Ponce

Major port and third-largest city in southern Puerto Rico, on the Caribbean coast, 80 km/50 mi southwest of San Juan, population (2000 est) 155,000. The main industry is tourism, and other industries include food processing, sugar- and oil-refining, and the production of iron, textiles, cement, paper, and electrical equipment. Playa de Ponce, its harbour facility, is the island's principal seaport, and the city is also served by an international airport. Established in 1692, the settlement was named Nuestra Senora de Guadelupe de Ponce, after the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León.

In 1897 Ponce was designated the capital of the southern district of Puerto Rico by Spain, but came under US jurisdiction the following year.

Institutions of higher education include the Catholic University of Puerto Rico (1948), the Ponce Regional College of the University of Puerto Rico, and the Technological University College (1970). The Ponce Museum of Art (1965) houses over 1,500 exhibits from major European schools of the 14th to 20th centuries. Other notable features of the city include a Spanish fort dating from 1760, colonial-style churches and houses, and a restored coffee plantation.