alternatehistory.com

Isla de la Libertad
A Timeline in a Week by Upvoteanthology


Hey, what’s this?

I’ve decided to write a TLIAW, much to the dismay of the readers of my regular timeline.

What readers?

Haha. Next question.

Well, what’s it about?

Since I’ll be in Puerto Rico for the next few days for a vacay, I figured an alt-history about the region would be pretty cool.

That seems… unique.

Yeah, hopefully it’s one of the more plausible Puerto Rico scenarios out there. I think it’ll be fun if I can get to updating it. :)

And what’s the PoD?

Read the first update, you dingus.

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Foundation and Fall of the Kingdom of Puerto Rico, July 1821 to August 1822:

The Kingdom of Puerto Rico was a short lived state, consisting of the island of the same name. The Kingdom began with the conspiracy and subsequent slave revolt of one Marcos Xiorro. For most of his life, being a disobedient slave, he was a large activist of abolitionism. In the late 1810’s, a Puerto Rican naval hero sent a letter to the Spanish courts, asking for liberation of the slaves on his home island. While it was never formally discussed in court, a young slave named Benito began to spread the rumor that the letter was accepted, and all the slaves of Puerto Rico were free. This confrontation towards the end of the decade lead to many slaves rebelling against their masters, and being heavily punished for it.

In 1821, Xiarro, a follower and spreader of the rumor, organized a conspiracy against the colonial government and his slave masters. The original plan involved several slaves escaping from various plantations in the town of Bayamón, then going to the sugarcane fields of Miguel Figueres to retrieve hidden cutlasses and swords from the tall grass. Xiarro would lead the slaves to capture the city, and would then unite with the multiple other revolting cities to take over San Juan, where he would be proclaimed king. On July 27, the plan was to be attempted. However, internal fighting kept the plan from being fully realized; a loyal slave of Figueres was seemingly ready to tell, but he was captured a day before the plan was put into action.

Luckily, even in its half-baked state, the conspiracy succeeded, and the slaves of Bayamón would briefly capture San Juan in August of 1821, before being pushed back by the colonial governments of Cuba and Puerto Rico itself. After their victory in San Juan, the struggle quickly turned into a war of defense. Xiarro, now known as King Marcos I, had to lead his freed slave army against the hordes of white revolters and Spanish inquisitionists. By January of 1822, the city of San Juan was lost, and most of the other cities were taken over by August of the same year. However, this large revolt would incite others throughout the continent, as well as put Puerto Rico in the seat of the abolitionist movement. Xiarro, tried and executed for mutiny in 1823, inspired a new wave of freedom and for abolition.

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