Carolina

History

The town was founded by Spanish colonists in 1816 as Trujillo Bajo ("lower Trujillo"), along with its counterpart Trujillo Alto after Trujillo, Spain. In 1857 it was renamed to San Fernando de la Carolina, later shortened to Carolina, after Charles II of Spain. The city is known as "Tierra de Gigantes" (Land of Giants), not only for well-known Carolina resident Don Felipe Birriel González (who was 7'11"), but also in honor of other people from Carolina, including poet Julia de Burgos and most notably the first Latin American player named to baseball's Hall of Fame, Roberto Clemente. Carolina was also home to Jesús T. Piñero, the first Puerto Rican to be appointed as governor by the United States government. The city is also known as "El Pueblo de los Tumba Brazos" (The Arm Hackers' Town). During the late 1800s, the town's major export was sugarcane. Puerto Rico was ceded by Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War under the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1898 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 Carolina was 11,965. Hurricane Maria on September 20, 2017 caused flooding in Carolina. The Río Grande de Loíza floods left around 500 homes uninhabitable. The Roberto Clemente stadium lost its roof and many other structures, bridges and roads were damaged to a toll of $87 million. Given the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport is in Carolina, the destruction in Carolina created a challenge and the airport remained closed for three days. Two weeks after, the airport was attempting to operate a more regular schedule, but electricity was inconsistent and on October 10, nearly a month after the hurricane the airport was running on generators again.

Geography

Carolina municipality has a number of rivers such as the Río Canovanillas, Río Grande de Loíza, La Torrecilla, Piñones Lagoons. Like all municipalities of Puerto Rico, Carolina 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. # Barrazas # Buena Vista # Cacao # Cangrejo Arriba # Canovanillas #Carolina barrio-pueblo # Carruzos # Cedro # Martín González # Sabana Abajo # San Antón # Santa Cruz # Trujillo Bajo 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 of the commonwealth. Of the 742 places that were on the list in 2014, the following barrios, communities, sectors, or neighborhoods were in Carolina: Colo, Martín González, Buena Vista, Buenaventura, Canovanillas (Estancias del Parque), Cuesta Quiles, Eduardo J. Saldaña - La Cerámica, La Villas (Justicia y Esperanza), Sabana Abajo Norte, Sabana Abajo Sur, Saint Just, San Antón, and Villa Caridad.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Greater Antillean Grackle

  Quiscalus niger (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  19,864
• Bananaquit

  Coereba flaveola (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  18,352
• Zenaida Dove

  Zenaida aurita (Temminck, 1809) · Aves
  17,043
• Gray Kingbird

  Tyrannus dominicensis (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  14,924
• White-winged Dove

  Zenaida asiatica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  14,730
• Pearly-eyed Thrasher

  Margarops fuscatus (Vieillot, 1808) · Aves
  11,866
• Rock Pigeon

  Columba livia J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  10,827
• Red-legged Thrush

  Turdus plumbeus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  10,218

Largest nearby schools

• GILBERTO CONCEPCION DE GRACIA
  High · CAROLINA · 780 students · 15.9:1 ratio
• JOSE SEVERO QUINONES
  Elementary · CAROLINA · 621 students · 12.2:1 ratio
• ANGEL P. MILLAN ROHENA
  High · CAROLINA · 594 students · 16.5:1 ratio
• FRANCISCO MATIAS LUGO
  Elementary · CAROLINA · 515 students · 11.7:1 ratio
• LUZ AMERICA CALDERON
  High · CAROLINA · 406 students · 13.1:1 ratio
• PETRA ROMAN VIGO
  Middle · CAROLINA · 376 students · 8.7:1 ratio
• AGUSTIN CABRERA
  Middle · CAROLINA · 354 students · 11.4:1 ratio
• PRISCO FUENTES
  Elementary · CANOVANAS · 336 students · 11.6:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.98 — 2026-10-15
  26 km SE of Emajagua, Puerto Rico
• M 3.1 — 2026-10-14
  22 km NNE of Brenas, Puerto Rico
• M 2.86 — 2026-10-13
  10 km N of Animas, Puerto Rico
• M 3.11 — 2026-10-08
  68 km N of Tierras Nuevas Poniente, Puerto Rico
• M 3.43 — 2026-10-07
  81 km NNE of Luquillo, Puerto Rico
• M 3.07 — 2026-10-06
  7 km NNW of Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico