Of all the former Spanish colonies in the Americas, Puerto Rico, the smallest island of the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean Sea was the only territory that never gained its political independence. The years between 1800 and 1930, however, paved the way for the formation and development of its political institutions and national identity. The keys to the internal dynamics and the dramatic socioeconomic transformation that the island experienced throughout this period were the political and economic struggles of a decaying Spanish Empire and the formal transfer of the island to the United States at the end of the 1898 Spanish-American War. It is in this context that Puerto Rico's traditions, political institutions and economic system evolved so that it may be considered a "modern" nation.

A presentation in Global Gateway, the Library's Web site of international materials, highlights some of the most important historical events, beginning in the 1800s, that contributed to the definition of Puerto Rico's historical and cultural identity.

The Spanish-American War was the first U.S. war in which the motion picture camera played a role. Films were made by the Edison Manufacturing Co. and the American Mutoscope & Biograph Co. You can view them in the presentation "The Spanish-American War in Motion Pictures."