The Identity of a Puerto Rican Sidney W. Mintz describes the Caribbean as "a collection of approximately fifty inhabited units extending across nearly 2,500 miles of sea between Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and the northern coast of South America, constitute the oldest colonial sphere of Western Europe's overseas expansion... these territories were dominated, navigated and explored, their aborigines thrust into the consciousness of European monarchs, philosophers and scientists " (17). The Caribbean islands may have some common historical patterns of conquest, slavery, and the development of multicultural societies, but each island has its own history, culture, and identity. As part of the Caribbean, Puerto Rico may identify with some of the other Hispanic colonies, but in reality issues of ethnicity, race, and nationality are unique to Puerto Rico. In the essay "Ethnic conflict and levels of identity in the Caribbean: deconstructing a myth" Ralph R. Premdas writes: "Ethnic identity emerges from the collective consciousness of a group that transmits a sense of belonging derived from belonging to a community presumably linked by a common descent and culture… Identity as belonging can be acquired through membership in various communities linked by one or more social attributes such as race, language, religion, culture, region, etc” (24). The question for Puerto Rico is: what is the identity of the people if the island has experienced 400 years of Spanish colonialism and 100 years of US sovereignty? How did American colonial intervention influence or still influence Puerto Rican culture? Puerto Rican national identity has been questioned since Columbus arrived on the island. To better understand the issues and changes in id...... half of the document ...... uertoricanism by providing a counterexample of what Puerto Rican is not" (152). Today it is clearly seen that many Puerto Ricans they are proud to be Puerto Rican, even those who live on the mainland. Yes, their lives have been changed, but their uniqueness and pride will always be there because they will always be Puerto Rican. The addition of the US culture on the island adds to that of Puerto Rico. Yet divisions among Puerto Ricans exist due to the issue of the status of the island. These divisions make it difficult to identify Puerto Ricans as one. Carrion, Juan Manuel ed Rico 1997 Gonzalez, Jose Luis. Puerto Rico: The Four-Story Country New York: Markus Wiener Publishing, Inc. 1993 Morris, Nancy Puerto Rico: Culture, Politics and Identity. 1995