Being a Puerto Rican myself, I've had my fair share of mistaken ethnic identity by curious inquirerers. I can see why they'd be confused. Mexicans and Puerto Ricans make up the two largest Spanish-speaking groups in the United States. However, we have more in common than not.

Both ethnic groups have their origins from Spain a result of Christopher Columbus' comissioned discovery of the New World. Spanish Conquistadores gained control of both formerly-called Borikén and México-Tenochtitlan, which are presently known as Puerto Rico and Mexico.

Puerto Rico's ethnic history is curiously a miniature scale of that of the US mainland's, but not entirely. Europeans brought along African slaves to supplement the almost-extinct Taino Indian population. Their main goal was to excavate and take the island's gold back to Europe, which can be currently found in its lavish cathedrals.

Eventual inter-marriages among the indigenous Tainos, Europeans and African slaves led to the very varied mixture of races that is commonly found on the island as well as in the US. Therefore, there's no typical Puerto Rican per se. The people can range from blonde-haired, blue-eyed to mid-range colored skin to actual Black in color.

Contrary to Puerto Rico, Mexico didn't participate in the importation of African slaves in their ancestral origins. They did, however, have a group of indigenous people called the Aztec Indians, which intermingled with the European races.  The majority of Mexicans have strong indigenous physical features such as straight hair, brown skin, and Asiatic eye shapes.

Puerto Ricans are US citizens by birth after being previously naturalized by the Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917. The island of Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth of the United States just as Autralia is a Commonthwealth of England. Therefore, Puerto Ricans are free to move to the mainland from the island and vice-versa without a passport.

On the other hand, many Mexicans have had to illegally cross the US-Mexico border in order to migrate to the US. The US government has currently been facing criticism in their economic relations by anti-globalists citing that the US government doesn't combat illegal immigration sufficiently.

Even though both groups are connected by the Spanish language, there are variations in accents and vocabulary. This stemmed from the indigenous influence from each of the groups' native ancestries.

Puerto Ricans pride themselves in their musical heritage. Genres of salsa, merengue and reggaeton are central and prominent in social get-togethers.  In sports, baseball is Puerto Rico's main sport with Mexico's being soccer.

Mexican's pride in strongly rooted in the mariachi and banda music. Both nationalities have produced artists of international reknown that have created unity between the two. Carlos Santana and Ricky Martin are just examples of the many successful representatives of each group.

Each's ethnic cuisine are very different with the exception of rice and beans being common items on both Mexican and Puerto Rican menus.

For many years now, there have been feuds between Mexicans and Puerto Ricans. Much of it stems from a sense of right and entitlement that each group acclaims. There are resentments due to illegal immigration, crimes, gangs and collective prejudice from non-Latinos that assume both ethnicities are the same.

When President Obama appointed Sonia Sotomayor, of Puerto Rican descent, for the US Supreme Court, many Mexican-Americans were in an uproar as they felt it should've been one of their own so as to better understand the immigration issues of the country.