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San Juan Bay
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San Juan Bay
Bahía de San Juan
Mercator projection of San Juan Bay
Location
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Coordinates
Coordinates: 18°27′7.95″N 66°6′51.04″W / 18.4522083°N 66.1141778°W / 18.4522083; -66.1141778
Type
Bay
Ocean/sea sources
North Atlantic Ocean
Managing agency
Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, Puerto Rico Ports Authority
San Juan Bay (Spanish: Bahía de San Juan) is the inlet adjacent to Old San Juan in northeastern Puerto Rico. It is the largest body of water in an estuary of about 150 square miles (390 km2) of channels, inlets and eight interconnected lagoons. Puerto Rico's deepest bay contains the island's busiest harbor, and since 1508 it has been historically significant.[1][2]
Contents
1 Geography
2 History
2.1 European conquest and settlement
2.2 Colonial period
3 Present day
4 Gallery
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
Geography[edit]
The bay is a semi-enclosed body of water with an elaborate system of loops, basins and channels at the center of Puerto Rico's most significant historical monuments and largest communities. San Juan Bay provides recreation, sightseeing and tourist attractions, and its curved shape offers a variety of docking facilities for watercraft. Because of commercial expansion and environmental stress on the region,[3][4] the estuary has been the focus of restoration ecology projects.[5][6] In 2015, the San Juan Estuary Program (Programa del estuario de la Bahía de San Juan) began using green flags to mark the condition of the bay's waters.[7][8]
On a map, San Juan Bay appears to connect two adjacent lakes. This impression comes from a neck of land, Puntilla ("small point"), which projects from the Islet of San Juan Bautista into the center of the bay and approaches another protuberance (Punta Cataño) stretching from the other side of a larger island. The illusion demonstrates the bay's irregular shape. Next to Puntilla are docks which are reportedly the busiest in the Caribbean.[9] Part of the Port of San Juan, they are on the Islet of San Juan Bautista at the entrance to San António Channel. Three bridges between the islet and the mainland cross the channel, which connects the bay to Laguna del Condado (Condado Lagoon) and the Atlantic Ocean. One of these bridges is the historic Bridge of Two Brothers. Before their construction, the Condado Lagoon was the bay's narrowest entrance.
On the other side, across the Isla Grande peninsula, the bay's interior is shaped like a triangle. It contains the busy Bahía de Puerto Nuevo (New Port Bay), which is closer to inland transportation networks than the Port of San Juan. The bay is fed by the Río Piedras, which empties into the bay via the Canal Martín Peña. The 3.75-mile (6.04 km) channel connects the bay to other lagoons and the city of Río Piedras.[10]
History[edit]
European conquest and settlement[edit]
Rodrigo de Figueroa's 1519 sketch of the Villa de Puerto Rico, before Caparra's settlers relocated to the harbor
The Spanish conquistadors of the New World thought in terms of urban landscapes and municipal organization. They did not launch their conquista de las Indias from ocean-going caravels or itinerant campsites. The Spanish needed solid dwellings, preferably surrounded by rock walls, as they had in Europe. Juan Ponce de León spent days searching for the best place to build a villa, the blueprint for a colonial city. Santo Domingo governor Nicolás de Ovando had appointed him to pacify and evangelize the nearby island, which Christopher Columbus had named "San Juan Bautista" during his second voyage to the Americas. A frontier with dreaded, reportedly-cannibalistic Caribs on its coast, it was an opportunity to demonstrate machismo and glorify God and country. Following de Ovando's recommendation, Ferdinand II of Aragon made Ponce de León an adelantado and authorized him to conquer the Taíno island. Boriquén, the indigenous name for Puerto Rico, would be the second Caribbean island to become part of the Spanish Empire.[11]
In 1508 Ponce de León sailed into the Bay of Guanica, on the west of the island, where local cacique Agüeybaná I welcomed his men as allies against the Caribs. However, the Spanish did not find a suitable place to settle there.[12] The adelantado and his small team of hidalgos traversed the island until they saw a spacious, almost-landlocked bay on the northeastern shore. No indigenous peoples seemed to claim the area, since it was subject to Carib raids. Ponce de León named the body of water the Bay of the Wealthy Port (Spanish: Bahía de Puerto Rico).[13][14]
