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[MILENA]

The Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 is a legal order approved by the Spanish Crown in the early half of the 19th century to encourage Spaniards and later Europeans of non-Spanish origin to settle and populate the colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico.

On 10 August 1815, King Ferdinand VII of Spain approved the Spanish Royal Decree of Graces (Cédula Real de Gracias), which granted Cuba and Puerto Rico the right to have commercial ties with countries which were in good standing with Spain, and free land and special privileges to any Spaniard who would be willing to relocate and settle in those territories. Puerto Rico had basically remained economically undeveloped until 1830, when immigrants from the Spanish provinces of Catalonia, Majorca, and the Canary Islands began to arrive and gradually develop the sugarcane, coffee, and tobacco plantations.

Hundreds of Corsicans, Italians, French, Irish, Scottish, and Germans, attracted by the offers of free land by the Spanish Crown, moved to the colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico and accepted the stated conditions. As soon as these settlers swore their loyalty to the Spanish Crown and their allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church, they were given a "Letter of Domicile". After five years, the settlers were granted a "Letter of Naturalization" that made them Spanish subjects. In an effort to attract non-Catholic Europeans, the Spanish Courts passed a law in 1870, granting the right of religious freedom to all those who wished to practice another religion other than the Catholic.

Editado Mayo 17, 2011 por MILENA