Puerto rico area km2: Puerto Rico — Surface Area (sq. Km)

Puerto Rico — Surface area (sq. km)

The value for Surface area (sq. km) in Puerto Rico was 8,870 as of 2018. As the graph below shows, over the past 57 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 8,870 in 2018 and a minimum value of 8,870 in 1961.

Definition: Surface area is a country’s total area, including areas under inland bodies of water and some coastal waterways.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site.

See also:

• Thematic map
• Country comparison
• Country ranking
• Download data to Excel

Year	Value
1961	8,870
1962	8,870
1963	8,870
1964	8,870
1965	8,870
1966	8,870
1967	8,870
1968	8,870
1969	8,870
1970	8,870
1971	8,870
1972	8,870
1973	8,870
1974	8,870
1975	8,870
1976	8,870
1977	8,870
1978	8,870
1979	8,870
1980	8,870
1981	8,870
1982	8,870
1983	8,870
1984	8,870
1985	8,870
1986	8,870
1987	8,870
1988	8,870
1989	8,870
1990	8,870
1991	8,870
1992	8,870
1993	8,870
1994	8,870
1995	8,870
1996	8,870
1997	8,870
1998	8,870
1999	8,870
2000	8,870
2001	8,870
2002	8,870
2003	8,870
2004	8,870
2005	8,870
2006	8,870
2007	8,870
2008	8,870
2009	8,870
2010	8,870
2011	8,870
2012	8,870
2013	8,870
2014	8,870
2015	8,870
2016	8,870
2017	8,870
2018	8,870

Development Relevance: Total surface area is particularly important for understanding an economy’s agricultural capacity and the environmental effects of human activity. Innovations in satellite mapping and computer databases have resulted in more precise measurements of land and water areas.
Population, surface area, income, and output are basic measures of the size of an economy. They also provide a broad indication of actual and potential resources. Land area is therefore used as one of the major indicator to normalize other indicators.

Limitations and Exceptions: The data are collected by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations through annual questionnaires. The FAO tries to impose standard definitions and reporting methods, but complete consistency across countries and over time is not possible.
The data collected from official national sources through the questionnaire are supplemented with information from official secondary data sources. The secondary sources cover official country data from websites of national ministries, national publications and related country data reported by various international organizations.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Total land area includes inland water bodies such as major rivers and lakes. Variations from year to year may be due to updated or revised data rather than to change in area.

Aggregation method: Sum

Periodicity: Annual

Topic: Environment Indicators

Sub-Topic: Land use

What to Know Before Going to Puerto Rico

Going to Puerto Rico for a U.S. citizen is a breeze – as a U.S. territory, no passport is needed for travel there.

However, neither most Americans or people around the world truly understand the rich, even ambiguous history and political affairs of the island.

Thus, today I present you an overview of Puerto Rico so you better understand your surroundings and Puerto Rican traditions when you go.

What to Know Before Going to Puerto Rico

Geography of Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico, while it is famously known as La Isla Del Encanto (“The Enchanted Island”), it is actually an archipelago with an area of 9,104 km2 in the Caribbean. The main island, however, is just 100 miles by 34 miles.
 
The smallest of the Greater Antilles, Puerto Rico is located east of La Española (Haiti/Dominican Republic) and west of the USVI and the string of islands known as the Lesser Antilles. Due to its strategic geographical location, it was known as the Gateway of the New World during colonial times, back in the 1500’s.

Geography of Puerto Rico

Historical and Political Overview

Puerto Rico was discovered by Christopher Columbus on his second journey to the New World on November 19th, 1493. For more than 400 years, it was a colony of Spain. However, Borinquén (as the native Taínos called it) was attacked repeatedly by different colonial powers, most notably England, France, and the Netherlands. Ironically, though, Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States under the terms of the Treaty of Paris in 1898, after winning the Spanish-American War.
 
What most people (and, ironically, most Americans) do not know is that Puerto Ricans have been U. S. citizens since the Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917. What’s curious about this Act is that while it granted most rights associated with citizenship (established a bill of rights, Puerto Ricans could now carry U.S. passports, etc.), it did not allow for proper representation in Congress. Rather, Puerto Ricans could now elect a Resident Commissioner every four years, who basically acts as any other U.S. Representative, except his/her votes don’t count.
 