1919 drawing of the San Antonio Bridge in 1597
Ponce de León pushed inland and ordered the first Spanish settlement on the island, 3 miles (4.8 km) from the bay. Following de Ovando's suggestion, he named the settlement Caparra. The explorer chose the site because of its proximity to the sea and "to the gold mines and farms of the Toa Valley".[15]
Caparra proved to be an inauspicious venture. Mendicant friars appealed to Ponce de León to move the settlement closer to the bay (and its sea breezes), saying that its present location was lethal to children. The governor was adamantly opposed, since he had had a house built in Caparra. In 1511 the crown appointed a new governor, Juan Cerón, who received royal permission to relocate the village. According to Rodrigo de Figueroa's map, the villagers resettled on a three-mile blustery, wooded islet at the bay's entrance.[16] In 1521, the residents completed the resettlement and named the new village "Villa de Puerto Rico".[17] Several years later, after a royal upgrade, the settlement was renamed "Ciudad de Puerto Rico".[18][19][20] Colonial engineers fortified the islet with walls and castles, connecting it to mainland Puerto Rico with the San Antonio Bridge, and it came to be known as "the walled city".[21][22]
Sixteenth-century Spanish historian and indigenous activist Bartolomé de las Casas described the bay and its surrounding area names different from those presently used:[23][24] La isla que llamamos de San Juan, que por vocablo de la lengua de los indios, vecinos naturales della, se nombraba Boriquén ... tiene algunos puertos no buenos, si no es el que llaman Puerto-Rico ("That island we call San Juan, which according to the native Indian language was called Boriquén, has but a few inferior harbors, except the one called Puerto-Rico").[25][26] According to de las Casas, the Indians called their island "Boriquén"; the Spanish called it "San Juan", and its harbor "Puerto Rico". Over time, the island became Puerto Rico and its harbor (and bay) San Juan; the Indian name changed to Borinquen, with no diacritic and an extra n.[27]
Colonial period[edit]
Although the Atlantic winds may have provided a healthier climate on the islet, moving the village from Caparra to the bay did not protect the settlers further from Carib attacks. The Caribs, understanding the impact of European colonization on their survival, stormed the new settlement fiercely.[28]
By the eighteenth century the population of the islet had expanded into the Atlantic City of San Juan, largely due to the proximity of the bay and its port. The city and the bay's entrances were fortified; the bay and its walls isolated the Spanish inhabitants from the rest of the island's population, encouraging a casta.[29]
For the last 500 years the bay's most important function has been to link Puerto Rico and the outside world,[30] and detachments of the Spanish treasure fleet connected the island colony to the Spanish colonial network. With its strategic location, it was a target for pirate attacks and a site for imperial powers to demonstrate military might. On the east side of the bay's mouth, the Castillo San Felipe del Morro still guards its narrow entrance.[31]
Isleta of San Juan from the Bay
Present day[edit]
View of the bay from the pathway at Pier 8
The Port of San Juan, on the islet at the bay's northern side, is among the busiest Caribbean ports.[32][33][34] Thousands of fishermen ply the brackish waters where fresh water meets the sea. San Juan Bay's beauty and ecological diversity attracts tourism and a variety of recreational activities.
A result of exploitation, however, has been the degradation of a significant portion of the bay's natural resources; the area is also susceptible to seismic activity.[35][36] A restoration project has returned the bay's water to "safe at contact" status and has integrated the city's renovated coastal infrastructure into the bay's shoreline.[37]
Gallery[edit]
1922 sketch map
The Ciudad Amurallad (Walled City), seen from the bay
Cruise ship entering the bay
Sunset
Narrow entrance, seen from the Isla de Cabras
U.S. Coast Guard ship entering the bay
Sailboats in 1901
Bay entrance, seen from El Morro
View from the city walls
1766 map by Isaak Tirion
See also[edit]
Puerto Rico portal
Geography portal
Wikimedia Commons has media related to San Juan Bay.
