CORSI_ ROOTS
The stories of Coffee, Corsica, and the Spanish Crown come together at Hacienda Masini.
CORSICA
42°N 9°E
8,722 km2
2,706 m (8878 ft)
Ajaccio (pop. 63,723)
Roman 500BC to 1100AD
Genoa 1100-1700
France 1700-present
PUERTO RICO
18°N 67°W
9,104 km2
1,340 m (4,390 ft)
San Juan (pop. 2,350,126)
Taino 1000AD to 1500
Spain 1500’s to 1898
USA 1898-present
European political turmoil and Spanish opportunity enticed many Corsicans to immigrate to Puerto Rico in the 19th century.
Corsicans settled the highlands above Yauco, establishing haciendas to live, work, and produce coffee and other goods for sustenance and local trade. With rough terrain making access difficult, haciendas became community centers, lifeblood, and pride of the highlands. (Source: Library of Congress)
In Corsica, one far-away lord replaced another, as France took control of Corsica from Genoa and cut short Corsica's bid for an independent Republic in 1770.
Spain’s Royal Decree of 1815 offered Spanish and French settlers interior lands in Puerto Rico in hopes of supporting their colonial empire.
Fun fact: Corsica and Puerto Rico are almost exactly the same size! (Source: Island Scaler)
use as an element somewhere else.. move it.
Yauco was the Boriken seat of the Taino that became an important export center for coffee and sugar under Spanish control. Corsicans settled this region due to its similarity to Corsica and jump-started the island's coffee industry. (Source: Library of Congress)
Yauco, 1900's. Like other Puerto Rican towns, Yauco used town planning principles based on Spain's Law of the Indies, which establish town position and arrangement, and later, relations with indigenous. (Source: Library of Congress)
The Spanish American War shifted control of Puerto Rico to the United States. Coffee production and labor practices were modernized and improved, however, new political, capital, and biological challenges arose.
Coffee's global spread in the 18th and 19th centuries incentivized migration to the new world and initiated diversification and specialty. (Source: World Coffee Research)
