Aguada (; , ), originally San Francisco de Asís de la Aguada, is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico, located in the northwestern coastal valley region bordering the Atlantic Ocean, east of Rincón, south of Aguadilla, west of Moca; and north of Añasco and Mayagüez. It is part of the Aguadilla-Isabela-San Sebastián Metropolitan Statistical Area. Aguada's population is spread over 17 barrios and Aguada Pueblo (the downtown area and the administrative center of the city).
Etymology and nicknames The name Aguada is a shortening of the town's original name San Francisco de Asís de la Aguada. The word aguada literally translates to "watery" or "watered down" from Spanish, possibly a reference to the town's strategic importance as a port in the Mona Passage and the Atlantic Ocean.
The municipality has many nicknames: La Villa de Sotomayor ("Sotomayor's Villa") is a reference to one of the town's Spanish founders, Cristóbal de Sotomayor; La Ciudad del Descubrimiento ("City of the Discovery") is a reference to the possibility that Christopher Columbus first landed in Puerto Rico at what is today the municipality's territory; El Pueblo Playero translates to "the beach town" and La Ciudad del Vaticano ("the Vatican's City") which references the town's early importance for Catholicism in the island.
History A Taíno settlement called Aymamón or Aymaymón was located close to the Culebrinas River prior to the arrival of the Spanish.Caciques y Yucayeques de Puerto Rico on Proyecto Salon Hogar Aguada Bay (Bahía de Aguada), today gazetted as Aguadilla Bay (Bahía de Aguada),United States Board on Geographic Names, & U.S. Geological Survey. (1953). Puerto Rico: Official standard names approved by the United States Board on Geographic Names (Gazetteer No. 38). Office of Geography, Department of the Interior. 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.Menhinick, Kevin, "The Caribs in Dominica" 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.Aguada, la Villa del Sotomayor on Proyecto Salon Hogar 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. The sugarcane industry grew drastically in Puerto Rico during the second half of the 19th century, and in Aguada, most of the rice crops were removed to make way for the sugarcane plantations. Central Coloso was founded during this time by a local businessman with the name Vadí and a German Puerto Rican entrepreneur named H. Kuster. Together they ran the sugarcane mill until 1897, when they sold it to merchant José Amill Massó who redeveloped it into a modern refinery that continue to operate throughout the 20th century.
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 an unincorporated territory of the United States. In 1899, the United States Department of War conducted its first census of Puerto Rico finding that the population of Aguada was 10,581.
In the early years of the 20th century, two disasters affected Aguada. First, a huge fire in 1912 destroyed most of the town buildings, including the old city hall, which contained all the city archives. On October 11, 1918, at an earthquake known as the San Fermín earthquake destroyed the church and other structures.Aguada: Fundación e historia on Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico At Culebrinas River, 1000 kg blocks of limestone from the wrecked Columbus monument were carried inland to distances of by waves high.Tsunamis in the Caribbean Sea – NOAA
Hurricane María on September 20, 2017, triggered numerous landslides in Aguada, with its strong winds and heavy rain. Infrastructure and an estimated 8,000 homes in Aguada were damaged or destroyed. Two police officers died when they were caught in the flooded Culebrinas River.
On July 16, 2023 a tornado touched down in Aguada, producing EF1 damage which included tearing a roof from a house and damage to power lines. The city is notorious for stormy weather.
Geography Aguada is located in the west coast of the island of Puerto Rico. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and Aguadilla on the north, Moca on the east, Añasco on the south, and Rincón on the west. Aguada is part of the Coastal Plains of the West, which features alluvial and fertile terrain. Although the terrain is mostly plain, there are some mountains to the south and southeast.Aguada on Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico
Among the mountains located in Aguada are the Atalaya Peak, located within the limits of Aguada and Rincón. Also, San Francisco Mountain, which is popularly known as the birth point of the Cordillera Central, and Cerro Gordo, peaking at .Aguada on SalonHogar.com
Water features Aguada's hydrographic system is composed of the Río Culebrinas, Río Grande, Río Cañas, Río Culebra, Río Guayabo, and Río Ingenio. All of these rivers flow into the Mona Passage. According to a news article by Primera Hora, there are ten beaches in Aguada. Aguada has an area of 45.55 square miles and 14.62% are water bodies.
Barrios
Like all municipalities of Puerto Rico, Aguada is subdivided into barrios:
Aguada barrio-pueblo Asomante Atalaya Carrizal Cerro Gordo Cruces Espinar Guanábano Guaniquilla Guayabo Jagüey Lagunas Mal Paso Mamey Marías Naranjo Piedras Blancas Río Grande
Sectors
Barrios (which are, in contemporary times, roughly comparable to minor civil divisions) in turn are further subdivided into smaller local populated place areas/units called sectores (which means sectors in English). The types of sectores may vary, from normally sector to urbanización to reparto to barriada to residencial, among others.
Special Communities
(Special Communities of Puerto Rico) are marginalized communities whose citizens are experiencing a certain amount of social exclusion. A map shows these communities occur in nearly every municipality of the commonwealth. Of the 742 places that were on the list in 2014, the following barrios, communities, sectors, or neighborhoods were in Aguada: and in Guanaquilla barrio, in , and .
Climate
Demographics
Racial – (self-defined) Aguada, Puerto Rico – 2020 Census Race Population % of Total White8,67322.7% Black/Afro Puerto Rican4,04310.6% Native Americans/Alaska Native1,1503.0% Asian650.2% Two or more races/Some other race 24,20563.5% In 2020, the population of Aguada decreased by 9.1% to 38,136. In 2010, the population of Aguada was 41,959, which represented a small decrease from the 42,042 registered in the 2000 Census.Censo 2000: Población de Puerto Rico por Municipios y Barrios on CEEPUR Until its decrease in 2010, Aguada's population had been increasing steadily.
According to the 2020 Census, 22.7% of the population identifies themselves as White, and 10.6% as Black. Also, according to the census, the population is equally divided by gender (49.1% are males, while 50.1% are females). Finally, 23.7% of the population is under 18 years old. The next biggest percentage of population (20.8%) is between 35 and 49 years old.
Economy
Historically, the economy of Aguada was mostly based on the processing of sugarcane. The Central Coloso, located in the Guanábano barrio of Aguada, was one of the most important refineries in the island. It was also the last one to cease operations, officially closing in 2003.Central Coloso on Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico Aside from sugar mills, there was also a cattle and wood industry.
The commercial economy in Aguada reached a great boom in the 1950s. There were many commercial stores selling merchandise, grocery, hardware, and food products of all categories. “La Villa de Sotomayor” by Rivera & Rivera, Inc., founded around 1912 by Remigio Rivera Bonet, was the biggest and most important business in Aguada with an estimated income that exceeded the million dollars annually at that time. Rivera & Rivera, Inc. had department stores, hardware stores, bakeries, travel agencies and LPG gas distribution, among other business in Aguada and the region. As of 2012, the Aguada economy relies mostly on small businesses and manufacturing.
In late 2014, the government announced a $172 million deal with private investors to restart sugar production in Puerto Rico for the purpose of supplying the island rum producers with up to 56% of the molasses needed. The plan involved building a new processing plant on the grounds of the old Coloso Sugar Cane factory in Aguada.
Tourism Aguada is part of the Porta del Sol touristic region in Puerto Rico. The Porta del Sol website highlights Aguada's town square and beaches as its most notable touristic attractions.
Landmarks and places of interest