Battle of San Juan (1595)
Fortín San Juan de la Cruz
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Miller, Paul Gerard (1922). Historia de Puerto Rico. Chicago: Rand, McNally y compañía. pp. 55–57.
Jump up ^ Negroni, Héctor Andrés (1992). Historia militar de Puerto Rico. San Juan, PR: Sociedad Estatal Quinto Aniversario. p. 496. ISBN 8478441387.
Jump up ^ "Coast Guard to deploy vessel of opportunity oil skimming system during training exercise in San Juan Bay". News Report. U.S. Coast Guard. November 8, 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
Jump up ^ Pérez-Villalona, Hamlet; Jeffrey C. Cornwell; Jorge R. Ortiz-Zayas & Elvira Cuevas (2015). "Sediment Denitrification and Nutrient Fluxes in the San José Lagoon, a Tropical Lagoon in the Highly Urbanized San Juan Bay Estuary, Puerto Rico". Estuaries and Coasts. 38 (6): 2259–2278. doi:10.1007/s12237-015-9953-3.
Jump up ^ "EPA Approves Puerto Rico's List of Impaired Waters: New Pollutants Included for Waters of San Juan Bay Estuary, Rio Bayamon, Rio Grande de Arecibo". News Report. Environmental Protection Agency. September 29, 2010. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
Jump up ^ "What communities are doing: Caño Martín Peña, San Juan, Puerto Rico". News Report. Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
Jump up ^ "Banderas indican si son seguras las aguas de la Laguna del Condado". News Report. Programa del Estuario de la Bahía de San Juan. May 2015. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
Jump up ^ Costa, Juan R. (May 5, 2015). "Banderas alertarán condiciones bacteriológicas de la Laguna del Condado (galería)". News Report. San Juan, Puerto Rico. Noticel. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
Jump up ^ Monie, Gustaaf, Frank Hendrickx, Karel Joos, Lars Couvreur, and Chris Peeters (1998). Strategies for Global and Regional Ports the Case of Caribbean Container and Cruise Ports. Boston, MA: Springer. pp. 116–121. CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
Jump up ^ Albert Hoyt, Edward (1943). A History of the Harbor Defenses of San Juan, P.R., Under Spain, 1509-1898. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Puerto Rico Coast Artillery Command. p. 144.
Jump up ^ García Leduc; José Manuel (2002). Apuntes para una historia breve de Puerto Rico: desde la prehistoria hasta 1898. San Juan, PR. pp. 104–126. ISBN 1881715965.
Jump up ^ Pabón-Charneco, Arleen & Eduardo A. Regis (1997). Guánica: el origen de su memoria. Guánica, PR: Oficina Estatal de Preservación Historica, Oficina del Gobernador de Puerto Rico,. pp. 9–75.
Jump up ^ Cerezo Martínez, Ricardo (1994). La cartografía náutica española en los siglos XIV, XV y XVI. Madrid: Editorial CSIC. p. 152.
Jump up ^ Tió, Aurelio (1961). Nuevas fuentes para la historia de Puerto Rico ; documentos inéditos o poco conocidos cuyos originales se encuentran en el Archivo General de Indias en la ciudad de Seville, España. San Germán: Ediciones de la Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico. p. 645.
Jump up ^ Stark, David M. (2008). ""There Is No City Here, but a Desert," The Contours of City Life in 1673 San Juan". The Journal of Caribbean History. 42 (2): 257.
Jump up ^ Domínguez Cristóbal, Carlos (2000). Panorama Histórico Forestal de Puerto Rico. San Juan, PR: University of Puerto Rico. p. 85. ISBN 0847702979.
Jump up ^ Alegría, Ricardo E. (2009). Documentos históricos de Puerto Rico: 1581-1599. San Juan, PR: Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe. p. 135. ISBN 1934461458.
Jump up ^ Simón, Pedro (1626). Noticias historiales de las conquistas de Tierra firme en las Indias occidentales, Volume 1. Madrid. pp. 82–84.
Jump up ^ Lopez Nieves, Luis (1996). "La verdadera muerte de Juan Ponce De León". Inti: Revista de literatura hispánica. 1 (43): 421–435.
