Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is a fanmade character for the anime and web comic, Hetalia Axis Powers. She represents Puerto Rico, officially known as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a country in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands. Her human name is Maria Marcelina Flora Vazquez or just Maria.

Appearance
Puerto Rico has wild, below-the-shoulder length, curly brown hair and dark brown eyes.At one point during her childhood she had her hair braided back and held with a brooche (during the Spanish rule) and then later on she cut it below her ears. She was often seen in a traditional jibara dress or-- in rare, rare occasions-- a 19 century European gown; nowadays she wears simple short jeans and t-shirts. She has slightly narrowed eyes, hinted to signify Asian ancestry and light tanned skin.

When she was a child she rather thin, sickly at first and barely spoke at all. Several years of hard work did not give her a dainty curvaceous figure but a slim runners body with strong arms. It is said she has a slightly gruesome scar on her right hip. Despite the scar she is described as a rather pretty girl and nicknamed ”El encanto de la Isla”



Personality and Interests
Puerto Rico is a sarcastic sassy young woman who is described as something akin to a quick-tempered, family-oriented older sister. Maria is very stubborn and close to her culture and has been shown to be eat pretty much anything, like America does, but to a lighter degree. Her favorite dessert is Flan, a caramel custard shaped like a small dome, and she often enjoys it as she sits out at El Morro, watching the waves crash on her rocky coast.

In the beginning of her history, Puerto Rico showed no signs of being able to speak and communicated herself by bodily gestures. Her indigenous Arawak roots allowed her to eventually develop her own indigenous language, however without anyone to communicate with at the time, she remained alone. It is also shown she had learned English during Britain's invasion but learned French from Francis.

As a descendent colony of Spain, she adopted Castillian (Spanish) as her main language of communication, implementing many words from the indigenous Taino language in daily use. Hamaca, hurakán, & tobacco are some notable contributions the young Puerto Rico made to the Spanish language. Although few people may be aware of this fact, Puerto Rico's accent derives from the Andalusian dialect spoken by the settlers brought over by Spain during her colonization. Spain often confuses her and Las Islas Canarias whenever they visit him together since they sound very similar.

English was eventually adopted as a secondary spoken language after Spain handed Puerto Rico off to America. This led to some anglicisms, or loan words of English/American origin, being created in Puerto Rico. As such, she has the tendency to speak in Spanglish, occasionally using some naughty words when she loses her fiery temper. '' 'Chacho! , her Reggaeton sounds "nasty" though when she really gets down and quiebra la pista with her lírica brutal! She does not gufía ''at all! ¡Ya tú sabes!

Many other continental Latin Nations are quick to joke about the nasal way she speaks and how she scrapes rather than rolls her "eRRes" but she rather makes light of it by playfully boasting about her long history of famous salseros, busting out a few of her salsa moves and singing, as well as even throwing down a few raps in her Reggaeton. {Though, truth be told, Maria 's male counterpart Marcos is much better at it} And although many visit Puerto Rico thinking of her famous white and gold BacardiTM rums, the truth is that Spain first established his factory in Puerto Rico's brother Cuba, naming the liquid mixture of the cane-sugar derived spirit and Coca-ColaTM Cuba Libre. When he brother Cuba comes by and makes some, along with Dominican Republic (and occasionally Haiti and Jamaica), Puerto Rico lets her party animal out, Piña Colada in hand!

Rife with multicultural influences from Western Europeans (Spain, France, Corsica, Germany), Africans, and fellow Carribbeans (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Panama), Puerto Rico has served as a mini-melting pot of international cultural exchange. Most of Puerto Rico's love of music, rhythm and energetic dance comes from the Sub-Saharan West Africa, from which she learned about many percussion and tribal based rhythms.

Bomba & Plena are two of the most famous folkloric musics developed through African Influence in Puerto Rico. Together with African instrumentation and some Spanish style, the Bomba represents the strong African influence in Puerto Rico. Loíza, a town near San Juan with a dense population of mulatto descendants, was named for Yuisa/Luisa, and presents itself as a beautymarkk on Puerto Rico's upper left lip. The Plena, a product of immigrants from nearby English Colonies St. Christopher, St. Kitts, St. Thomas, and Tortola, also carries much sentimental weight to it, with upbeat rhythms, profound lyrics reflective of the historical events in her history, and many, many fun percussion instruments. Puerto Rico can be found readily at any of the religious festivals, dressed in a white flowing dress and a Flor de Maga in her hair, holding either El güiro and la pandereta, her two favorite instruments.  José  prefers the conga and cúa, the heart of the Bomba rhythm. He wears a sombrero de paja (straw hat) and white garb as well.

Salsa was developed by her brother Cuba and eventually made its way to Puerto Rico's ears. Thankfully so! She became famous during the 20th century, making many Salsa Brava, -Orquestral, and -Romántica hits, along with other countries who embraced the Afro-Caribbean rhythm. She even became well noticed in America's urban cities like New York City, Miami, and Los Angeles. Even today, many people consider Puerto Rico as one of the cunas of the spicy Latin genre.

