Lares, Puerto Rico Register of Lands, 1848-1849

Lares, Puerto Rico Register of Lands, 1848-1849; Lares was founded on April 26, 1827, by Francisco de Sotomayor and Pedro Vélez Borrero, who named the town after Amador de Lariz, a Spanish nobleman and one of its settlers.

El Grito de Lares (“Cry of Lares”) was a rebellion that began on September 23, 1868, against repression by Spain and has served as a symbol of Puerto Rico’s fight for independence since. Historian Fernando Picó described it thus:

“This revolution was the biggest anti-Spanish manifestation in the history of the island and articulated the economic frustrations of nearly ruined landowners, the political project of the creoles, the rejection of coerced labor by the jornaleros (day laborers), and the emancipation hopes of the enslaved population.— Fernando Picó, The Absent State”