In the 2020 United States census of Puerto Rico, the number of people who indicated "White alone" for their race was 536,044 or 16.5%, with an additional non-Hispanic 24,548, for a total population of 560,592 or 17.1% of the population.
Aside from Spanish—largely Canarian—settlers, additional Europeans of many families from France, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Ireland, Scandinavia, among others, immigrated to Puerto Rico when the island was an Overseas Province of Spain, particularly during the 1800s due to the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815, where Spain encouraged immigration from other European countries to Puerto Rico.
Population history An early Census on the island was conducted by Governor Lieutenant General Francisco Manuel de Lando in 1530. A 1765 census was taken by Lieutenant General Alexander O'Reilly which (according to some sources) showed 17,572 whites out of a total population of 44,883. All censuses from 1765 to 1887 were taken by the Spanish government who conducted at irregular intervals. The 1899 census was taken by the War Ministry of the United States. Since 1910 Puerto Rico has been included in every decennial census taken by the United States. European / white population census 1765 - 2020 Year Population % Year Population % 176517,572 - 1887474,93359.5 177530,70940.41897573,18764.3178746,75645.51899589,42661.8 180278,28148.01910732,55565.5 181285,66246.81920948,70973.0 1820 102,43244.419301,146,71974.3 1827150,31149.719401,430,74476.5 1827150,31149.719501,762,41179.71836188,86952.9 20003,064,86280.5 1860 300,40651.5 20102,825,10075.8Puerto Rico: 2010 - Summary Population and Housing Characteristics 2010 Census of Population and Housing. 1877411,71256.3 2020 560,592 17.1
Definition in Puerto Rico White Puerto Ricans are Puerto Ricans who self-identify as "white", typically due to predominant European ancestry. Historically, the concept has its origins in a post-colonial era in which the Council of the Indies had stipulated that it was "useful and necessary" to keep the "contaminated castes" apart from the whites and the legitimate mestizos (here meaning of mixed white-colored blood through four generations of legitimate parentage with one parent in each generation having been white), "and in a class excluded from the public offices and honors, distinctions, and prerogatives" to which only whites and mestizos were privileged. Thus, the free-colored population was stigmatized as being among the "contaminated castes" ineligible to possess the rights and exercise the privileges thereof, including holding public office. As a result, many free people of color sought the status of legal whiteness but were required to prove "free and legitimate descent of four generations" in order to obtain full citizenship and bureaucratic opportunity unavailable to free people of color. As a result, the process of whitening one's lineage was normalized.Not of Pure Blood. Jay Kinsbruner. Duke University Press. 1996. Page 22. Retrieved 27 January 2012. The term "white Puerto Rican", as well as that of "colored Puerto Rican", was coined by the United States Department of Defense in order to handle their own North American problem with nonwhite people whom they were drafting and had its basis on the American one-drop rule.Sidney W. Mintz. Three Ancient Colonies: Caribbean Themes and Variations. Harvard University Press. 2010. p. 175.
European settlement Spain
Puerto Rico was a Spanish Overseas Province for nearly 400 years. The bulk of Puerto Ricans' European ancestry is from Spain. In 1899, one year after the United States invaded and took control of the island, 61.8% of people were identified as White. In the 2020 United States Census the total of Puerto Ricans that identified as White was 17.1%. The European heritage of Puerto Ricans comes primarily from one source: Spaniards (including Canarians, Catalans, Castilians, Galicians, Asturians, and Andalusians) and Basques. Though, the Canary Islands of Spain has had the most influence on Puerto Rico, and is where most Puerto Ricans can trace their ancestry. It is estimated up to 82% of Puerto Ricans are partially descended from people from the southern regions of Spain, Andalusia and the Canary Islands.Las raíces isleñas de Mayagüez (in Spanish: The island roots of Mayagüez) by Federico Cedó Alzamora, Official Historian of Mayagüez.
Canary Islanders The first wave of Canarian migration to Puerto Rico seems to be in 1695, followed by others in 1714, 1720, 1731, and 1797. The number of Canarians that immigrated to Puerto Rico in the first three centuries of Iberian rule is not known to any degree of precision. However, Dr. Estela Cifré de Loubriel and other scholars of the Canarian migration to America, such as Dr. Manuel González Hernández of the University of La Laguna, Tenerife, agree that they formed the bulk of the jíbaro, or white peasant stock, of the mountainous interior of the island.
The Isleños increased their commercial traffic and immigration to the two remaining Spanish colonies in America, Puerto Rico and Cuba. Even after the Spanish–American War of 1898, Canarian immigration to the Americas continued. Successive waves of Canarian immigration continued to arrive in Puerto Rico, where entire villages were founded by relocated islanders.
In the 1860s, Canarian immigration to America took place at the rate of over 2,000 per year, at a time when the total island population was 237,036. In the two-year period 1885–1886, more than 4,500 Canarians emigrated to Spanish possessions, with only 150 to Puerto Rico. Between 1891 and 1895 Canarian immigrants to Puerto Rico numbered 600. These are official figures; if illegal or concealed emigration is taken into account, the numbers may be much larger.