Jump up ^ Marley, David (2005). Historic Cities of the Americas: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. . Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Jump up ^ Abbad y Lasierra, Iñigo & José J. Acosta. (1866). Historia geográfica, civil y natural de la isla de San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico. San Juan, PR: Impr. y librería de Acosta. p. 116.
Jump up ^ Zapatero, Juan Manuel (1989). "Las fortificaciones históricas de San Juan de Puerto Rico Edit. Universidad Complutense. Madrid, 1989". MilitariaRevista de Cultura Militar (1): 141–175.
Jump up ^ Siegel, Peter E. (2005). Ancient Borinquen: Archaeology and Ethnohistory of Native Puerto Rico. University of Alabama Press. pp. xviii. ISBN 0817352384.
Jump up ^ Viala, Fabienne (2014). The Post-Columbus Syndrome: Identities, Cultural Nationalism, and Commemorations in the Caribbean. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 122. ISBN 1137439890.
Jump up ^ las Casas, Bartolomé (1875). Historia de las Indias, Vol. 3. Madrid: Imprenta Miguel Ginesta. p. 234.
Jump up ^ de las Casas, Bartolomé (1876). Historia de las Indias escrita, Vol. 4. Madrid: Imprenta de Miguel Ginesta. p. 321.
Jump up ^ Arrom, José Juan (2000). Estudios de Lexicología Antillana. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico. pp. 131–138. ISBN 0847703746.
Jump up ^ Cruz Soto, Marie (2009). Inhabiting Isla Nena, 1514--2003: Island Narrations, Imperial Dramas and Vieques, Puerto Rico. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan. p. 56.
Jump up ^ Scarano, Francisco (2013). "Imperial decline and adaptation," a chapter in The Caribbean: A History of the Region and Its Peoples. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 180–183. ISBN 0226924645.
Jump up ^ Flores Román, Milagros, Luis A. Lugo Amador, and José Cruz de Arrigoitia (2009). San Juan, ciudad de castillos y soldados = San Juan city of castles and soldiers. San Juan, P.R: National Park Service. pp. 21–25. ISBN 9781934461655. CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
Jump up ^ Barrientos, Andrea (2008). Por las Calles del Viejo San Juan (PDF). San Juan, PR: Mapfre. pp. 26–35. ISBN 9780615240947.
Jump up ^ "NOAA's Newest Chart Supports Puerto Rico Maritime Economy". News Release. NOAA, Office of the Coast Survey. October 13, 2011. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
Jump up ^ Organization of American States. (1988). Caribbean Cruise Ship Study. Washington, DC: General Secretariat OAS. p. 21.
Jump up ^ Gulliksen, Vance (August 2008). "The Cruise Industry". Society. 45 (4): 342–344. doi:10.1007/s12115-008-9103-7.
Jump up ^ Vengesh, James, Jeffrey Bachhuber (2005). "Liquefaction susceptibility" a chapter in, Active Tectonics and Seismic Hazards of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Offshore Areas. Austin, Texas: Geological Society of America. pp. 249–262. ISBN 081372385X. CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
Jump up ^ Bauzá-Ortega, Jorge. "The San Juan Bay Estuary and its Initiatives toward a Climate Ready Estuary" (PDF). San Juan Bay Estuary Program.
Jump up ^ "Ruta urbana para disfrutar del mar Redescubre la extraordinaria belleza del mar así como de otros cuerpos de agua en la zona metropolitana". News release. San Juan, Puerto Rico. El Nuevo Dia. July 22, 2012. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
External links[edit]
San Juan National Historic Site
Estuario de la Bahía de San Juan (in Spanish)
PRFFrogui: Estuario de la bahía de San Juan (in Spanish)
Casa Blanca: residencia de los decendientes de Juan Ponce de León, colonizador de Puerto Rico(in Spanish)
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text:
Holy cow (expression)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Holy cow.
