History of the Jews in Puerto Rico Very few American Jews settled in Puerto Rico after it was ceded by Spain to the United States under the terms of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Spanish–American War. The first large group of Jews to settle in Puerto Rico were refugees fleeing German–occupied Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. The second influx came in the 1950s, when thousands of Cuban Jews (most of Eastern-European descent) fled after Fidel Castro came to power. The majority immigrated to Miami, Florida, but a sizable portion chose to establish and integrate themselves on the neighboring island because of Puerto Rico's
Puerto Rico the capital city. The island's name was changed to "Porto Rico" by the United States after the Treaty of Paris of 1898. The anglicized name was used by the U.S. government and private enterprises. The name was changed back to Puerto Rico by a joint resolution in Congress introduced by Félix Córdova Dávila in 1931. The official name of the entity in Spanish is " ("free associated state of Puerto Rico"), while its official English name is Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The ancient history of the archipelago which is now Puerto Rico is not well known. Unlike other indigenous cultures