Merengue also holds much importance in Puerto Rico's life. She especially enjoys dancing with Gregorio -Dominican Republic because he has a lively latin fire that sparks whenever Maria is in a partying mood, which is usually ALWAYS!

For fun, Puerto Rico enjoys a variety of games and historical pastimes.

America
Main Article: America

Puerto Rico and America seem to have a strange love/hate brother/sister relationship. They are sometimes at odds and sometimes at good terms, but they almost always seem to be together-- both are competitive and try to beat the other in any competition available. Despite not getting eye-to-eye sometimes, they seems to be on good terms almost always and she is rather supportive torwards him.

It is hinted the two are blood cousins since his mother (Native America) and Porto's mother (Boriken) were said to be sisters.

After Spain ceded Puerto Rico to America after fighting each other in the Spanish-American War, she has more than recieved her fair share of external input from her owner.

San Juan Bautista (Emanuel)
The deceased brother of Puerto Rico, he was originally the representation of the full island--due to the fact that when Spain arrived he renamed the island San Juan and the capital was actually Puerto Rico, at first; however as time passed, people started calling the entire island Puerto Rico and considering themselves as such islanders. In the 1520's the names where changed, people claimed themselves to be Puerto Rican and she became the full island. They had a very close and personal relationship up until his death, which left her shocked and pained.

Boriken (Yuisa/Luisa)


Representation of the island of Boriken, Puerto Rico and San Juan's mother, she was a brave woman and leader of the Taino in her island. Her name stood for land of the high lord, something she took with pride. She died before she could meet her daughter however. She was described by her son as a also hot-tempered, family oriented person and friendly person, physically similar to Puerto Rico minus the fact she straight, black hair and her daughter has dark brown, curly hair. Her latinized name, Boriquen, became a nickname for Puerto Rico herself. She is the cousin of Native America and hinted to be America's aunt.

Spain
Main Article: Spain

Puerto Rico did not really begin to meet Spain very personally up until much later. Shortly after her "birth", he traveled to Mexico after the discovery of gold over there. By the mid-16th century, he returned with plans to fortify the island, constructing La Fortaleza  & El Moro to defend against invasions by England, France and other enemies. At first, the relationship between the two was not the best as Puerto Rico blamed Spain for what was happening to her brother San Juan and her island. As time progressed however they began to grow increasingly used to each other and began to get along quite a bit. Antonio would allow Maria more liberties and even promised her self-governing under. Unfortunately, this was short-lived due to America's invasion soon afterward. Spain was ousted by the U.S. and after signing a treaty, Puerto Rico, and all her people, became America's property. In recent times, they maintain an amicable friendship and she is attempting to imitate his educational system. Some of Puerto Rico's inhabitants even desire to re-unite with her father, however this would be up for a much heated debate since many still remember the long history of La Isla del Encanto.

Mexico
Mexico, or as he goes by Juan, is one of her siblings. She loves him very much, but can find him very annoying, from time to time. His relationship with her counterpart makes her jealous since she's not in a relationship with anyone. But in all end she thinks Juan is an amazing older brother, and sometimes helps her out.

Cuba
Main Article: Cuba

He is her older brother and they grew very close together, so close even, that Puerto Rico took the design of her own flag from his, took many of his customs and supported him in each of his fights for independece. The two had a strong brother and sister bond; Puerto Rico learned a lot from Cuba and he helped her shape her thinking. Sometimes she can start a sentence saying..."When I was younger,Cuba always use to tell me..!" showing the reader how close the two are. After he gained his independence however, America cut direct ties between both of them and thus they don't relate much. She still cares much for him however.

France
Main Article: France

France wanted to take over Puerto Rico at one point, setting fire to Spain's colonies and planning to burn the capital, however his attempts failed because of Spain's heavy fortification. France later teams up with Spain in order to defend Puerto Rico from England, who attacks her in 1797. Despite the fight previous to England, many of his people immigrated to the island, especially to Yauco, and the two have a good-term relationship nowadays. He also influenced certain place names around Puerto Rico and descendents with French last names pay homage to France's small history with l'île de l'enchantement.

England
Main Article: England

During the Anglo-Spanish war, England was intent of taking the island by force yet failed, along with several other attemptd throughous the lates 16th-18th centuries. Their countries political relationship was never really deepened, not even after WWII. Between Carmen and Arthur however, is a good mutual relationship where they admire each other's culture.

Trivia
· Puerto Rico's full name actually corresponds to Maria Marcelina Flora Vazquez

· Her birthday is still not confirmed, it is between June 19 (The date of when it became a commonwealth), September 24th (Grito de Lares) and April 16th (the acknowledgment of Puerto Rico and it's people as Puerto Ricans.)

·Puerto Rico is nicknamed Boriquen/Borinquen, but should not be confused with Boriken, her mother.

· She has three younger siblings, the island-municipalities of Mona (Ana Vazquez Rosa), Vieques(Kaya Vazquez Rosa) and Culebra (Javier Vazquez Rosa).

She also has her other siblings as her male self and Mexico or his human name Juan.