Coat of Arms of Puerto Rico
Versions
Variant
Details
Armiger	Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
Adopted	1976 (1511 & 1905)
Motto	Joannes Est Nomen Ejus, Latin"John is his name".

The Coat of Arms of Puerto Rico was first granted by the Spanish Crown in 1511, making it the
oldest heraldic achievement still currently in use in the Americas.^[1] The territory was ceded by
Spain to the United States in accordance to the peace treaty that ended the Spanish-American War
 in 1899, after which two interim arms were adopted briefly. A law was passed in 1905 that
re-established the historical armorial bearings as the arms of the territory; after numerous
investigations and amendments, the current version was adopted in 1976.

[edit]History

Christopher Columbus arriving in the New World carrying a banner with the initials ofFerdinand II and Isabella I.

The major symbolism of the coat of arms relates to the
dominance of Spain, the strong Roman Catholic influence
in the region, and the integrity of Puerto Rico as a colony of
Spain. There have been different variations of the coat of
arms changing throughout Puerto Rico's history. The current
version was officially re-adopted by the Commonwealth
government of Puerto Rico in 3 June 1976.

On the shield:

• The green background represents the island's vegetation.
  The Lamb of God and cross flag on the
  shield are symbols traditionally associated with St. John
  the Baptist, patron of the island. The book
  with the seven seals on which the lamb sits represents
  symbolism from the Book of Revelation,
  generally attributed to St. John the Apostle.

• The border is made up of 16 different elements: castles and lions to represent the Kingdom of Castile
   and the Kingdom of León, a flag with the arms of the Crown of Castile and León, and The Cross of
  Jerusalem to stand for the Kingdom of Jerusalem, whose succession rights passed to the Kingdom
  of Sicily, and henceforth to the Spanish Crown.

• The gold-crowned F and the arrows (Spanish: flechas) represent Ferdinand II of Aragon, while the 
  Y and the yoke (Spanish: yugo) represent Ysabel, i.e., Isabella I of Castile who were the Catholic
  monarchs when Puerto Rico was discovered.^[2]
• The Latin motto, "JOANNES EST NOMEN EJUS" (a quotation from the Vulgate of Luke 1:63), means
  "John is his name", referring to St. John the Baptist or San Juan Bautista, the original name of the
  island.

Great Seal of Puerto Rico
Details
Armiger	Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
Motto	Joannes Est Nomen Ejus, Latin"John is his name".

[edit]Great Seal

All of the states and territories of the United States employ a seal to authenticate and ratify documents
and accordingly a seal of Puerto Rico exists, but the traditional coat of arms is used as the main emblem
of the commonwealth. The seal has most of the elements of the coat of arms, but the religious elements
have been stripped away. In the seal, the lamb, which no longer has a halo, carries a white banner
instead of one with a red cross. The lamb's staff does not have the cross mounted on top. The book
the lamb sits on does not have the seals of the Book of Revelation. The first Governors used the seal
as their emblem but in recent years the usage of the seal has been limited to being the official emblem
used to represent Puerto Rico on its legal documents when they are sealed.

[edit]