Editing Culebra, Puerto Rico (section)

==History==
Some sources claim that [[Christopher Columbus]] was the first European to arrive at the island during his [[Second voyage of Christopher Columbus|second voyage]] on November 19, 1493.<ref>[http://areciboweb.50megs.com/pr/culebra.html Culebra, Puerto Rico] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120603213836/http://areciboweb.50megs.com/pr/culebra.html |date=2012-06-03 }} on AreciboWeb</ref><ref>[http://www.costabonitapr.com/esp/vacationinfo.html Costa Bonita Villas: Historia] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425232209/http://www.costabonitapr.com/esp/vacationinfo.html |date=2012-04-25 }} on CostaBonitaPR.com</ref><ref name="Isla de Culebra">[http://www.prfrogui.com/geocities/culebra.htm Isla de Culebra] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111128224847/http://www.prfrogui.com/geocities/culebra.htm |date=2011-11-28 }} on PRFrogui</ref> It is believed that the island was populated by [[Island Caribs|Carib Indians]] during the [[European colonization of the Americas|colonization]]. After [[Agüeybaná II|Agüeybaná and Agüeybaná II]] led the [[Taíno rebellion of 1511]], [[Taíno people|Taíno Indians]] from the main island sought refuge on Culebra and allied with Caribs to launch occasional attacks at the island estates.<ref name="Historia de Culebra">[http://pormipueblo.com/historia.php?PuebloID=26 Historia de Culebra] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425232208/http://pormipueblo.com/historia.php?PuebloID=26 |date=2012-04-25 }} on PorMiPueblo</ref>

After that, the island was left abandoned for centuries. During the era of Spanish commerce through the Americas, it was used as a refuge for [[pirate]]s, as well as local fishermen and sailors.<ref name="Historia de Culebra"/> Some sources mention a black overseer from British-ruled [[Tortola]] named John Stevens, who was put in charge of Culebra in the 1850s by the Governor of Vieques under the [[Spanish crown]] to protect the island from foreigners who, without proper permissions or payments of fees for despoiling Culebra, took fish, cut trees for lumber and prepared drift wood as charcoal for future sale elsewhere.<ref>[http://www.islaculebra.com/puerto-rico/historia.html Historia - Culebra] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111223152331/http://www.islaculebra.com/puerto-rico/historia.html |date=2011-12-23}} on IslaCulebra.com</ref> Appropriating the unearned title of "Captain", he began a decades-long isolated sojourn on Culebra as enforcer of Spanish interests. In October 1871, however, Stevens was found dead outside his hut, his body viciously hacked apart. His heart and entrails had been placed in clay pots, in an apparent religious ritual to curse his soul. Spanish police from Vieques tracked down [[Tortola]]n foragers on Culebra who were suspected of the vicious murder. Eventually 21 of them were sentenced to forced labor on sugar plantations in [[Vieques, Puerto Rico|Vieques]] as punishment. The affair caused an international incident, and, to satisfy demands from the [[British Empire|British]] ambassador in [[Madrid]], the Tortolans were finally freed by the Spanish Governor of Puerto Rico in July 1874.<ref>Bonnet Benítez, Dr. Juan Amédé. ''Vieques in la Historia de Puerto Rico'' (F. Ortiz Nieves: San Juan, 1976) 82–87.</ref> 
These events caused the government of [[Switzerland]] in June 1876 to recall an expedition destined for Culebra to establish a warm-weather sanatorium there. Fearing further foreign encroachments, the Spanish government decided to populate Culebra with its own subjects.<ref>Vázquez Alayón, Manuel. ''La Isla "Culebra" Puerto Rico: Apuntes sobre su colonización''. (Puerto Rico: Acosta, 1891) 11–15.</ref>

Culebra was then settled by Cayetano Escudero Sanz on October 27, 1880, when he completed his survey of the island that included subdivisions into usable lots. The Spanish government offered these parcels of land to anyone who would move to the island. The first settlers depended on rain for drinking water, as the island has no natural streams. [[Subsistence farming]] and [[cattle raising]] were established and a cistern was built for common use at one end of a natural harbor or ''Ensenada Honda'' in Spanish.

