Ponce is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.
Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1692 Some publications/reporters have erroneously stated Ponce's date of founding as 12 December 1692 (see, for example, Jose Fernandez-Colon, The Associated Press, at "Noticias Online" on 24 January 2009, at Noticias Puerto Rico. Accessed 23 March 2019.) Another incorrect date sometimes found is 12 September 1692 (See, for example, Jorge L. Perez (El Nuevo Dia) and Jorge Figueroa (Ponce Municipal Historian), at Historic Buildings and Structures in Ponce, Puerto Rico., at the text accompanying Drawing #20, titled "Tumba de los Bomberos". Puerto Rico Historic Buildings Drawings Society. 2019. Accessed 4 February 2019. See also Mapa de Municipios y Barrios: Ponce, Memoria Numero 27. Gobierno del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico. Junta de Planificación. Santurce, Puerto Rico. 1953. p. 6.). Miguel A Sanchez-Celada also points to the 12 September 1692 date based on the record that on that date the Spanish Crown officially recognized, via Royal Decree, the hamlet as a town (See Miguel A Sanchez-Celada. Evolución urbana de Ponce (Puerto_Rico) según la cartografía Histórica. Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Madrid, Spain. 2018. (DOI:http:..dx.doi.org/10.5944/etfvi.11.2018.20421) In, Espacio, Tiempo y Forma", Revista de la Facultad de Geografia e Historia, UNED. Serie VI. Geografía 11. 2018, pp. 219-245. ISSN 1130-2968. E-ISSN 2340-146x.) In this article the date reported is that given by the authorities closest to the founding date, and with their respective references. and is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the great-grandson of Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. Some historians state that the municipality was named after Juan Ponce de León himself. (Crediting Juan Ponce de León himself see, for example, Eduardo Neuman Gandia's Verdadera y Auténtica Historia de la Ciudad de Ponce. (San Juan, Puerto Rico: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. 1913.) Page 34, and Jose Luis Diaz de Villegas, https://books.google.com/books?id=ovzJlU1f-iAC&pg=PA46, and Sandra Torres Guzmán's Una hacienda atada a la historia citadina, https://www.periodicolaperla.com/una-hacienda-atada-a-la-historia-citadina/ .) Others state it was named after Juan Ponce de Leon y Loayza, the great-grandson of Juan Ponce de Leon. (Crediting the great-grandson see, for example, Encyclopedia Puerto Rico, ; J.A. Corretjer, http://www.yerbabruja.com/pueblos/ponce.html; Frommer, https://books.google.com/books?id=Wy_BSu4a2EYC&pg=PA185; and Harry S. Pariser, https://books.google.com/books?id=KawuqbFxLS0C&pg=PT239.) A few authorities state it may have been named after the Ponce de León family in general, covering father, son, grandson, and great-grandson (See, for example, Francisco Lluch Mora's "Orígenes y Fundación de Ponce, y otras noticias relativas a su desarrollo urbano, demográfico y cultural (siglos XVI-XIX)", Segunda Edición, Editorial Plaza Mayor, 2006, page 27.). Still others state it was founded by Juan Ponce de León y Loayza but named by him in the memory of his great-grandfather, the Spanish Conquistador Juan Ponce de León. Ponce is often referred to as La Perla del Sur (The Pearl of the South), La Ciudad Señorial (The Manorial City), and La Ciudad de las Quenepas (Genip City). The city serves as the governmental seat of the autonomous municipality as well as the regional hub for various Government of Puerto Rico entities, such as the Judiciary of Puerto Rico. It is also the regional center for various other Government of Puerto Rico and US Federal Government agencies. Ponce is a principal city of both the Ponce Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Ponce-Yauco-Coamo Combined Statistical Area.
The Municipality of Ponce, officially the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce, is located in the southern coastal plain region of the island, south of Adjuntas, Utuado, and Jayuya; east of Peñuelas; west of Juana Díaz; and bordered on the south by the Caribbean Sea. The municipality has 31 barrios, including 19 outside the city's urban area and 12 in the urban area of the city. The historic Ponce Pueblo district, located in the downtown area of the city, is shared by several of the downtown barrios, and is located approximately three miles (3 mi) inland from the shores of the Caribbean. The municipality of Ponce is the second largest in Puerto Rico by land area, and it was the first in Puerto Rico to obtain its autonomy, becoming the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce in 1992.
