Ciales (, ) is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, located on the Central Mountain Range, northwest of Orocovis; south of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and Manatí; east of Utuado and Jayuya; and west of Morovis. Ciales is spread over eight barrios and Ciales Pueblo (the downtown area and the administrative center of the city). It is part of the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Toponym

Sources diverge on the origin of the Ciales name. Nineteenth-century historian Cayetano Coll y Toste stated that it was named as such by then-governor Gonzalo de Aróstegui Herrera in honor of General Luis de Lacy, who had gone against Ferdinand VII's absolutist wishes. Coll y Toste suggested that the Villa Lacy name came from the anagram "es-la-cy" anagram. Other sources, such as Manuel Álvarez Nazario and Luis Hernández Aquino, put forward the theory that it comes from the plural of ''cibales'', plural form of ''ciba'', meaning "stony place" or "place of stones" in

Taíno The Taíno are the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, Indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles and surrounding islands. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now The ...

, which "had undergone loss of the intervocalic -b- and the addition of the Spanish suffix referring to place -al." Lisa Cathleen Green-Douglass, who carried out a study of toponymics in Puerto Rico and compared both theories, believed the latter to be most plausible since Coll y Toste, per Green-Douglass, must have defined an anagram as a reversal of syllables and the resulting "Cial" or "Cyal" would have to then be made plural. Yet others believe it originates from the Spanish ''sillar'' (meaning "carved stones") in reference to the stones carved by the Río Grande de Manatí's currents.

History

Until its founding on June 24, 1820, by Isidro Rodríguez, it was part of the neighboring Manatí municipality, a process that took four years to achieve. On 13 August 1898, after the armistice ending the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

was signed, Ciales was one of three towns that held uprisings. Led by Ventura Casellas, between three hundred and four hundred individuals proclaimed the Republic of Puerto Rico. However, it has not been determined without a shadow of a doubt whether it was a clear independence-supporting event or a defense of Spanish rule. Edwin Karli Padilla Aponte calls it an "alleged revolutionary uprising" since he finds no official historical record for it, even though it appears in a vignette in the ''Pueblos Hispanos'' monthly written by a Gabriel Aracelis, a possible pseudonym for Juan Antonio Corretjer. The column describes the battle, mentions the participants by name and connects it to the Grito de Lares by identifying a Pedro González as a grandson of a Manuel González who allegedly fought in the 1868 revolt, establishing a continuity between both events. Paul G. Miller, Education Commissioner between 1915 and 1921, considered this to be caused by the Seditious Parties (''Partidas Sediciosas''), gangs of bandits that raided Spaniards' homes in the late-nineteenth century, an idea that Corretjer refuted. Puerto Rico was ceded by

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in the aftermath of the

under the terms of the

Treaty of Paris of 1898 The Treaty of Peace between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain, commonly known as the Treaty of Paris of 1898, was signed by Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States on December 10, 1898, and marked the end of the ...

and became a territory of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In 1899, the

United States Department of War The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, als ...

conducted a

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of Puerto Rico finding that the population of Ciales was 18,115. The first

truss bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

erected in Puerto Rico, after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, is in Ciales. It is over the Río Grande de Manatí and is on the list of

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that affected the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which accounted for 2,975 of the 3,059 deaths. It is the ...

struck Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017, its

eye An eye is a sensory organ that allows an organism to perceive visual information. It detects light and converts it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons (neurones). It is part of an organism's visual system. In higher organisms, the ey ...

passing through northeastern Ciales, leaving all municipalities without power for months. Ciales received 19.23 inches of rain which caused landslides. An estimated 3,000 homes in Ciales were completely destroyed by Hurricane María. Three months after the hurricane struck, engineers were hoping to have electrical service established, at least for the Ciales barrio-pueblo (downtown) area. The following December, the

Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...

announced the opening of a disaster recovery center in Ciales to attend the home and business owners, as well as tenants, affected by the hurricane. Map of landslides in Puerto Rico - Hurricane Maria 2017.jpg, Map of landslides New York National Guard (37608228266).jpg, National Guard of NY in Ciales after Hurricane Maria

Energy consortium

An Energy Consortium was signed in late February, 2019 by Villalba, Orocovis, Morovis, Ciales and Barranquitas municipalities. The consortium is the first of its kind for the island. It is intended to have municipalities work together to safeguard and create resilient, and efficient energy networks, with backups for their communities. This is part of the hurricane preparedness plan of these municipalities, which were hit particularly hard by

on September 20, 2017.

