Aguada, Puerto Rico: History
A Taíno settlement called Aymamón or Aymaymón was located close to the Culebrinas River prior to the arrival of the Spanish. Aguada Bay (Bahía de Aguada), today gazetted as Aguadilla Bay (Bahía de Aguada), in Aguada has popularly been recognized as the location where Christopher Columbus first landed in Puerto Rico during his second voyage on 19 November 1493. However, it is believed by most historians that Añasco Bay (Bahía de Añasco) in the neighboring municipality of Añasco was the place of Columbus’ first landing and stay of two days in Puerto Rico before continuing to La Navidad, first European settlement in the Americas, in Hispaniola.
In July 1510, Cristóbal de Sotomayor received control of the area from Juan Ponce de León and founded the town Villa de Sotomayor. However, he was executed and the settlement was burned down by the local Taínos during the Taíno Rebellion of 1511. That same year, the Spanish crown ordered a monastery be established in Puerto Rico, and the Espinar Hermitage (Ermita de Espinar) was founded in what is today the Espinar barrio of Aguada. As the Spanish Crown began to colonize the Caribbean area, they wanted to continue converting the natives to Catholicism. The name of the area was then changed to San Francisco de Asís de la Aguada, in honor of the Franciscan friars in charge of establishing the hermitage, now a monastery. The monastery was officially finished in 1516. In 1526, King Charles I of Spain officially approved the foundation of the new Aguada settlement. However, in 1529, Taínos attacked the monastery, killing the friars and burning the new settlement down. A new iteration of the Franciscan monastery was re-established sometime during the second half of the 16th-century but it was later destroyed by raiding Caribs who killed five of its members in 1579.
Aguada remained unsettled throughout most of the 17th-century, with most of the regional activity at the time consisting of piracy and smuggling. Still, Aguada resurfaced and became a stopover point for ships on their way to Spain from South America. On September 17, 1692, King Charles II of Spain emitted a Royal Decree authorizing the foundation of a parish (and a third iteration of the Aguada settlement), and assigning Captain Juan López de Segura as War Lieutenant and Ordinary Mayor of the Villa de San Francisco de Asís de la Aguada, making Aguada one of the five self-governing settlements (Partidos Propios) in Puerto Rico, along with San Juan, San Germán, San Blas (Coamo) and San Felipe (Arecibo).
In 1737, Philip V, King of Spain, declared that all mail en route to Venezuela and other South American ports from Puerto Rico should depart from the port of Aguada, leading to the rapid economic growth in the town. Also, an increase in population has been attributed to possible desertions from foreign merchant ships. With the population growth in northwestern Puerto Rico, Aguada also lost territory with the foundation and independence of former constituents such as San Sebastián (1752), Rincón (1771) and Aguadilla (1780). Captain General of Cuba Fernando Miyares visited Aguada in 1775 and described it as having 180 houses, and barracks with two infantry companies and a cavalry company. Fray Íñigo Abbad y Lasierra also visited in the 1770s, further describing its large town square, derelict church, and the sugar and rice crops amongst the swampy geography of the area. …