Camuy

History

Camuy, popularly known as Romantic City (la ciudad romántica), was founded in 1807 by Petronila Matos, and formerly part of Arecibo is located in the northwestern coastal region of Puerto Rico, less than 5 minutes west of Hatillo municipality, on PR-2 and PR-119. As early as 1846, , a bridge over the Camuy River linked Camuy with Hatillo. The name Camuy derives from the Taíno language, although a number of legends give differing explanations for the origin of the name. One such legend claims the name comes from the Taíno word for "sun", another claims derivation from camuy, Taíno for "beautiful scenery", and still another states that Camuy was the name of the Taíno chief Yumac with the letters in reverse order. The "sun" legend is reflected in the coat of arms for the municipality. Puerto Rico was ceded by Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War and became a territory of the United States. In 1899, the United States Department of War conducted a census of Puerto Rico finding that the population of Camuy was 10,887. In its beginnings Camuy was integrated into the Partition of San Antonio de la Tuna. The "partitions" were great expanses of land that divided Puerto Rico. This region today is known as Isabela, Puerto Rico. At the time the partition covered the areas between Aguadilla and Arecibo, what is known today as the municipalities of Camuy, Hatillo, Quebradillas, Isabela, Utuado, and San Sebastián. The population of Camuy was 35,159 at the 2010 census, and it has land area of . The municipality is part of the San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo metropolitan area and is a popular suburb. It was named in 2015 by the U.S. Conference of Mayors as one of the most livable cities in the United States. Hurricane Maria on September 20, 2017 triggered numerous landslides…

Geography

Camuy belongs to the zone designated as the plateau of the northwest where the terrain is level and known as the Valley of Quebradillas. It is located in the Northern Karst zone of Puerto Rico. In the interior of the municipality the topography becomes very irregular near Cibao. This strip of land, a zone of wooded hills and depressions, divides Camuy completely into two strips, north and south. The northern strip is known as Lomas de los Puertos. The Camuy River forms part of the hydrographic system with a length of 24 miles, which at one point becomes a narrow canyon that forms one of the most beautiful cave systems in the world: the Rio Camuy Caverns, first explored in 1958. The Camuy River along with the Caverns are the 3rd largest and longest underground system in the world and the river is one of the few remaining active underground rivers in the Americas, stretching for miles. The Cibao River also forms part of the system. Like all municipalities of Puerto Rico, Camuy is subdivided into barrios. The municipal buildings, central square and large Catholic church are located in a small barrio referred to as , near the center of the municipality. #Abra Honda #Camuy barrio-pueblo #Camuy Arriba #Cibao #Ciénagas #Membrillo #Piedra Gorda #Puente #Puertos #Quebrada #Santiago #Yeguada #Zanja Barrios (which are, in contemporary times, roughly comparable to minor civil divisions) are further subdivided into smaller areas called (sectors in English). The types of sectores may vary, from normally sector to urbanización to reparto to barriada to residencial, among others. (Special Communities of Puerto Rico) are marginalized communities whose citizens are experiencing a certain amount of social exclusion. A map shows these communities occur in nearly every municipality…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Bananaquit

  Coereba flaveola (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,043
• Gray Kingbird

  Tyrannus dominicensis (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  4,613
• Greater Antillean Grackle

  Quiscalus niger (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  4,199
• White-winged Dove

  Zenaida asiatica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,614
• Puerto Rican Woodpecker

  Melanerpes portoricensis (Daudin, 1803) · Aves
  3,124
• Zenaida Dove

  Zenaida aurita (Temminck, 1809) · Aves
  2,741
• Scaly-naped Pigeon

  Patagioenas squamosa (Bonnaterre, 1792) · Aves
  2,703
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,534