During its early years, San Germán was a city on the move. Although the first settlement's exact founding date and location remains at issue, the town is believed to have been established in 1510 near Guánica. Plagued by mosquitoes, settlers moved north along the west coast, where they encountered French pirates and smugglers. In the 1570s, they fled inland to the current location, but they endured further harrassment. Determined and creative, they dug tunnels and moved beneath the city (the tunnels are now part of the water system). Today San Germán has a population of 35,000, and its intellectual and political activity is anything but underground. This is very much a college town, and students and professors from the Inter-American University often fill the bars and cafés.
Around San Germán's two main squares—Plazuela Santo Domingo and Plaza Francisco Mariano Quiñones (named for an abolitionist)—are buildings in every conceivable style of architecture found on the island, including mission, Victorian, criollo, and Spanish colonial. The city's tourist office offers a free guided trolley tour. Most of the buildings are private homes; two of them—the Capilla de Porta Coeli and the Museo de Arte y Casa de Estudio—are museums. Strip malls surround the historic center.