Geography

The northern part of the municipality is located in the Northern Karst zone of Puerto Rico while the southern part is in the Cordillera Central. The highest point in the municipality is Cerro Rosa at 4,143 feet (1,262 m), itself the third highest point in Puerto Rico. Ciales is home to a forest reserve called Toro Negro Forest Reserve and a number of rivers including: Río Cialitos, Río Grande de Manatí, Río Toro Negro, Río Yunes, Pozas, and Barbas. Over 40% of its territory falls within protected areas, ranking as the 6th municipality with the largest portion of protected territory overall. Consequentially, the destruction of 508 native planted trees at the Finca Don Ingenio in the Toro Negro Forest Reserve in August 2021 was caused for an uproar. The trees, which included

ceiba ''Ceiba'' is a genus of trees in the family Malvaceae, native to Tropics, tropical and Subtropics, subtropical areas of the Americas (from Mexico and the Caribbean to northern Argentina) and tropical West Africa. Some species can grow to tall ...

and

maga "Make America Great Again" (MAGA, ) is an American political slogan most recently popularized by Donald Trump during Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign, his successful presidential campaigns in 2016 and Donald Trump 2024 presidential cam ...

specimens, had been planted as part of the Hurricane María recovery by the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust's ''Para La Naturaleza'' program. As part of the karst region, there are many caves, such as Archillas Cave, located in Jaguas Ventana, named after the family that owns it. Since Ciales has a saying "to graduate as a Cialeño, you have to go up to the Archillas," then-mayor Luis R. Maldonado Rodriguez attempted to acquire it. The cave has been associated with the Arcaicos, though it also holds some

petroglyphs. The cave system was first studied by Alphonse L. Pinart in 1890. Since then several investigations have been carried out that have aided in the identification of silex as the main material used by the Taíno for their carving tools and the discovery of ceramic fragments, as well as the theory that the caves were used for rituals, such as cojoba-induced ceremonies. During his research in the early 1900s, Jesse Walter Fewkes identified the Ciales' caves as some those occupied by the Taíno as well as several of the best preserved sites with their stone-carved implements. One of these caves, ''La Cohoba'' Cave, was named after the namesake object found in it. Another notable find, carried out by Carlos M. Ayes Suárez, was of a zoomorphic idol from the Arcaico era in Pesas that "consists of a cobble that presents an engraved representation seemingly zoomorphic in shape" which is considered unique in Puerto Rico and the Antilles. Due to the mountainous nature of Ciales' topography, landslides occur, such as the rock fall that occurred in June 2021 in Pozas that caused several buildings and fences to be destroyed, road closures and the removal of residents.

Barrios

Like all municipalities of Puerto Rico, Ciales is subdivided into barrios. The municipal buildings, central square and large Catholic church are located in a barrio referred to as . # Ciales barrio-pueblo # Cialitos #

Cordillera A cordillera is a chain or network of mountain ranges, such as those in the west coast of the Americas. The term is borrowed from Spanish, where the word comes from , a diminutive of ('rope'). The term is most commonly used in physical geogra ...

# Frontón # Hato Viejo # Jaguas # Pesas # Pozas # Toro Negro

Sectors

Barrios (which are like minor civil divisions) are further subdivided into smaller areas called (''sectors'' in English). The types of ''sectores'' may vary, from ''sector'' to ''urbanización'' to ''reparto'' to ''barriada'' to ''residencial'', among others.

Special Communities

(Special Communities of Puerto Rico) are marginalized communities whose citizens are experiencing a certain amount of

social exclusion Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. In the EU context, the Euro ...

. A map shows these communities occur in nearly every municipality of the commonwealth. Of the 742 places that were on the list in 2014, the following barrios, communities, sectors, or neighborhoods were in Ciales: Sector El Hoyo in Pozas, Calle Morovis, Comunidad Los Ortega, Cruces-Cialitos, Parcelas Cordillera, Parcelas María, Parcelas Seguí, Santa Clara, and Toro Negro.

Demographics

Ciales has one of the lowest percentages of English speakers in Puerto Rico. When researching the town's parochial baptismal records historian Fernando Picó found that more than half the offspring baptised at the end of the nineteenth century were born out of wedlock.

Tourism

To stimulate local tourism, the

Puerto Rico Tourism Company The Puerto Rico Tourism Company (, or simply ''Turismo'') is the government-owned corporation in charge of tourism matters and regulations in Puerto Rico. The company was created during Governor Luis A. Ferré's administration (1969-1973) to coo ...

launched the ''Voy Turistiendo'' ("I'm Touring") campaign, with a passport book and website. The Ciales page lists , , and , as places of interest.

