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Guayanilla (Guayanilla Municipio)

Guayanilla is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located on the southern coast of the island, bordering the Caribbean Sea, south of Adjuntas, east of Yauco; and west of Peñuelas and about 12 mi west of Ponce. Guayanilla is spread over 16 barrios and Guayanilla Pueblo (the downtown area and the administrative center of the city). It is part of the Yauco Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Guayanilla was founded by Puerto Rican criollos. The original name was Guadianilla in memory of a river and town of the same name in Spain. However, it was changed to Guayanilla to resemble a native word in the Taíno language. The name Guayanilla is derived from a combination of Guaynia and Santa Maria de Guadianilla.

The first Europeans settled in this area in 1511. In 1756, Yauco was founded as a town. Then Guayanilla was a borough of Yauco. Due to the very fertile lands and access to the local port where most of the local commerce occurred, Guayanilla became an important agricultural center where sugarcane was cultivated. Guayanilla grew quickly and was established as a separate municipality on February 27, 1833 by Governor Miguel de la Torre.

Puerto Rico was ceded by Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War under the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1898 and became a territory of the United States. In 1899, the United States Department of War conducted a census of Puerto Rico finding that the population of Guayanilla was 9,540.

On September 20, 2017 Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico. In Guayanilla, the hurricane triggered numerous landslides and caused major destruction with an estimated 600 homes losing their roof and 300 homes completely destroyed. Roads, crops and structures were destroyed by the winds and flooding.