Portugués
Encyclopedia
Portugués is one of the 31 barrio
s in the municipality
of Ponce, Puerto Rico
. Along with Magueyes
, Tibes
, Monte Llano
, Maragüez
, Machuelo Arriba
, Sabanetas
, and Cerrillos
, Portugués is one of the municipality's eight rural interior barrios.
watershed runs along the middle of this barrio. Such feature determines its form: it is long from north to south, and narrow from east to west. In a similar manner, the Río Portugués watershed runs alongside the neighboring barrio Tibes
, immediately to the east of Barrio Portugues, and Rio Portugues enters Barrio Portugues on its southernmost region. It is important to know that the town of Adjuntas also has a barrio named Portugues, situated in its mountainous zone, and this is where Rio Portugues originates. The two barrios, however, are considerably distant from each other.
, the eastern slopes of El Gato Hill (Cerro El Gato) and First Street (Calle 1).
In terms of barrio-to-barrio boundaries, Portugués is bounded in the North by Monte Llano
, in the South by Portugues Urbano
and Machuelo Arriba
, in the West by Tibes
and Magueyes
, and in the East by Monte Llano
and Machuelo Arriba
.
In 1824, Barrio Portugues spears for the first time in a list of the barrios of Ponce produced by Pedro Tomás de Córdova, and to whom we owe the first such listing of 497 barrios in the town that existed at the time. However, the name Barrio Portugues does not show up in records of the municipality of Ponce until September, 1821. In 1822, Barrio Portugues appears as one of the barrios of the settlement with a listing of names of people responsible for the supervision of the barrios of the municipality. In 1878 Manuel Ubeda y Delgado reported that in Barrio Portugues there were 155 families residing in 33 houses and 100 bohios. Portugues was then the seventh least populated of the 22 barrios then established in the municipality. The same author reports the existence of some thermal baths in an area a little over 2 kilometers northeast of the city known as the Quintana Baths. The masonry building that house the baths still exists on the northbound side of Puerto Rico Highway 503 in Barrio Portugues.
The name Hato de Portugues has been traced back to the Puerto Rico General Registry of Lands of November, 1800. Hatos were holdings of large tracks of lands dedicated to cattle raising. They were the basic territgorial units in Puerto Rico in until the late 19th century.
The name, however, may in fact be much older. Towards the end of the 16th century, even before the birth of the village of Ponce, Don
Pedro Rodríguez de Guzmán established a small community and a store on the bancks of Rio Baramaya. Rodríguez, one of the first settlers of what is known as Ponce today, is the original Portugues. Some sources state he was from Portugal, other sources state he was from San German
but of Portuguese ancestry.
According to historian Rafael Torrech San Inocencio, "the store of Rodríguez de Guzmán, a.k.a.
“El Portugués” ("The Portuguese"), was located on the banks of Río Baramaya, possibly at a crossing, that is at a place where it was possible to cross the river, whether afoot or on hoprseback, with relative ease. River crossings are very old place names, for during those years it was important to find a place to cross a river, and... many of the names of barrios and municipalities in Puerto Rico originated with such old river crossings. It is possible that as the years passed the fame of the Portugues Crossing faded away, and the names of the crossing and of the river were exchanged in everyday conversation, and folks started to call Rio Portugues what was really Rio Baramaya. And, what is more, as time passed this unofficial name of the river was accidentally used to refer to the hato in that area, and thus, to today's Barrio Portugues."
Its land area is three percent of the territory of the municipality of Ponce. It is thus the 15th largest of Ponce's 31 barrios.
In 2000, the population of Barrio Portugués was 4,882 persons, and it had a density of 1,387 persons per square mile. Barrio Portugues' population saw little change between 1990 and 2000.
The highest point in Barrio Portugués stands at 1,735 feet. Another notable land feature is Cerro El Gato which stands at 827 feet.
discovered in 1975 after hurricane rains uncovered pottery
. The center is the site of the oldest cemetery uncovered up to date in the Antilles. "With some 200 skeletons unearthed from the year AD300, it is considered the largest and the most important archaeological finds in the West Indies."
Barrio
Barrio is a Spanish word meaning district or neighborhood.-Usage:In its formal usage in English, barrios are generally considered cohesive places, sharing, for example, a church and traditions such as feast days...
s in the municipality
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
of Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce is both a city and a municipality in the southern part of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.The city of Ponce, the fourth most populated in Puerto Rico, and the most populated outside of the San Juan metropolitan area, is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the...
. Along with Magueyes
Magueyes
Magueyes is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Together with Cerrillos, Machuelo Arriba, Maragüez, Monte Llano, Portugues, Sabanetas, and Tibes, Magueyes is one of the municipality's eight interior barrios. The name of this barrio is of native Indian...