Landmarks and places of interest

Places of interest in Ciales include: * , family-owned factory that produces widely recognized enea grass-weaved furniture * , located in Hato Viejo, it is the largest sawmill in Puerto Rico of native woods. * , environmental education coffee and cacao farm that also houses a printing museum and a '' batey.'' * * Las Archillas Cave * Las Golondrinas Cave * Yuyú Cave * Parada Choferil * Toro Negro Forest Reserve * , a lookout * , houses the library of Juan Antonio Corretjer. * , a coffee museum

Culture

Festivals and events

Ciales celebrates its

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

festival in October. The is a religious and cultural celebration that generally features parades, games, artisans, amusement rides, regional food, and live entertainment. The festival has featured live performances by well-known artists such as Sabor Latino. Other festivals and events celebrated in Ciales include: * Three King's Day, held in January * Corretjer Cantata, held in March * Fresh Water Festival (in ),

mud bogging Mud bogging (also known as mud racing, mud running, mud hogging, mud drags, mud dogging, or mudding) is a form of off-road motorsport popular in the United States and Canada in which the goal is to drive a vehicle through a pit of mud or a track ...

competition and music festival held in August * Frontón Festival, held in July * Saint Elías Festival, held in July

Sports

Ciales is the home town of Juan "Pachín" Vicens – Puerto Rico's national basketball star, named Best Player in the World at the 1959 World Basketball Championship, Santiago de Chile (a.k.a., Juan "Pachín" Vicens, "Astro del Balón", "El Jeep"; younger brother of Puerto Rico's National Poet, Nimia Vicens, who also hailed from Ciales). Their middle brother, Enrique "Coco" Vicens, a former Puerto Rico Senator, was a track and field athlete in his own right.

Economy

Agriculture

The Ciales economy has always depended heavily on agriculture, especially coffee products, minor fruits (such as lettuce) and dairy production.

Government

All municipalities in Puerto Rico are administered by a mayor, elected every four years. The current mayor of Ciales is Jesús Resto, of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD). He was first elected at the 2024 general elections. The city belongs to the Puerto Rico Senatorial district III, which is represented by two Senators. In

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, Brenda Pérez Soto and Gabriel González were elected as District Senators.

Symbols

The has an official flag and coat of arms. On the 150th anniversary of the founding of Ciales, the flag and coat of arms were adopted with Resolution No. 13 Series 1969–1970, sanctioned by Don Ismael Nazario, who was mayor at the time.

Flag

The flag is divided into seven unequal stripes described in sequence: yellow, red, yellow, purple, yellow, red, and yellow.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms consists of a gold shield with a lion standing on its rear legs and silver-plated nails grasping a silver coiled parchment between its front claws. The lion also shows a red tongue. Above the lion in the superior part of the shield are located three heraldic roses arranged horizontally with red petals and green leaves. A golden crown of three towers rests on the shield. The three towers are united by walls, simulating masonry blocks. The shield is surrounded by a crown of coffee tree branches with their berries, all in natural colors.

Nicknames

* Cohoba City () for the discover of instruments used by the Taíno in the Cohoba ritual, whereby they inhaled the hallucinogenic powder extracted from the cojoba seeds. * Town of the Brave () for the high concentration of independence supports, such as Juan Antonio Corretjer, some of which participated in the Grito de Lares. * Cradle of Poets () due to it being the birthplace of several poets, such as Juan Antonio Corretjer and Nimia Vicéns, both considered Puerto Rico's

national poet A national poet or national bard is a poet held by tradition and popular acclaim to represent the identity, beliefs and principles of a particular national culture. The national poet as culture hero is a long-standing symbol, to be distinguished ...

s. * Central Cordillera Gate () owing to its geographic location on the Cordillera Central mountainous range. * Switzerland of Puerto Rico () on account of "its similarity to European valleys with abundant vegetation," and the wooden houses that are located in them.

Transportation

There is a public transportation terminal in downtown Ciales. In addition, there are 18 bridges in Ciales, including the

NRHP The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of sites, buildings, structures, districts, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

-listed Manatí Bridge at Mata de Plátano.

Notable people

* Armando Carlo Asencio Rosado – '' barril de bomba'' artisan. * Edwin Avilés – singer and part of the ''Los Pleneros de la Cresta'' quintet. * Ramón Barrios –

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

delegate to the Constitutional Convention of Puerto Rico. * Juan Antonio Corretjer – nationalist and poet, considered the

National Poet A national poet or national bard is a poet held by tradition and popular acclaim to represent the identity, beliefs and principles of a particular national culture. The national poet as culture hero is a long-standing symbol, to be distinguished ...

of Puerto Rico. * Ángel de Jesús Sánchez – fifth

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico The chief justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico () is the Chief Justice, presiding officer of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. The post of chief justice was created by Article V of Constitution of Puerto Rico, Article V of the Constitution ...

