Baracoa
Encyclopedia
Baracoa is a municipality and city in Guantánamo Province
near the eastern tip of Cuba
. It was founded by the first governor of Cuba, the Spanish
conquistador
Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar
in 1511. It is the oldest Spanish settlement in Cuba and was its first capital (the basis for its nickname Ciudad Primera, "First City").
Baracoa is located on the spot where Christopher Columbus
landed in Cuba on his first voyage. It is thought that the name stems from the indigenous Arauaca language word meaning "the presence of the sea."
Baracoa lies on the Bay of Honey (Bahía de Miel) and is surrounded by a wide mountain range
(including the Sierra del Purial), which causes it to be quite isolated, apart from a single mountain road built in the 1960s.
. They were eradicated by the Spanish all over Cuba except here and this is the only place where descendants still live. A local hero is Hatuey
, who fled from the Spanish in Hispaniola
and raised a Taíno army to fight the Spanish in Cuba. According to the story Hatuey was betrayed by a member of his group and sentenced to burn at the stake
. It is said that just before he died a Catholic priest
tried to convert him so he would attain salvation
; Hatuey asked the priest if Heaven
was the place where the dead Spanish go. When he received an answer in the affirmative he told the priest that he'd rather go to Hell
.
On 27 October 1492, Christopher Columbus
landed in Cuba in a place he named Porto Santo. It is generally assumed from his description that this was Baracoa, although there are also claims it was Gibara
. But Columbus also described a nearby table mountain, which is almost certainly nearby el Yunque
. He wrote in his logbook ... the most beautiful place in the world ...I heard the birds sing that they will never ever leave this place.... According to legend, Columbus put a cross called Cruz de la Parra in the sands of what would later become Baracoa harbor.
Around 15 August 1511 (the official foundation day) Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar
was appointed the first governor of Cuba and built a villa here and named the place 'Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Baracoa', thus making Baracoa the first capital of Cuba. In 1518 it received the title of city
and the first Cuban bishop was appointed here. As a result several remains of the Spanish occupation can still be seen here, such as the fortifications El Castillo, Matachín and La Punta and the cemetery.
In the 16th and 17th centuries the isolated location made it a haven for illegal trade with the French
and English
. At the beginning of the 19th century many French fled here from the revolution of independence in Haiti
, who started growing coffee and cocoa.
From the middle of the 19th century many expeditions of independence fighters landed here (including Antonio Maceo
and José Martí
) which greatly helped the independence from Spain in 1902.
Before the Cuban Revolution
the only access was by sea, but in the 1960s a 120 km long road from Guantánamo
named La Farola was built through the mountains, which was one of the showcases of the revolution. The road had already been planned by the Batista government, but never got built. The highest point of the road is at over 600 m and it passes 11 bridges.
, coconut
and cacao. It is Cuba's main chocolate manufacturing area.
The remote location at the eastern end of the Cuban island has kept the influence of mass tourism quite low, despite the idyllic location. Baracoa can be reached by bus from Santiago de Cuba
(4 hours) or by plane from Havana
(2 hours).
To the east the Fuerte Matachín (built in 1802) houses and museums are still there standing. To the west the fuerte La Punta (built in 1803) houses a restaurant, with a smaller beach next to it. And the third fort, El Castillo, on a steep hill with a commanding view of the town and both bays, is now Hotel El Castillo. The other hotels in Baracoa are Hotel Porto Santo, Hotel La Rusa, Hostal La Habanera and Villa Maguana. There are also a few casas particulares
. The Catedral Nuestra Señora de la Asunción houses the earings of the Cruz de la Parra, a cross that Cali is supposed to have brought from Spain. Although it has been carbon dated to approximately that period, it is made from a local woodtype, which means at least part of the story is not correct.
There are two music venues near the central Parque Independencia, the touristy Flan de Queso and the more traditional Casa de la Flana.
Nearby are the rivers Miel and Toa, the latter of which has many waterfalls, the best known of which is 'el Saltadero', which is 17 m high.
The 575 m high table mountain
el Yunque
(the anvil) is 10 km to the west of Baracoa. It is a remnant of a plateau and because of its isolation it houses several unique species of ferns and palms. The only official and easiest approach to climb it starts at campismo El Yunque (simple lodgings for Cubans only), where a guide is obligatory (about 15 euro).
From Baracoa, it is possible to visit the Parque Nacional Alejandro de Humboldt located about 20 kilometers north.
Salto Fino is the highest waterfall in the Caribbean, located in this municipality, is produced by a sudden drop in the Arroyo del Infierno (Hell's stream), a tributary of the Quibijan river. That river, along with 71 others, flows into the Toa river
, which is the largest river in Cuba
. The 305-meter-high Salto Fino waterfall is recorded as the 20th highest water chute in the world.
is a regional airport
that serves this town. This is a small airport that usually operates with national flights. Located west of the bay near the Hotel Porto Santo and about 4 km (2½ miles) NNW of Baracoa. Although flights are infrequent, Cubana de Aviación
flies here occasionally from Santiago de Cuba
and Havana
, and the fare is very reasonable.
