<P> In September 1493 , Christopher Columbus set sail on his second voyage with 17 ships from Cádiz . On November 19 , 1493 he landed on the island of Puerto Rico , naming it San Juan Bautista in honor of Saint John the Baptist . The first European colony , Caparra , was founded on August 8 , 1508 by Juan Ponce de León , a lieutenant under Columbus , who was greeted by the Taíno Cacique Agüeybaná and who later became the first governor of the island . Ponce de Leon was actively involved in the Higuey massacre of 1503 in Puerto Rico . In 1508 , Sir Ponce de Leon was chosen by the Spanish Crown to lead the conquest and slavery of the Taíno Indians for gold mining operations . The following year , the colony was abandoned in favor of a nearby islet on the coast , named Puerto Rico ( Rich Port ) , which had a suitable harbor . In 1511 , a second settlement , San Germán was established in the southwestern part of the island . During the 1520s , the island took the name of Puerto Rico while the port became San Juan . </P>
the first permanent european settlement on future united states soil was located where
Puerto Rico