. * Raúl Feliciano – basketball player and lawyer. * Ed Figueroa – MLB baseball player * Juan Figueroa – former-president of

Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut is an independent, nonprofit organization The foundation supports the mission of its parent organization, CHART (Connecticut Health Advancement and Research Trust). As of 2008, the foundation had a ...

. * Antonio J. González – Puerto Rico Independence Party founder and gubernatorial candidate, Puerto Rican Union Party gubernatorial candidate, and UPRRP College of Social Sciences dean. * Jovino González Rodríguez – seven-time National Troubadour. * José Emilio González Velázquez – politician * Luis Maldonado – politician * Ángel Chayanne Martínez – politician * – film director and scriptwriter. * – poet and writer * Jeyluix Ocasio – singer and part of the ''Los Pleneros de la Cresta'' quintet, brother of Joshua and Joseph Ocasio. * Joshua Ocasio – singer and part of the ''Los Pleneros de la Cresta'' quintet, brother of Jeyluix and Joseph Ocasio. * Joseph Ocasio – singer and part of the ''Los Pleneros de la Cresta'' quintet, brother of Joshua and Jeyluix Ocasio. * Mercedes Otero – politician * Jorge L. Porras Cruz – educator and writer, Hispanic Studies department chair at the

University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus The University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus (; UPR-RP, or informally La IUPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is the largest campus in the University of Puer ...

* – poet and writer * José L. Rivera – USMC, recipient of the

Navy Cross The Navy Cross is the United States Naval Service's second-highest military decoration awarded for sailors and marines who distinguish themselves for extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force. The medal is equivalent to the Army ...

* Gabriel Rodríguez Aguiló – politician * Juan José Rodríguez Pérez – politician * Hiram Rosado – nationalist * Carlos Manuel Rosario – activist * Luis Sánchez Morales – politician * Adalberto Santiago – salsa singer, Tony Vega's cousin. * Arturito Santiago Labrador – singer and restaurateur, highly recognized in the jíbaro music scene. * Arturo Santiago Guzmán – four-time National Troubadour, son of Arturito Santiago Labrador. * Lisvette M. Sanz González – singer and guitar player, part of the ''Hermanos Sanz'' duo. * Luis Sanz González – singer and ''cuatro'' player, part of the ''Hermanos Sanz'' duo. * Tony Vega – salsa singer, Adalberto Santiago's cousin. * Vanessa Vélez – volleyball player. * Enrique "Coco" Vicéns – basketball Player * Juan "Pachín" Vicéns – basketball Player * Nimia Vicéns – poet, proclaimed Puerto Rico's

by Pedro Albizu Campos.

Gallery

Ciales, Puerto Rico police.jpg, Ciales, Puerto Rico police Juan Antonio Corretjer monument base at lookout in Ciales, Puerto Rico.jpg, Juan Antonio Corretjer monument base at lookout in Ciales Juan Antonio Corretjer sculpture monument at lookout in Ciales, Puerto Rico.jpg, Juan Antonio Corretjer sculpture monument at lookout Bar in downtown Ciales, Puerto Rico next to Coffee Museum.jpg, Bar in downtown Ciales, next to Coffee Museum Ciales, Puerto Rico view from Paseo Lineal Juan Antonio Corretjer.jpg, Ciales, Puerto Rico view from Paseo Lineal Juan Antonio Corretjer Catholic church in Ciales barrio-pueblo.jpg, Catholic church in Ciales barrio-pueblo Coffee Museum, Ciales, Puerto Rico (9).jpg, Coffee Museum Coffee Museum Ciales, Puerto Rico.jpg, Coffee Museum Coffee Museum, Ciales, Puerto Rico (2).jpg, Coffee Museum in downtown Ciales Sky with clouds above mountains in Ciales, Puerto Rico.jpg, Sky with clouds above mountains in Ciales Sign for Three Kings Festival, Ciales, Puerto Rico.jpg, Three King's Day Festival announcement in central plaza

Notes

References

External links

Go To Ciales website

USGS detailed map of Ciales

NIDIS Ciales drought conditions
{{Authority control Municipalities of Puerto Rico Populated places established in 1820 San Juan–Caguas–Guaynabo metropolitan area Energy in Puerto Rico