Gibara is a municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 of the Province

Provinces of Cuba

Administratively, Cuba is divided into 15 provinces and one special municipality not included in any province. The last modification was approved in August 2010 , splitting Havana province into two new provinces: Artemisa and Mayabeque...

 of Holguín

Holguín Province

Holguín is one of the provinces of Cuba, the third most populous after Ciudad de la Habana and Santiago de Cuba. It lies in the northeast of the country. Its major cities include Holguín , Banes, Antilla, Mayarí, and Moa....

 in the Republic 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...

. 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. Gibara has a beautiful and exuberant landscape

Landscape

Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...

, it also has singular architectural places and a perfect layout of its streets, houses and parks, but the biggest wealth, according to the visitors is its people, which is cooperative, human, affectionate, proud of its village and of its history.

"The White Villa" although small, it possesses a peculiar charm, the contrast of an architectural patrimony stored for almost two centuries, its exuberant landscapes, and the sense of ownership and its people's cultural roots, it makes that the visitors are captivated of it and be forced to return one and another time to this land that when saying of the admiral 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...

 “it is the most beautiful land that human eyes saw.”

At the moment a polemic exists about if it was the Bay of Gibara or the Bay of Bariay that gave coast to the Admiral Christopher Columbus' ships in its first trip to Cuba.

It is in this coastal city declared National Monument in 2002, where take place, since the year 2003, the International Festival of Poor Cinema where films are presented in different categories.

Demographics

In 2004, the municipality of Gibara had a population of 72,810. With a total area of 630 km² (243.2 sq mi), it has a population density of 115.6 /km2.

The municipality is divided into the barrio

Barrio

Barrio is a Spanish word meaning district or neighborhood.-Usage:In its formal usage in English, barrios are generally considered cohesive places, sharing, for example, a church and traditions such as feast days...

s of Arroyo Blanco, Blanquizal, Bocas, Candelaria, Cantimplora, Cupeycillos, Palmita, Rabón.