Colón, Cuba
Encyclopedia
Colón is a municipality and city in the Matanzas Province
Matanzas Province
Matanzas is one of the provinces of Cuba. Major towns in the province include Cárdenas, Colón, Jovellanos and the capital of the same name, Matanzas...
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...
.
Geography
The municipality is divided into the campoCampo
Campo is Italian, Portuguese and Spanish for "field".In the city of Venice the word Campo designs a square, regardless of her size; Piazza San Marco is the only exception being the only urban space called a piazza instead of Campo....
s of Agüica, Este, Guareiras, Jacán, Laguna Grande, Oeste and Palmillas.
History
The town was founded in 1846 under the name Nueva Bermeja. In 1851 the railroad reaches the town. In 1859, it achieves the status of villa (town) with the name Colón.The founder's name is don Martín José Zozaya, who founded the town in the former hacienda named La Bermeja. The deed to establish this town was signed in the city of Matanzas in 1836. At the time, don Martín set apart land for a cemetery
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
and a church. The original name of the town was La Nueva Bermeja.
The railroad had arrived near the new town in 1843 but did not cross the town until 1851.
In 1852, Fernando Diago, the owner of the sugar-mill Ponina, inaugurates the first public school in town.
Economy
Colón's economy is centered around agricultureAgriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
(sugarcane
Sugarcane
Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...
, tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
, citrus fruit, honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
) and stock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
raising. It is also an important railway center.