Arecibo Port

Arecibo lies on Puerto Rico's northern Atlantic coast, near the mouth of the Río Grande de Arecibo. Its name recalls Arasibo, the Taíno chief of the settlement of Abacoa. Spanish colonists settled here in 1556, and the town was formally founded in 1616. In 1702 Captain Antonio de los Reyes Correa and local militia repelled a British landing, an episode remembered in the town's name for Captain Correa. Arecibo received the title of villa by royal decree in 1778. The port and river mouth connected the settlement with its hinterland and the sea, while the waters off the coast formed part of the wider Caribbean world.