Isabela, Puerto Rico: History
The chief Mabodamaca, one of the most important chieftains of the island of Borinquen (Taíno for Puerto Rico) during the first decades of the 16th century, ruled the region of the 'Guajataca' (Taíno name for the northwestern region of Puerto Rico) where Isabela was founded. Although the actual date of the origins of the first Spanish settlement is not precisely known, a small settlement/hermitage is known to have existed by the end of the 17th century or beginning of the 18th century in a great extension of land into what encompass today the municipalities of Isabela, Camuy and Quebradillas. The settlement was bordered to the east with the shoreline of the Guajataca River and was located on the grounds of an earlier Taíno settlement.
Around 1725, José Antonio de Mendizábal y Azares, Governor of the Island of Puerto Rico granted authorization to base a population on the existing hermitage village. Its given name, San Antonio de La Tuna, derives from the avocation of the Spanish settlers to the saint Anthony of Padua and in honor of a wild cactus growing in the region (Tuna is the Spanish term for cactus). At the end of the 18th century San Antonio de la Tuna had a church, more than sixty houses, and almost 1,200 inhabitants, which was a considerable population for those times.
Prompted by economic and health factors, the decision to relocate the hermitage to a more favorable location was pursued. Around 1818, the village obtained authorization from then Governor Salvador Meléndez Bruna to transfer the population to a new location closer to the coast. Meléndez approved the transfer request and a new town was founded the following year on May 21, 1819. In the same year the construction of the church began, and was finished in 1824. In 1918 the church was damaged during a strong earthquake that affected the western region of the island, it was rebuilt soon after.
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 Isabela was 14,888.
On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico. In Isabela, the hurricane caused destruction of homes and infrastructure. Maria caused structural damage to the nearby Guajataca Reservoir and thousands of people were evacuated from their homes.