The Canarian cultural influence in Puerto Rico is one of the most important components in that many villages were founded by these immigrants, starting in 1493 until 1890 and beyond. Many Spaniards, especially Canarians, chose Puerto Rico because of its Hispanic ties and relative proximity in comparison with other former Spanish colonies. They searched for security and stability in an environment similar to that of the Canary Islands and Puerto Rico was the most suitable. This began as a temporary exile which became a permanent relocation and the last significant wave of Spanish or European migration to Puerto Rico.
Royal Decree of Graces of 1815
By 1825, the Spanish Empire had lost all of its territories in the Americas with the exception of Cuba and Puerto Rico. These two possessions, however, had been demanding more autonomy since the formation of pro-independence movements in 1808. Realizing that it was in danger of losing its two remaining Caribbean territories, the Spanish Crown revived the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815.
The decree was printed in three languages—Spanish, French, and English—intending to attract mainland Spaniards and other Europeans, with the hope that the independence movements would lose their popularity and strength with the arrival of new settlers.
Under the Spanish Royal Decree of Graces, immigrants were granted land and initially given a "Letter of Domicile" after swearing loyalty to the Spanish Crown and allegiance to the Catholic Church. After five years they could request a "Letter of Naturalization" that would make them Spanish subjects. The Royal Decree was intended for non-Hispanic Europeans and not Asians nor people that were not Christian.
In 1897, the Spanish Cortes also granted Puerto Rico a Charter of Autonomy, which recognized the island's sovereignty and right to self-government. By April 1898, the first Puerto Rican legislature was elected and called to order.
Corsica
Hundreds of Corsicans and their families immigrated to Puerto Rico from as early as 1830, and their numbers peaked in the early 1900s. The first Spanish settlers settled and owned the land in the coastal areas, the Corsicans tended to settle the mountainous southwestern region of the island, primary in the towns of Adjuntas, Lares, Utuado, Ponce, Coamo, Yauco, Guayanilla and Guánica. However, it was Yauco whose rich agricultural area attracted the majority of the Corsican settlers. The three main crops in Yauco were coffee, sugar cane and tobacco. The new settlers dedicated themselves to the cultivation of these crops and within a short period of time some were even able to own and operate their own grocery stores. However, it was with the cultivation of the coffee bean that they would make their fortunes. The descendants of the Corsican settlers were also to become influential in the fields of education, literature, journalism and politics.
Today the town of Yauco is known as both the "Corsican Town" and "The Coffee Town". There's a memorial in Yauco with the inscription, "To the memory of our citizens of Corsican origin, France, who in the C19 became rooted in our village, who have enriched our culture with their traditions and helped our progress with their dedicated work - the municipality of Yauco pays them homage." The Corsican element of Puerto Rico is very much in evidence, Corsican surnames such as Paoli, Negroni and Fraticelli are common.Corsican Immigrants to Puerto Rico. Retrieved 31 July 2007.
France
The French immigration to Puerto Rico began as a result of the economic and political situations which occurred in various places such as Louisiana (United States) and Saint-Domingue (Haiti). Upon the outbreak of the French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Years' War (1754–1763), between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its North American Colonies against France, many of the French settlers fled to Puerto Rico. French immigration from mainland France and its territories to Puerto Rico was the largest in number, second only to Spanish immigrants and today a great number of Puerto Ricans can claim French ancestry; 16 percent of the surnames on the island are either French or French-Corsican.
Their influence in Puerto Rican culture is very much present and in evidence in the island's cuisine, literature and arts. Their contributions can be found, but are not limited to, the fields of education, commerce, politics, science and entertainment.
Germany
German immigrants arrived in Puerto Rico from Curaçao and Austria during the early 19th century. Many of these early German immigrants established warehouses and businesses in the coastal towns of Fajardo, Arroyo, Ponce, Mayaguez, Cabo Rojo and Aguadilla. One of the reasons that these businessmen established themselves in the island was that Germany depended mostly on Britain for such products as coffee, sugar and tobacco. By establishing businesses dedicated to the exportation and importation of these and other goods, Germany no longer had to depend on British sellers for such goods. Not all of the immigrants were businessmen; some were teachers, farmers and skilled laborers.
In Germany the European Revolutions of 1848 in the German states erupted, leading to the Frankfurt Parliament. Ultimately, the rather non-violent "revolution" failed. Disappointed, many Germans immigrated to the Americas, including Puerto Rico, and were dubbed the Forty-Eighters. The majority of these came from Alsace-Lorraine, Baden, Hesse, Rheinland and Württemberg.Breunig, Charles (1977), The Age of Revolution and Reaction, 1789–1850 () German immigrants were able to settle in the coastal areas and establish their businesses in towns such as Fajardo, Arroyo, Ponce, Mayagüez, Cabo Rojo and Aguadilla. Those who expected free land under the terms of the Spanish Royal Decree, settled in the central mountainous areas of the island in towns such as Adjuntas, Aibonito and Ciales among others. They made their living in the agricultural sector and in some cases became owners of sugar cane plantations. Others dedicated themselves to the fishing industry.