Archive for the ‘History’ Category

Generación Y – Cuba’s oddball Y Generation of Child Names

  As a resident of Havana, Cuba’s glorious capital, Yanitse Garcia has toiled for three decades correcting people on the pronunciation and spelling of her name.    So when she had her first child, Garcia naturally decided to save her daughter a lifetime of misery by choosing a simple name that everyone understand and which […]

Autentica Cuba | Tales of corruption, fraud & scams

  Behind the polished image of Cuba´s MINTUR (ministry of tourism) and their recent Autentica Cuba campaign lurks a sinister black market, or so we are told.   Seldom do professionals from the travel industry in Cuba speak out and, less so when they are foreign travel professionals located on the island. Historically, fearful of […]

Pope Visit to Cuba | another dose of temporary faith?

  Tomorrow the Pope will once again speak in Cuba. For you non religious types, no, it’s no longer Pope John Paul II, who blessed Cuba 14 years ago in 1998. This time, Pope Benedict once again takes the churches blessing back to an unchanged Cuba this week but, is this visit nothing more than […]

Alan Gross Trial in Cuba – The side show with an unlikely outcome

This case has received a great amount of press over the past year, reaching fever pitch this week. With the trial now over, there are certain points worth taking note of that will probably decide the outcome for Mr. Gross.   Both Governor Bill Richardson and Hillary Rodham Clinton have stated that they would consider […]

From Miraflores with love

CARACAS, Venezuela President Hugo Chavez has turned to his friends in Cuba for help in tackling Venezuela’s energy crisis, drawing criticism Wednesday from opponents who say that the communist-led island is notorious for its own electricity woes. The socialist leader announced that Cuban Vice President Ramiro Valdes had arrived on Tuesday to head a Cuban […]

Bayamo History

San Salvador de Bayamo is the second of the seven villages founded by Diego Velázquez. The area, where an indigenous community once settled down next to the shores of a river was finally established on November 5 th,1513. By the end of 1514, the unhappy colonizers with the houses already taken on their own moved […]

Guantánamo History

In the year 1796 was founded the town of Santa Catalina de Guantánamo. When the Spaniards arrived, the region was inhabited by the Taino Amerindians. The Tainos, characterized by devoting themselves to ceramics and agriculture, were also one of the most rebellious groups who rejected the Spanish conquerors. Therefore, this region is considered the one […]

Isla de La Juventud History

This island, the largest of the Canarreos archipelago, was discovered by Admiral Christopher Columbus in 1494. During several centuries served as a haven and operation base for pirates and smugglers. It has been called indistinctly treasure island, parrot island, island of the deported, and until 1975 it was called Isle of Pines. From that year […]

Santiago de Cuba History

The homonym capital city of the Santiago de Cuba province was founded by Diego Velázquez in 1515, by the mouth of river Paradas, but shortly after was moved to its actual location. In 1520, its cathedral was built and six years after that it was destroyed by a fire. During the first half of the […]

Granma History

Bayamo, the capital of Granma was founded in 1513. It was the second village founded in Cuba an was named San Salvador de Bayamo. In the years 1538, 1555, and 1579 it was attacked by pirates and privateers. In the 19th century, the sugar-producing zones of the eastern region of the island occupied vast zones, […]

Holguín History

By the port of Bariay, today within the limits of this province, the Great Admiral Christopher Columbus disembarked on October 1492, thus beginning, with the discovery of the Americas, a new era in the history of mankind. Legend has it that the admiral, while setting foot on Cuban soil and amazed at the natural wonders, […]

Las Tunas History

Several stories have been weaved around the founding of this province. Some speak of the arrival of Alonso de Ojeda to the aboriginal village of Cueybá after having wrecked in 1510. He wandered along the coastal marshland carrying an image of Virgin Mary that he rescued from the wreckage. The first village he encountered was […]

Camagüey History

Named Santa María del Puerto Príncipe by the colonizers in 1515, Camagüey was one of the first villages founded by Pánfilo de Narváez during the third stage of the Cuban conquest. Located first in the north coast, where Nuevitas port is located today, the settlers moved later to the south and finally established the city […]

Ciego de Ávila History

Ciego de Ávila is located in a plain of approximately 6900 sq km (2664 sq mi) of extension. Cattle, sugar cane, and vegetable products are its main natural resources. Linked to the rest of the nation through the Carretera Central, Ciego de Ávila is 442 km (276 mi) away from Havana and possesses modern buildings, […]

Sancti Spíritus History

Sancti Spíritus was one of the first seven towns founded by Spanish conqueror Diego Velázquez in the island. After the founding of Bayamo, the second town, he decided to build that of La Santísima Trinidad and another, which he would call Espíritu Santo (Holy Ghost), around 1514, becoming a new populated area in the site […]

Cienfuegos History

During the Ten-Year War (1868-1878), Cienfuegos patriots massively joined, since 1869, the Liberation Army and carried out numberless actions along the territory. Later, during the Small War (1879-1880), the Spanish colonial army set up a fortified military line known as “trocha”, which extended along the Santo Domingo, Cruces y Ranchuelo populations and which was reutilized […]

Villa Clara History

Founded on July 15,1689 by former inhabitants of the coastal village of San Juan de los Remedios who were getting away from the constants raids by pirates and privateers, Santa Clara is located in the center of the island, reason why it has been addressed with the aboriginal name Cubanacán. Santa Clara was given the […]

Matanzas History

There are several different versions about the origin of the province’s name, which is Spanish for “massacres”. The priest Bartolomé de las Casas makes reference in his chronicles to an event taking place in the bay of Guanimar in 1509: the aboriginals of the zone attacked and slaughtered a group of Spaniards who were sailing […]

Pinar del Río History

This region was named Nueva Filipinas (New Philippines) about half of the decade of 1770 and it was not until 1778 that the region acquired its definitive name. The economical development of this region was mostly based on the tobacco crops. That is the reason why the population from the westernmost region of the province […]

Havana City History

In 1512, after two previous settlements, the town of San Cristóbal de La Habana was finally established by Carenas port and thus, in 1519, was officially founded in a place where, according to testimonies of the time, a great silk-cotton tree stood and where the first Cabildo (chapter) of the City of Havana was celebrated. […]

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