The First Flag: Starting in 1493, the Spanish empire controlled Puerto Rico for more than 400 years, a violent period marked by the genocide of the indigenous Taíno people and the importation of ...

He points to the island’s first flag, the Revolutionary Flag of Lares, which was designed ahead of a major uprising in Lares, Puerto Rico, in 1868 against the island’s first colonizer, Spain.

Like Puerto Rico today, Hawaii was a developed place when its residents applied for statehood. This is in contrast with some earlier states like Ohio and Wyoming that were carved out of sparsely ...

ORLANDO, Fla. — 1. The flag was first used on Dec. 22, 1895, when a group of Puerto Ricans gathered in New York City to show their support for independence for Cuba and Puerto Rico from Spain. 2.