Editing Demographics of Puerto Rico (section)

===Historical Immigration===
[[Image:Puertorican immigration.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Immigration to Puerto Rico]]
The [[Spanish immigration to Puerto Rico|Spanish]] conquered the island, assuming government in 1508, colonized it, and assumed hegemony over the natives. The Taíno population dwindled due to disease, tribal warfare, and forced labor, so the Spanish began [[Atlantic slave trade|importing]] large numbers of [[slaves]] from Africa. Spanish men arrived on the island disproportionately to Spanish women; African and Taíno women would sometimes marry them, resulting in a mixed [[Multiracial people|tri-racial]] [[Puerto Ricans|ethnicity]].

In the late 18th century, the number of African slaves began to dwindle on the island. The [[British Empire|British]] ban on slavery resulted in slave raids on Puerto Rico. Many slaves also escaped to neighboring islands.

During the 19th century large numbers of immigrants from Spain, as well as numerous [[Spaniards]] living in former [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|Spanish colonies in South America]], also arrived in Puerto Rico (See [[Spanish immigration to Puerto Rico]]). Large numbers of [[Canary Islanders]] ([[Isleños]]) also arrived in great numbers to the island; their influence can be seen today in Puerto Rico's [[Culture of Puerto Rico|culture]], [[Puerto Rican cuisine|cuisine]] and most notably in the [[Spanish dialects and varieties|variety of Spanish]] that is [[Puerto Rican Spanish|spoken in Puerto Rico]].

Although the vast majority of settlers came from Spain, [[Catholic Church|Catholics]] from France, Ireland, Corsica, Italy, Germany and other [[White Puerto Ricans|European]] countries were also granted land by Spain as one of the provisions of the ''Real Cédula de Gracias de 1815'' ([[Royal Decree of Graces of 1815]]). These immigrants were allowed to settle on the island, with a certain amount of free land and enslaved persons granted to them. In return, they had to profess fealty to the [[Monarchy of Spain|Spanish Crown]]. During the early 20th century [[Jewish immigration to Puerto Rico|Jews]] began to settle in Puerto Rico. The first large group of Jews to settle in Puerto Rico were European refugees fleeing [[German–occupied Europe]] in the late 1930s. Puerto Rico's economic boom of the 1950s attracted a considerable number of Jewish families from the [[American Jews|U.S. mainland]], who were joined after 1959 by an influx of Jewish [[History of the Jews in Cuba|emigres]] from [[Fidel Castro]]'s [[Cuba]].<ref name="JVL">{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Puerto_Rico.html|title=Puerto Rico Virtual Jewish History Tour|website=Jewishvirtuallibrary.org|access-date=October 14, 2017}}</ref>

The mass immigration that occurred during the 19th century helped the population grow from 155,000 in 1800 to almost 1,000,000 at the close of the century.