Native name: Boriquén (Taino) Nickname: Isla del Encanto (Spanish) (Island of Enchantment) | |
---|---|
Geography | |
Location | Caribbean Sea |
Coordinates | 18°15′N 66°30′W / 18.250°N 66.500°W |
Archipelago | Greater Antilles |
Major islands | Spanish Virgin Islands of Vieques and Culebra Mona Desecheo Caja de Muertos |
Area | 8,868 km2 (3,424 sq mi) (Land area of main island)[note 1] |
Area rank | 3rd (United States) 4th (Caribbean) 29th (Americas) 81st (World) 174th (Countries) |
Length | 178 km (110.6 mi)[note 2] |
Width | 65 km (40.4 mi) |
Coastline | 501 km (311.3 mi) |
Highest elevation | 1,338 m (4390 ft) |
Highest point | Cerro de Punta |
Administration | |
United States | |
Territory | Puerto Rico |
Largest settlement | San Juan (pop. 342,259) |
Demographics | |
Population | 3,205,691 (2023) |
Pop. density | 361.4/km2 (936/sq mi) |
Symbols of Puerto Rico | |
Amphibian | Coquí[note 5][11][12][13][14][15] |
Bird | Iguaca[note 4][9][10] |
Flower | Maga[note 6][16] |
Mammal | Manatee[note 3][8] |
Tree | Ceiba[note 7][17][18] |
Puerto Rico[note 8] (Spanish for 'rich port'; abbreviated PR),[20] officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,[note 9] is an archipelagic island U.S. territory comprised of the eponymous main island of Puerto Rico and 142 smaller islands, cays, and islets, including Vieques, Culebra, Mona, Desecheo, Caja de Muertos, Palominos, and Icacos, located between the Greater and Lesser Antilles in the northeastern Caribbean Sea of the North Atlantic Ocean. The main island of Puerto Rico is 113 km (61 nmi) east of Hispaniola, 60 km (32 nmi) west of the Saint Thomas, 705 km (380 nmi) north of Venezuela, and 120 km (65 nmi) south of the Puerto Rico Trench, the deepest point in the Atlantic.[note 10][21] The main island is 178 km (110 mi; 96 nmi) long and 65 km (40 mi; 35 nmi) wide.[note 2][22] With a land area of 8,868 sq km (3,424 sq mi),[note 1][1] it is the 4th largest island in the Caribbean, 81st largest island in the world, and 174th largest country or dependency.
Geologically separated from the Greater Antilles island of Hispaniola by the Mona Passage and Canyon, and from the Lesser Antilles island arc by the Anegada Passage, the main island of Puerto Rico, the Spanish Virgin Islands of Vieques and Culebra, the British Virgin Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands except for the southernmost island of Saint Croix all lie on the same carbonate platform between the Puerto Rico Trench in the North Atlantic Ocean and the Muertos Trough in the northeastern Caribbean Sea.[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] The archipelagos of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands except for Saint Croix also lie on the same small tectonic plate, the Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands Microplate.
Around 60% mountainous, the main island of Puerto Rico has one principal mountain range covering the central region of the island from west to east, the Cordillera Central. It is divided into three subranges: the eponymous main subrange of Cordillera Central in the center, the Sierra de Cayey in the southeast, and the Sierra de Luquillo in the northeast.[22] The highest elevation point in Puerto Rico, Cerro de Punta (4,390 feet or 1,338 meters),[32] is located in the Cordillera Central, while El Yunque, one of the most popular peaks in Puerto Rico, located in the Sierra de Luquillo and part of El Yunque National Forest, has a maximum elevation of 3,540 feet (1,080 m).
The main island has seven valleys: Caguas, Yabucoa, Lajas, Añasco, the Coloso and Culebrinas, Cibuco, and Guanajibo. It has two narrow coastal plains: one stretching alongside the northern coast, and the other alongside the southern coast. The capital, San Juan, and metropolitan area are located on the northern coastal plain in the northeast. It also has one prominent karst formation in its northwestern central region called the Northern Karst Belt, and two prominent batholiths, one in the southeastern municipality of San Lorenzo, and the other in the western municipality of Utuado. The island has 47 major rivers, of which the longest is Río de la Plata, and 26 reservoirs, lagoons, or lakes, among which is Laguna Grande (''big lagoon''), one of three bioluminescent bays in the archipelago of Puerto Rico located in the far northeastern municipality of Fajardo.[22]
The archipelago of Puerto Rico has numerous protected nature areas, including the nature reserves of La Cordillera in the Sonda de Vieques (Vieques Sound) and Media Luna (''half moon'') in Lajas, the wildlife refuge in Cabo Rojo and Desecheo, the estuarine research reserve of Bahía de Jobos in Salinas, and the national park of the El Yunque forest in Rio Grande.
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