, Tibes
Tibes
Tibes is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Together with Magueyes, Portugues, Monte Llano, Maragüez, Machuelo Arriba, Sabanetas, and Cerrillos, Tibes is one of the municipality's eight rural interior barrios...
, Monte Llano
Monte Llano
Montes Llanos , is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Magueyes, Tibes, Portugués, Maragüez, Machuelo Arriba, and Cerrillos, Montes Llanos is one of the municipality's seven rural interior barrios.-Location:Montes Llanos is a mountainous rural barrio located...
, Maragüez
Maragüez
Maragüez is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Magueyes, Tibes, Portugués, Monte Llano, Machuelo Arriba, Sabanetas, and Cerrillos, Maragüez is one of the municipality's eight rural interior barrios...
, Machuelo Arriba
Machuelo Arriba
Machuelo Arriba is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with the barrios of Magueyes, Tibes, Portugués, Monte Llano, Maragüez, and Cerrillos, Machuelo Arriba is one of the municipality's seven rural interior barrios....
, Sabanetas
Sabanetas
Sabanetas is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Magueyes, Tibes, Portugués, Monte Llano, Machuelo Arriba, Maragüez, and Cerrillos, Sabanetas is one of the municipality's eight rural interior barrios...
, and Cerrillos
Cerrillos (Ponce)
Cerrillos is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Magueyes, Tibes, Portugués, Monte Llano, Maragüez, and Machuelo Arriba, Cerrillos is one of the municipality's seven rural interior barrios.-Location:...
, Portugués is one of the municipality's eight rural interior barrios.
Location
Portugués is a mountainous rural barrio located in the central section of the municipality, north of the city of Ponce. The Río ChiquitoRío Chiquito
The Río Chiquito is a river in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. This river feeds into the Rio Portugues in the sector called Parras. It has its origin in the mountains west of Montes Llanos. Rio Chiquito is fed by Quebrada del Pastillo...
watershed runs along the middle of this barrio. Such feature determines its form: it is long from north to south, and narrow from east to west. In a similar manner, the Río Portugués watershed runs alongside the neighboring barrio Tibes
Tibes
Tibes is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Together with Magueyes, Portugues, Monte Llano, Maragüez, Machuelo Arriba, Sabanetas, and Cerrillos, Tibes is one of the municipality's eight rural interior barrios...
, immediately to the east of Barrio Portugues, and Rio Portugues enters Barrio Portugues on its southernmost region. It is important to know that the town of Adjuntas also has a barrio named Portugues, situated in its mountainous zone, and this is where Rio Portugues originates. The two barrios, however, are considerably distant from each other.
Boundaries
Portugués is bounded on the North by the hills north of Pandura Road, on the South by Camino de Ponce (Golf Club) Street, Majagua Street, Arboleda Street, and PR-504, on the West by Turell Road, La Zarza Road, PR-10 (roughly), and on the East by PR-505, the hills west of Río BayagánRío Bayagán
Río Bayagán is a river in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Río Bayagán is a tributary of Río Cerrillos. It has a length of approximately 6 kilometers and generally runs south. It originates in barrio Montes Llanos and runs south through barrio Machuelo Arriba for about 9 kilometers until it...
, the eastern slopes of El Gato Hill (Cerro El Gato) and First Street (Calle 1).
In terms of barrio-to-barrio boundaries, Portugués is bounded in the North by Monte Llano
Monte Llano
Montes Llanos , is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Magueyes, Tibes, Portugués, Maragüez, Machuelo Arriba, and Cerrillos, Montes Llanos is one of the municipality's seven rural interior barrios.-Location:Montes Llanos is a mountainous rural barrio located...
, in the South by Portugues Urbano
Portugués Urbano
Portugués Urbano is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Canas Urbano, Machuelo Abajo, Magueyes Urbano, and San Antón, Portugués Urbano is one of the municipality's five originally rural barrios that are now also part of the urban zone of the city of...
and Machuelo Arriba
Machuelo Arriba
Machuelo Arriba is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with the barrios of Magueyes, Tibes, Portugués, Monte Llano, Maragüez, and Cerrillos, Machuelo Arriba is one of the municipality's seven rural interior barrios....
, in the West by Tibes
Tibes
Tibes is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Together with Magueyes, Portugues, Monte Llano, Maragüez, Machuelo Arriba, Sabanetas, and Cerrillos, Tibes is one of the municipality's eight rural interior barrios...
and Magueyes
Magueyes
Magueyes is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Together with Cerrillos, Machuelo Arriba, Maragüez, Monte Llano, Portugues, Sabanetas, and Tibes, Magueyes is one of the municipality's eight interior barrios. The name of this barrio is of native Indian...
