Aguada

Aguada is bordered on the north by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the municipalities of Rincon and Anasco, by Moca to the east, and to the west, by Anasco again.  It is crossed by the River Culebrinas.  The people of Aguada are called Aguandenos.

Aguada’s history is as old as the discovery of Puerto Rico, as its bay is where Admiral Christopher Columbus landed in 1493.  This post of Aguada was key at this point in time because it was where the boats would “wash” (hence the name) and load  provisions to continue their trips to the rest of America and Europe.

Among voyagers stopping in Aguada were Admiral Yanes Pinzon in 1499,  and a fleet of Spanish ships in 1502 which carried Fr. Bartolome de las Casas and Fr. Alonso de Espinar, both from the Franciscan order.  Juan Ponce de Leon landed at Aguada in 1508, 1512 and 1526.
Between 1508 and 1510 Juan Ponce de Leon ruled the island, then known as “Ports of the Wash Wells.”  In 1510 he ordered his lieutenant, Cristobal de Sotomayor, to found the second town on the island under the name “Villa de Sotomayor.”  In 1511 the King of Spain ordered the construction of a monastery in the neighborhood of Aguada Espinal.  It was completed by 1516, the same year the first eight Franciscan Fathers came to establish Christianity in the island.
During these years, the Indians of the area attacked the town several times.  The village, chapel and monastery were rebuilt several times.  Espinar Hermitage was the first chapel on the island, and though today it is in ruins it is still under the protection of the Church.    Its last reconstruction in stone dates from 1585.
After these events, between 1583 and 1585, Aguada was constituted as a city in its current site.
Between the fifteenth and nineteenth century Aguada was host a number of events of great historic importance, such as pirate attacks, a mail distribution center for the island for mail to South America, and the father of municipalities such as San Sebastian del Pepino, Aguadilla and Rincon