I was referring to the lower classes.

This actually happened/happens all over Latin America and evangelicals are big and growing minorities in several countries and they spread through lower classes. However, even though the movement was started by Americans, it didn't translate into American influence. It became completely national/local phenomena very quickly.

As people mentioned, Puerto Rico is densely populated and it has its own European colonial baggage. The situation is more akin to French in Canada and Afrikaners in South Africa: even under an English-speaking control, surrounded by English-speaking settlers, they still remained intact.

 

[Jiraiyathegallant]

Puerto Rico is beginning a population collapse currently. If fertility in Puerto Rico fell below the replacement rate in the early 70s instead of the late 90s this could have started 25 years earlier. That might make opportunities for dirt cheap retirements, vacation homes, and settlements in general. These hypothetical migrants might be able to make it a state in the aftermath of the collapse of the island.

 

[racevedo88]

Having been born n the island , and lived between the mainland and the island through my life. There is a lot of misconceptions in your initial thoughts and assumptions. However, a lot of these fall under current politics, so i wont discuss in this forum

 

[Gillan1220]

An American migration to Puerto Rico was possible. I just don't know why it didn't happen. If the U.S. was running trade in Cuba and even casinos, Puerto Rico would probably have met a similar happening.

 

[racevedo88]

Look into Puerto Rican migration to Hawaii