Yauco

Discover Yauco

Yauco is a town of 34,000 people (2020) on the southwestern Caribbean coast of Puerto Rico. The town is one of the most visited (aside from Ponce) in Puerto Rico's southern coast due to its rich history and architecture, its renowned coffee heritage and its indigenous past. The area where Yauco is today used to form part of the Guaynia Taino region, led by Agüeybana, the most powerful Taíno cacique (chief) at the time of the Spanish arrival to Puerto Rico in 1493. The town of Yauco was founded in 1756, and it became a center for Corsican immigration to Puerto Rico in the 19th century. It's one of the first places where coffee was cultivated on the island, due to its climate and topography. Corsicans have contributed to many areas of life in Yauco, particularly to its coffee industry and heritage. For this reason the town is nicknamed El Pueblo del Café ('Town of Coffee') and its residents are called Los Corsos ('The Corsicans'). You will probably also notice the Corsican/Italian-sounding names of streets and geographical features in the area. The town was later the scene of numerous historical events such as the 1897 Intentona de Yauco ('Yauco coup attempt') against the Spanish government and the year after, the Yauco Battle of the Spanish-American War. These two historical events have the commonality in the history of Puerto Rico for being the place where the Puerto Rican (1897) and American (1898) flags were flown for the first time.