Puerto Rico, Chapter 9: Faces New and Old: The Population, 1765-1823 - Essay Example

It is shown that high birth rates that existed in that period were balanced by high mortality rates but still the population was booming because of the extensive influx of immigrants. Another interesting factor that gets discussed is, the high birth rate which is usually associated with “stable families” but in this case resulting from increasing break up in families owing to migrant labor movement into coffee and sugar plantations, and children born out of wedlock in such circumstances (Pico, 138).

Here in the very beginning of the chapter itself, a demographic profile of Puerto Rico in that period is given with an indication to the injustices and inhumanities that brought about this. Aging population, deteriorating working conditions and epidemics, are found to be the reasons behind high mortality by Pico. The situation in which convicts, slaves and refugees from Africa, Europe and America were forced to migrate to Puerto Rico to work in the plantations, is depicted by the author. It is also reminded that many of these hapless victims of political and economic environments, died in the initial months in which they came, falling victims to epidemics.

By narrating such incidents and substantiating this argument with the help of exhaustive figures and data from that period, the inhumane face of Spanish colonialization is unraveled. . The assimilation of wealth and strength by the politically powerful at the cost of the poor and the powerless segments of the society are vividly described in this chapter. Using convicts had an added advantage because there was nobody to question the way in which they were treated. Many of the convicts who worked to build the capital city of Puerto Rico had died while carrying out risky tasks.

And the survivors were hard pressed to compensate the labor that had been lost to death. Here the politics of wealth amassment that has happened throughout human history is revisited. The process of colonialization is unpacked so that the underlying human suffering is brought to light. It is reminded that colonialization is not just a nation taking over the rule of another nation, but has deeper meanings embedded in the realm of in justice. The Spanish decision to rehabilitate the convicts who had completed their prison term in Puerto Rico, the destiny of these category already sealed owing to the poor economic resources they had, and the transformation that these people went through, are different aspects of Spanish migration as narrated by the author.

The origins of seminomadic squatters and smugglers are traced back to this people. The crucial explanation for how a community or a social group gets out of the approved realms of behavior is sketched here. The impact that this phenomenon had upon the society of Puerto Rico can be subject to a greater study. The social fabric and cultural fabric of this nation was bound to change owing to this kind of transformations. Another kind of migrants as mentioned by the author is the Irish who had some very different political reasons to move to Puerto Rico-they were discriminated in Britain because of their