Havana City Geography
Havana City has an extension of 727,4 sq km (280,8 sq mi) and an approximate population of 2 188 828 inhabitants (1996). It ranks first among the country’s cities regarding population. Havana’s street arrangement is complex: reticular with dense narrow streets towards the oldest sections, mostly the colonial part declared World Heritage, and more organized with wide streets and avenues in the rest of the city.
Havana has a three-lobular bay with four big coves and a narrow entrance channel quite shielded by the hills of the coasts, which are generally high above the sea level, but have low zones like those of the mouths of rivers Luyanó and Martín Pérez.
One section is protected by Havana’s seawall (Malecón) and others serve as base for most part of the facilities, docks, and piers of Havana’s harbor, the most important of the country and witness of more than 50% of Cuba’s imports and exports. Around this bay is extended the capital city of the Republic of Cuba.