Sign on the side of the Chicago Varnish Company Building depicting Harry Caray, circa 1998
"Holy cow!" (and similar) is an exclamation of surprise used mostly in the United States, Canada, Australia, and England. It is a minced oath or euphemism for "Holy Christ!" Holy Cow! dates to at least 1905.[1] The earliest known appearance of the phrase was in a tongue-in-cheek letter to the editor: "A lover of the cow writes to this column to protest against a certain variety of Hindu oath having to do with the vain use of the name of the milk producer. These profane exclamations, "holy cow!" and, "By the stomach of the eternal cow!""[2] The phrase appears to have been adopted as a means to avoid penalties for using obscene or indecent language and may have been based on a general awareness of the holiness of cows in some religious traditions.[1]
From the Dictionary of American Slang (1960):[3]
“ "Holy Buckets!" Equiv. to "Holy cats!" or "Holy Mike!" both being euphemisms for "Holy Christ!". This term is considered to be very popular among teenagers, and most teens claim it is definitely a very popular phrase. It is also the common oath and popular exclamation put into the mouths of teenagers by many screenwriters, and, is universally heard on radio, television, and in the movies. It was first popularized by the "Corliss Archer" series of short stories, television programs, and movies, which attempted to show the humorous, homey side of teenage life. ”
Expressions such as "Holy buckets!", "Holy underwear!", etc. also employ a play-on-words, "holy" implying "riddled with holes".
Paul Beale (1985), however, in revising Eric Partridge's A Dictionary of Catch Phrases: British and American, from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Day cites a different origin:[4]
“ The original 'Captain Marvel' and 'Batman' oaths, 'holy (something harmless),' were in turn spoofed in the later 20th century by whatever seemed relevant to the situation. Nigel Rees, in Very Interesting... But Stupid: Catchphrases from the World of Entertainment, 1980, instances "holy flypaper!", "holy cow!", "holy felony!", "holy geography!", "holy schizophrenia!", "holy haberdashery!", etc., and adds, "The prefix 'holy' to any exclamation was particularly the province of Batman and [his boy assistant] Robin, characters created by Bob Kane and featured in best-selling comic books for over thirty years before they were portrayed by Adam West and Burt Ward in the TV film series." ”
The phrase "Holy cow!" was used by baseball players at least as early as 1913[5] and probably much earlier.[1] It became associated with several American baseball broadcasters. The phrase may have originated with (and certainly was introduced to the baseball lexicon by) reporter and broadcaster Halsey Hall, who worked in Minneapolis from 1919 until his death in 1977. According to Paul Dickson, New Orleans radio announcer Jack Holiday also used the phrase on broadcasts of the minor-league New Orleans Pelicans in the 1930s.[6]
Harry Caray, who was the broadcaster for the St. Louis Cardinals (1945-1969), Oakland Athletics (1970), Chicago White Sox (1971-1981), and Chicago Cubs (1982-1997), began using it early in his career, in order to prevent himself from lapsing into vulgarity.[7] New York Yankees shortstop and announcer Phil Rizzuto was also well known for the phrase; when the Yankees honored him following his retirement, the ceremony included a real cow with a halo prop on its head. 1950s Milwaukee Braves broadcaster Earl Gillespie was also known for this expression.
The cartoon strip Common Grounds was originally titled Holey Crullers, a play on this catchphrase.[citation needed]
See also[edit]
Look up Holy cow in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Cattle in religion
References[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b c Brown, Peter Jensen. "Holy Cow! Hinduism and Baseball". Retrieved 15 May 2014.
Jump up ^ "With the Long Bow". The Minneapolis Journal. November 24, 1905. p. 24. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
Jump up ^ Wentworth, Harold; Flexner, Stuart B. (1960). Dictionary of American Slang. New York: Crowell. p. 264. OCLC 318952. [verification needed]
Jump up ^ Partridge, Eric (1986). Paul Beale, ed. A Dictionary of Catch Phrases: British and American, from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Day (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. p. 193. ISBN 0-415-05916-X.
Jump up ^ Popick, Barry. "The Big Apple". Retrieved 15 May 2014.
Jump up ^ Dickson, Paul (1999). The New Dickson Baseball Dictionary. San Diego: Harcourt Brace. p. 254. ISBN 0-15-600580-8.
Jump up ^ Caray, Harry; Verdi, Bob (1989). Holy Cow!. New York: Villard. ISBN 0-394-57418-4.
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