Vieques

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Vieques
Aerial view of the island
Aerial view of the island
Waters Caribbean Sea
Archipelago Virgin Islands
Geographical location 18 ° 7 ′  N , 65 ° 25 ′  W Coordinates: 18 ° 7 ′  N , 65 ° 25 ′  W
Vieques (Puerto Rico)
Vieques
length 33 km
width 7 km
surface 135 km²
Highest elevation Monte Pirata
300  m
Residents 9530 (2000)
71 inhabitants / km²
main place Isabel Segunda
Topographic map (1951) with boundaries of the barrios
Topographic map (1951)
with boundaries of the barrios

Vieques or Vieques Island ( Spanish Isla de Vieques , German  "Crab Island" ) is an island in the Caribbean that belongs to Puerto Rico . It also forms one of the 78 independent communities in Puerto Rico and is the largest community and largest island in the Spanish Virgin Islands .

geography

The elongated island has a length of 33 kilometers in its east-west extension with a maximum width of a good seven kilometers. It is located a good twelve kilometers east of the main island of Puerto Rico and has a land area of ​​around 135 km². The highest point of the hilly island is the Monte Pirata with a height of about 300 meters. Vieques has around 9530 inhabitants (as of 2000), most of whom live in the west of the island. The east of the island was a restricted military area for many years because the USA maintained a military base there.

Today the island is shaped by tourism . Most of the holidaymakers come from the USA and the main island of Puerto Rico. There are regular flight connections to the airport in the capital, San Juan . In addition, several (high-speed) ferries operate daily between Fajardo on the main island and Vieques.

The secondary islands of Vieques are all within two, mostly within one kilometer, of the main island. They are listed in clockwise order, starting with the northernmost minor island to the southernmost:

  • Roca Cucaracha (a rock less than five meters in diameter)
  • Isla Yallis
  • Roca Alcatraz
  • Cayo Conejo
  • Cayo Jalovita
  • Cayo Jalova
  • Isla Chiva
  • Cayo Chiva
  • Cayo de Tierra
  • Cayo de Afuera (Cayo Real)

Administrative division

coat of arms

Vieques, together with its small side islands, forms the municipality of the same name, which is divided into eight barrios , including the main town Isabel Segunda:

Barrio Area
km² 		Population
(
2000 census ) 		Population
density		 associated secondary islands
Isabela II barrio-pueblo 0.697 1459 2093.3 -
Florida 11,554 4126 357.1 -
Llave 15,421 8th 0.5 -
Mosquito 6.279 0 0.0 -
Puerto Diablo 45.324 984 21.7 Roca Cucaracha, Isla Yallis, Roca Alcatraz, Cayo Conejo, Cayo Jalovita, Cayo Jalova
Puerto Ferro 21,200 856 40.4 Isla Chiva, Cayo Chiva
Puerto Real 19,944 1673 83.9 Cayo de Tierra, Cayo de Afuera (Cayo Real)
Punta Arenas 11.227 0 0.0 -
Vieques 131.645 9106 69.2  

history

Vieques was taken in 1682 under the name Krabbeninsel by the Danish company Dansk Vestindiske Kompagni (DVIK) for the Danish West Indies . From 1689 to 1693 the island was under Brandenburg annexation , represented locally by the Brandenburg-African-American Company founded in 1692 .

The island was settled by Spaniards around 1800.

The United States Navy used Vieques from 1941 to 2003 as a maneuvering area and for bomb tests. In the meantime, 70 percent of the island's area was a restricted military area. After their departure on May 1, 2003, the military left behind a soil highly contaminated with cadmium , lead , mercury , uranium and other poisons. As a result, an increased number of illnesses was found among the island's residents. Studies by the Puerto Rico Department of Health showed that between 1985 and 1989 the cancer rate was 26 percent higher than the average for Puerto Rico.

The German Navy has also carried out land target shooting exercises on the Vieques shooting range for many years as part of the training support provided by the US Navy.

In 2017, the only health center with laboratory and delivery room on the island was destroyed by Hurricane Maria . In early 2020, the US civil protection agency FEMA approved almost 40 million US dollars in aid to restore the health center.

Sons and daughters of the island

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Detailed Tables - American Factfinder . Factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
  2. ↑ Population data for 1899, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1950, 1960 and 1970 in the book Puerto Rico under Colonial Rule by Ramón Bosque-Pérez and José Javier Colón Morera, New York 2006, p. 191 online
  3. ↑ Christoph Rella, dissertation: In the beginning was the fort, European fortification policy in Guinea and West Indies 1415 - 1815 (p. 206; PDF file; 7.24 MB)
  4. ^ Vieques in Meyers Konversationslexikon
  5. ↑ Berliner Zeitung: Bombs over the lagoon (June 28, 1999). Retrieved December 24, 2009 .
  6. ↑ US Navy Leaves Vieques Bombing Range. Retrieved December 24, 2009 .
  7. ^ German Bundestag: Maneuvers of the Bundeswehr in Puerto Rico. (PDF; 51 kB) Accessed December 24, 2009 .
  8. ^ German Bundestag: Maneuvers of the Bundeswehr in Puerto Rico (2). (PDF; 134 kB) Accessed December 24, 2009 .
  9. ↑ Nicole Acevedo, Gabe Gutierrez: FEMA approves funds to rebuild hospital in Puerto Rico after teen's death. In: nbcnews.com . January 21, 2020, accessed on January 30, 2020.

Web links

Commons : Vieques  - Collection of images, videos and audio files