Speaking of the political ambuiguity of Puerto Rico: It’s official name is Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico (literally “Associated Free State of Puerto Rico”). In simple terms, a Commonwealth. What’s that? An unincorporated territory of the U.S., which according to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Insular Cases is “a territory belonging to the United States, but not a part of the United States” (Wiki). We have both a federal government (USA) and a state government (PR), like any other state of the union. However, Puerto Ricans cannot vote for the President of the United States nor can they receive all benefits that U. S. citizens living in any other state enjoy. Additionally, Puerto Rico cannot free trade with other countries directly–the U.S. must always be the intermediary. Thus, under article 73(e) of the UN Charter, Puerto Rico is a non-self-governing territory.
 
What’s the most curious fact about Puerto Rico’s unique political status, though? 

In all other aspects, it is an independent country. Huh? Yes! Puerto Rico fully participates in most international (non-political) events as a separate country. We send our own delegates to Miss Universe, have our own team in the Basketball World Championship, and even the Olympics–meaning we do not go under the U.S. flag or name, but under our own, Puerto Rico. Isn’t that cool?! =)

Heritage and Culture

Puerto Rican culture is a rich heritage, primarily Spanish, African, and Taíno (indigenous-aboriginal). Once Conquistadors came to the island, they intermarried Taínas and also slaves that they brought from Africa. Thus, as far as looks go, the possibilities are endless *wink* Some tourists get confused, hehe, as they imagine Puerto Ricans to be like the Telenovela stars with long, flowy dark hair, olive skin, and brown eyes. Those are common, too, but so are the green-eyed African Puerto Ricans and the blondes with ultra-curly African locks! =)
 
And now some beach pictures!

That shall be it for this educational article about mi patria, Puerto Rico! Check out the photo gallery below to look at some awesome pictures of my friends and me at different beaches all over the island.

• Culebra, Puerto Rico

• Corcho Beach Vieques, Puerto Rico

Author

• Travel Dudes
  

  I’m sure you’ve had similar experiences I had whilst traveling. You’re in a certain place and a fellow traveler, or a local, tip you off on a little-known beach, bar or accommodation. Great travel tips from other travelers or locals always add something special to our travels. That was the inspiration for Travel Dudes.

Puerto Rico

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The largest islands

An island is a piece of land surrounded on all sides by water, whether it be an ocean or a river bed. Since 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, by this definition, all land can be called islands. However, the largest areas of land are usually called continents (continents). According to this classification, the smallest continent — Australia — is three times larger in size than the largest island in the world — Greenland . The next largest are the islands of New Guinea and Kalimantan (Borneo). The table shows islands with an area of ​​over 5000 km ² , there are more than a hundred of them. And the number of small islands is calculated in many thousands.

The largest island in the world is Greenland, but its size on a standard globe is distorted due to the location of the island. Below you can see the actual size of the islands.

Interesting facts :

• 11% of the planet’s population lives on islands
• The largest uninhabited island in the world — Devon (Canada)
• The largest littoral island in the world — Marajo (Brazil)
• The world’s largest fluvial island — Bananal (Brazil)
• The most populated island in the world is Java (Indonesia), with 145 million people
• Australia, with an area of ​​7,600,000 km², is traditionally regarded as a continent rather than an island. Australia is more than three times the size of Greenland, the largest island. However, Australia is sometimes considered an «island continent».
• Water is a natural defense against external threats, it was especially important in antiquity. Therefore, almost all the islands inhabited by people usually passed to self-government, developed separately from the continental parent and turned from a colony into an independent state. Or, if the island is large, several peoples living on the island united or submitted, most often through war. Therefore, there are quite a few islands in the world divided between several countries. The vast majority are completely subordinate to one country or on their own.

Below is an infographic of the world’s largest islands based on their population density. The darker the map is colored, the greater the population density of the island.

The leader in the number of large islands is North America — 32 of the 100 largest islands are located near the mainland. However, 12 of them are uninhabited due to the cold arctic temperatures.

As for population density, the undisputed leader here are the islands from Asia. Compared to the rest of the world, the Asian islands are teeming with life.

• 28 Asian islands
  Total population: 510.4 million
• 14 European islands
  Total population: 83.