This first settlement was called '''San Ildefonso''', to honor the Bishop of [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], officially '''San Ildefonso de la Culebra'''. Two years later, on September 25, 1882, construction of the [[Culebrita]] [[Culebrita Lighthouse|lighthouse]] began. It was completed on February 25, 1886, which made it the oldest operating lighthouse in the [[Caribbean]] until 1975, when the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] and [[United States Coast Guard|Coast Guard]] finally closed the facility.<ref>[http://www.salonhogar.net/Link%20P.R/www.linktopr.com/culebra.html Culebra, Isla Chiquita] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111119202632/http://www.salonhogar.net/Link%20P.R/www.linktopr.com/culebra.html |date=2011-11-19 }} on SalonHogar.net</ref>

Puerto Rico was ceded by [[Spain]] in the aftermath of the [[Spanish–American War]] under the terms of the [[Treaty of Paris of 1898]] and became a territory of the [[United States]]. In 1899, the [[United States Department of War]] conducted a [[census]] of Puerto Rico finding that the population of Culebra was 704.<ref name="OfficeSanger1900">{{cite book|author1=Joseph Prentiss Sanger|author2=Henry Gannett|author3=Walter Francis Willcox|title=Informe sobre el censo de Puerto Rico, 1899, United States. War Dept. Porto Rico Census Office|url=https://archive.org/details/informesobreelc00joangoog|year=1900|publisher=Imprenta del gobierno|page=[https://archive.org/details/informesobreelc00joangoog/page/n255 164]| language=es}}</ref>

In 1902, Culebra was integrated as a part of [[Vieques]]. One year later, on June 26, [[Theodore Roosevelt|President Theodore Roosevelt]] established the Culebra Naval Reservation. A bird refuge was established on February 27, 1909.<ref name="Isla de Culebra"/><ref name="Historia de Culebra"/>

The [[United States Navy]] cited the 1900 [[Foraker Act]] to expropriate the land surrounding the natural harbor and in 1902 ordered the removal of all settlers so that a base for the South Atlantic fleet could be erected. Antonio Lugo Suarez, a Puerto Rican who had made his fortune in [[Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands|St. Thomas]] then part of the [[Danish West Indies]] and Pedro Márquez Morales, a [[Spaniards|Spaniard]] who had married a [[Puerto Ricans|Puerto Rican]] woman from Vieques, were successful ranchers on Culebra. Each offered an alternate site to the displaced Culebrenses, so as to prevent the total abandonment of the island. The location identified by Márquez on Playa Sardinas became the town of '''[[Culebra barrio-pueblo|Dewey]]'''.<ref name="NYT 2014">{{cite web | title=Culebra, a Quiet Corner of the Caribbean | website=The New York Times | date=6 November 2014 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/travel/culebra-a-quiet-corner-of-the-caribbean.html | access-date=9 September 2020}}</ref><ref>{{GNIS|1991499|Dewey City Hall}}</ref>

A new church was built with materials taken from San Ildefonso and a customs office was constructed.<ref>Claro C. Feliciano, ''Apuntes y Comentarios de la Colonización y Liberación de la Isla de Culebra'', n.p. 1981, 137–149.</ref>
Pedro Márquez (1850–1920) was appointed the first mayor under U.S. rule in 1905, replacing Leopoldo Padrón, the Special Delegate appointed for the transition from Spanish rule. 
Pedro Márquez was succeeded as mayor in 1912 by his son, Alejandro Márquez Laureano (1912–1914) who erected the first docks for the new town and installed electric lighting on the town's streets. He was succeeded as mayor in 1914 by Claro C. Feliciano, the first mayor who had been born in Culebra.<ref>Feliciano, 180–196.</ref>

With the agreement reached with a new [[Cuba]]n government to lease [[Guantanamo Bay Naval Base|Guantanamo Bay]] as a naval base, in 1911 the U.S. reduced the size of its forces on Culebra and turned the installation to training purposes.<ref>Feliciano, 191–194.</ref> In 1924, the U.S. Navy began annual maneuvers on Culebra taking advantage of its deep-sea waters to practice coordinating amphibious landings on its beaches.

In 1939, the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] began to use the Culebra Archipelago as a gunnery and bombing practice site. This was done in preparation for the United States' involvement in [[World War II]]. In 1971 the people of Culebra began protests, known as the [[Navy-Culebra protests]], for the removal of the U.S. Navy from Culebra. Four years later, in 1975, the use of Culebra as a gunnery range ceased and all operations were moved to [[Vieques]].<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/yDcMhoRb0jA Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20200507202628/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDcMhoRb0jA Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDcMhoRb0jA&t=937s| title = Memorias de Culebra | website=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Culebra was declared an independent island municipality in 1917. The first democratically elected government was put into place in 1960. Prior to this, the government of Puerto Rico appointed delegates to administer the island.

On September 20, 2017, [[Hurricane Maria]] struck the island of Puerto Rico.  In Culebra, where [[Hurricane Irma]] had caused major damages a week prior, Hurricane Maria caused more destruction.<ref>{{cite news | title=María, un nombre que no vamos a olvidar. Golpe doble a Culebra: primero Irma y luego María| trans-title=Maria, a name we will never forget. Double blow to Culebra: first Irma and then María|newspaper=El Nuevo Día| date=2019-06-13 | url=https://huracanmaria.elnuevodia.com/2017/municipio/culebra/| language=es | access-date=2022-09-11}}</ref>