USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Representatives of Spain and the United States signed a peace treaty in Paris on December 10, 1898, which established the independence of Cuba, ceded Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States, and allowed the victorious power to purchase the Philippines Islands from Spain for $20 million.

Detailed explanation-2: -The strategic value of Puerto Rico for the United States at the end of the nineteenth century centered in economic and military interests. The island’s value to US policy makers was as an outlet for excess manufactured goods, as well as a key naval station in the Caribbean.

Detailed explanation-3: -As a result of this treaty, Spain lost the last of its empire in the New World. The United States was ceded Puerto Rico and Guam, liquidated its possessions in the West Indies, agreed to pay 20 million dollars for the Phillippines, while Cuba became independent.

Detailed explanation-4: -Puerto Rico. On October 18, 1898, American troops fighting in the Spanish-American War raised the United States flag in Puerto Rico formalizing U.S. control of the former Spanish colony.

Detailed explanation-5: -In 1809 the first declarations of independence from Spanish rule occurred, and by the end of the 1800s, Spain had lost all of its New World colonies except Cuba and Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is the only territory that never gained its independence.