, and in the East by Monte Llano
Monte Llano
Montes Llanos , is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Magueyes, Tibes, Portugués, Maragüez, Machuelo Arriba, and Cerrillos, Montes Llanos is one of the municipality's seven rural interior barrios.-Location:Montes Llanos is a mountainous rural barrio located...
and Machuelo Arriba
Machuelo Arriba
Machuelo Arriba is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with the barrios of Magueyes, Tibes, Portugués, Monte Llano, Maragüez, and Cerrillos, Machuelo Arriba is one of the municipality's seven rural interior barrios....
.
History
Río Portugués and the great Ceiba tree near the center of Ponce have long been associated with the first settlers of the region. During the 17th century the River marked the eastern boundary of a growing settlement than ran as far as Guayanilla Bay, a region that came to be known as Ponce, but which today is part of a neighboring municipality.In 1824, Barrio Portugues spears for the first time in a list of the barrios of Ponce produced by Pedro Tomás de Córdova, and to whom we owe the first such listing of 497 barrios in the town that existed at the time. However, the name Barrio Portugues does not show up in records of the municipality of Ponce until September, 1821. In 1822, Barrio Portugues appears as one of the barrios of the settlement with a listing of names of people responsible for the supervision of the barrios of the municipality. In 1878 Manuel Ubeda y Delgado reported that in Barrio Portugues there were 155 families residing in 33 houses and 100 bohios. Portugues was then the seventh least populated of the 22 barrios then established in the municipality. The same author reports the existence of some thermal baths in an area a little over 2 kilometers northeast of the city known as the Quintana Baths. The masonry building that house the baths still exists on the northbound side of Puerto Rico Highway 503 in Barrio Portugues.
Origin of the name
The name, however, may in fact be much older. Towards the end of the 16th century, even before the birth of the village of Ponce, Don
Don
- People :* Don , a short form of the masculine given name Donald in English, also a masculine given name in Irish* Don , a Spanish, Portuguese and Italian title, given as a mark of respect* Don, a crime boss...
Pedro Rodríguez de Guzmán established a small community and a store on the bancks of Rio Baramaya. Rodríguez, one of the first settlers of what is known as Ponce today, is the original Portugues. Some sources state he was from Portugal, other sources state he was from San German
San Germán, Puerto Rico
San Germán is a municipality located in the southwestern region of Puerto Rico, south of Mayagüez and Maricao; north of Lajas; east of Hormigueros and Cabo Rojo; and west of Sabana Grande. San Germán is spread over 18 wards and San Germán Pueblo...
but of Portuguese ancestry.
According to historian Rafael Torrech San Inocencio, "the store of Rodríguez de Guzmán, a.k.a.
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
“El Portugués” ("The Portuguese"), was located on the banks of Río Baramaya, possibly at a crossing, that is at a place where it was possible to cross the river, whether afoot or on hoprseback, with relative ease. River crossings are very old place names, for during those years it was important to find a place to cross a river, and... many of the names of barrios and municipalities in Puerto Rico originated with such old river crossings. It is possible that as the years passed the fame of the Portugues Crossing faded away, and the names of the crossing and of the river were exchanged in everyday conversation, and folks started to call Rio Portugues what was really Rio Baramaya. And, what is more, as time passed this unofficial name of the river was accidentally used to refer to the hato in that area, and thus, to today's Barrio Portugues."
Features and demographics
Portugués has 3.52 square miles (9.1 km²) of land area and 0.04 square miles (103,599.5 m²) of water surface area.Its land area is three percent of the territory of the municipality of Ponce. It is thus the 15th largest of Ponce's 31 barrios.
In 2000, the population of Barrio Portugués was 4,882 persons, and it had a density of 1,387 persons per square mile. Barrio Portugues' population saw little change between 1990 and 2000.
The highest point in Barrio Portugués stands at 1,735 feet. Another notable land feature is Cerro El Gato which stands at 827 feet.
Tibes Indigenous Ceremonial Center
Portugues is home to the Tibes Indigenous Ceremonial CenterTibes Indigenous Ceremonial Center
The Tibes Indigenous Ceremonial Center in Barrio Portugués, Ponce, Puerto Rico, houses one of the most important archeological discoveries made in the Antilles. The discovery provides an insight as to how the indigenous tribes of the Igneri and Taínos lived and played during and before the arrival...
discovered in 1975 after hurricane rains uncovered pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
. The center is the site of the oldest cemetery uncovered up to date in the Antilles. "With some 200 skeletons unearthed from the year AD300, it is considered the largest and the most important archaeological finds in the West Indies."