Puerto Rico
Capital: San Juan
Size: About 3,515 square miles (9,104 sq km).
Language: Spanish and English (both are official)
Currency: U.S. dollar
Capital population: San Juan has about 340,000 people (over 2 million in the metro area).
Population: About 3.2 million people.See the biggest cities →National animal: Puerto Rican Spindalis (a small bird) and the coqui, a tiny singing frog
National flower: Puerto Rican Hibiscus (the flor de maga)
Climate
Warm and tropical all year, cooled by trade winds, with a rainy season and some storms in late summer. Average highs are about 82F to 88F (28C to 31C).
Main industries
Medicine and drug making, electronics, tourism, coffee, and rum.
Top places for tourists
The old blue streets and forts of Old San Juan, warm beaches, and the El Yunque rainforest.
Places of interest
El Yunque, the only tropical rainforest in the U.S. forest system, the glowing bays that light up at night, and the huge Arecibo area known for space science.
A little history
A Spanish colony for 400 years, Puerto Rico became a territory of the United States in 1898, and its people are U.S. citizens.
Fun fact
Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, so people use the U.S. dollar and are U.S. citizens, yet Spanish is the everyday language and the culture is proudly its own.