, a mix of coconut and lots of sugar and other ingredients like orange, guava and pineapple and wrapped in a palm leaf. Another is Bacán
, which is made from bananas and wrapped in a banana leaf. And of course there is lots of chocolate
in this cocoa producing region.
Guantánamo Province
Guantánamo is the easternmost province of Cuba. Its capital is also called Guantánamo. Other towns include Baracoa. The province surrounds the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay.-History:...
near the eastern tip of Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. It was founded by the first governor of Cuba, the Spanish
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar
Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar
Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar was a Spanish conquistador. He conquered and governed Cuba on behalf of Spain.-Early life:...
in 1511. It is the oldest Spanish settlement in Cuba and was its first capital (the basis for its nickname Ciudad Primera, "First City").
Baracoa is located on the spot where Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
landed in Cuba on his first voyage. It is thought that the name stems from the indigenous Arauaca language word meaning "the presence of the sea."
Baracoa lies on the Bay of Honey (Bahía de Miel) and is surrounded by a wide mountain range
Mountain range
A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...
(including the Sierra del Purial), which causes it to be quite isolated, apart from a single mountain road built in the 1960s.
History
The original inhabitants of the island were TaínoTaíno people
The Taínos were pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. It is thought that the seafaring Taínos are relatives of the Arawak people of South America...
. They were eradicated by the Spanish all over Cuba except here and this is the only place where descendants still live. A local hero is Hatuey
Hatuey
Hatuey was a Taíno Cacique from the island of Hispaniola who lived in the early sixteenth century. He has attained legendary status for leading a group of natives in a fight against the invading Spaniards, and thus becoming the second fighter against colonialism in the New World after Anacaona...
, who fled from the Spanish in Hispaniola
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
and raised a Taíno army to fight the Spanish in Cuba. According to the story Hatuey was betrayed by a member of his group and sentenced to burn at the stake
Execution by burning
Death by burning is death brought about by combustion. As a form of capital punishment, burning has a long history as a method in crimes such as treason, heresy, and witchcraft....
. It is said that just before he died a Catholic priest
Holy Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
tried to convert him so he would attain salvation
Salvation
Within religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...
; Hatuey asked the priest if Heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
was the place where the dead Spanish go. When he received an answer in the affirmative he told the priest that he'd rather go to Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
.
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
landed in Cuba in a place he named Porto Santo. It is generally assumed from his description that this was Baracoa, although there are also claims it was Gibara
Gibara
Gibara is a municipality of the Province of Holguín in the Republic of Cuba. The main city was founded on January 16, 1817. It is also known as "The White Town", . The City of Gibara possesses a rich history and own culture, in agreement to the lineage of its foundation...
. But Columbus also described a nearby table mountain, which is almost certainly nearby el Yunque
El Yunque, Cuba
El Yunque is a high mountain located west of Baracoa and the Baracoa Bay in Cuba's Guantanamo Province. It has a table mountain shape that resembles an anvil ....
. He wrote in his logbook ... the most beautiful place in the world ...I heard the birds sing that they will never ever leave this place.... According to legend, Columbus put a cross called Cruz de la Parra in the sands of what would later become Baracoa harbor.
Around 15 August 1511 (the official foundation day) Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar
Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar
Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar was a Spanish conquistador. He conquered and governed Cuba on behalf of Spain.-Early life:...
was appointed the first governor of Cuba and built a villa here and named the place 'Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Baracoa', thus making Baracoa the first capital of Cuba. In 1518 it received the title of city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
and the first Cuban bishop was appointed here. As a result several remains of the Spanish occupation can still be seen here, such as the fortifications El Castillo, Matachín and La Punta and the cemetery.
In the 16th and 17th centuries the isolated location made it a haven for illegal trade with the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. At the beginning of the 19th century many French fled here from the revolution of independence in Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, who started growing coffee and cocoa.
Antonio Maceo
Antonio Maceo may refer to:*Antonio Maceo Grajales, commander in the Cuban revolutionary army*Antonio Maceo, a municipality of Santiago de Cuba named for the general*Antonio Maceo Airport, serving Santiago de Cuba...
and José Martí
José Martí
José Julián Martí Pérez was a Cuban national hero and an important figure in Latin American literature. In his short life he was a poet, an essayist, a journalist, a revolutionary philosopher, a translator, a professor, a publisher, and a political theorist. He was also a part of the Cuban...
) which greatly helped the independence from Spain in 1902.
Before the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
the only access was by sea, but in the 1960s a 120 km long road from Guantánamo
Guantánamo
Guantánamo is a municipality and city in southeast Cuba and capital of Guantánamo Province.Guantánamo is served by the Caimanera port and the site of a famous U.S. Naval base. The area produces sugarcane and cotton wool...
named La Farola was built through the mountains, which was one of the showcases of the revolution. The road had already been planned by the Batista government, but never got built. The highest point of the road is at over 600 m and it passes 11 bridges.
Economy
The main products in the region are bananaBanana
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
, coconut
Coconut
The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...
and cacao. It is Cuba's main chocolate manufacturing area.
Tourism
Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city of Cuba and capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province in the south-eastern area of the island, some south-east of the Cuban capital of Havana....
(4 hours) or by plane from Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
(2 hours).
To the east the Fuerte Matachín (built in 1802) houses and museums are still there standing. To the west the fuerte La Punta (built in 1803) houses a restaurant, with a smaller beach next to it. And the third fort, El Castillo, on a steep hill with a commanding view of the town and both bays, is now Hotel El Castillo. The other hotels in Baracoa are Hotel Porto Santo, Hotel La Rusa, Hostal La Habanera and Villa Maguana. There are also a few casas particulares
Casa particular
Casa particular is a phrase meaning private accommodation or private homestays in Cuba, very similar to bed and breakfast although it can also take the form of vacation rental...
. The Catedral Nuestra Señora de la Asunción houses the earings of the Cruz de la Parra, a cross that Cali is supposed to have brought from Spain. Although it has been carbon dated to approximately that period, it is made from a local woodtype, which means at least part of the story is not correct.
There are two music venues near the central Parque Independencia, the touristy Flan de Queso and the more traditional Casa de la Flana.
Nearby are the rivers Miel and Toa, the latter of which has many waterfalls, the best known of which is 'el Saltadero', which is 17 m high.
The 575 m high table mountain
Table (landform)
A table, when used in reference to landforms, is a hill, flank of a mountain, or mountain, that has a flat top.This landform has numerous names in addition to "table", including:*Tuya*Tepui*Mesa*Potrero*Butte*Plateau*Terrace-Description:...
el Yunque
El Yunque, Cuba
El Yunque is a high mountain located west of Baracoa and the Baracoa Bay in Cuba's Guantanamo Province. It has a table mountain shape that resembles an anvil ....
(the anvil) is 10 km to the west of Baracoa. It is a remnant of a plateau and because of its isolation it houses several unique species of ferns and palms. The only official and easiest approach to climb it starts at campismo El Yunque (simple lodgings for Cubans only), where a guide is obligatory (about 15 euro).
From Baracoa, it is possible to visit the Parque Nacional Alejandro de Humboldt located about 20 kilometers north.
Salto Fino is the highest waterfall in the Caribbean, located in this municipality, is produced by a sudden drop in the Arroyo del Infierno (Hell's stream), a tributary of the Quibijan river. That river, along with 71 others, flows into the Toa river
Toa river
The Toa River,tony leflore :) is a river located in the Guantánamo Province of Cuba, which flows across the country. This river is 131 kilometers long and has 72 tributaries. The Toa river is well known for its crystal clear waters....
, which is the largest river in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. The 305-meter-high Salto Fino waterfall is recorded as the 20th highest water chute in the world.
Airport
Gustavo Rizo AirportGustavo Rizo Airport
Gustavo Rizo Airport is a regional airport that serves the town of Baracoa in Cuba. This is a small airport that usually operates with national flights. Located west of the bay near the Hotel Porto Santo and about NNW of Baracoa. Although flights are infrequent, Cubana de Aviación flies here...
is a regional airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
that serves this town. This is a small airport that usually operates with national flights. Located west of the bay near the Hotel Porto Santo and about 4 km (2½ miles) NNW of Baracoa. Although flights are infrequent, Cubana de Aviación
Cubana de Aviación
Cubana de Aviación S.A., commonly known as Cubana, is Cuba's largest airline and flag carrier. The airline was founded on 8 October 1929, and has its corporate headquarters in Havana. Its main base is at José Martí International Airport...
flies here occasionally from Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city of Cuba and capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province in the south-eastern area of the island, some south-east of the Cuban capital of Havana....
and Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, and the fare is very reasonable.
Gastronomy
Baracoa has some very typical dishes, such as CucuruchoCucurucho
Cucurucho is a local delicacy of the city of Baracoa in eastern Cuba. Wrapped in a cone-shaped palm leaf , it is a mix of coconut, sugar and other ingredients such as orange, guava and pineapple....
, a mix of coconut and lots of sugar and other ingredients like orange, guava and pineapple and wrapped in a palm leaf. Another is Bacán
Bacan
Bacan refers to a group of islands in the Maluku Islands of Indonesia and to that group's largest island. The islands are mountainous and forested. The islands lie south of Ternate and west of Halmahera's southernmost arm...
, which is made from bananas and wrapped in a banana leaf. And of course there is lots of chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
in this cocoa producing region.