Holguín
Encyclopedia

Holguín is a municipality and city, the capital of the 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...

n Province 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....

. It also includes a tourist area, offering beach resorts in the outskirts of the region.

History

It was founded as San Isidoro de Holguín in 1545, and it is named after its founder Captain García Holguín, a Spanish military officer. Prior to 1976, Holguin was located in the province of Oriente.

Infrastructure

There are several small city parks such as Parque Infantil, Parque San Jose, Parque San Isidoro, Parque Marti among others, most central the Calixto García in the downtown area. Close by one finds the galleries
Art gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...

 Centro Provincial de Arte and Bayado, a library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...

, the club Casa de la Trova, the Martí cinema
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....

, the Theatre Eddy Suñol, the Province Museum La Periquera, a science museum, and a history museum. From the hill Loma de la Cruz, where a large crucifix is installed, which can be ascended by its 450 stairs, one can oversee the whole city.

Holguín has a baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 stadium
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...

. The Frank País International Airport
Frank Pais Airport
Frank País Airport is an international airport that serves the city of Holguín in Cuba. It bears the name of Cuban revolutionary Frank País and is located in the municipio of Frank País.-Airlines and destinations :-Holguín Air Base:...

 (city code HOG) is connected to 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 several other world destinations.

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 Aguarás, Aguas Claras, Alcalá, Arroyo Blanco del Sur, Báguanos, Cabezuelas, Cacocún, Calderón, Camazán, Cauto del Cristo, Corralillo, Cruces de Purnio, Damián, Floro Pérez, Guabasiabo, Guayabal, Guirabo, Haticos del Purial, La Aguada, La Cuaba, La Palma, La Rioja, Las Calabazas, Managuaco, Melones, Norte, Omaja, Purnio, San Agustín, San Andrés, San Francisco, San Juan, San Lorenzo, Santa Rita, Sur, Tacámara, Tasajeras, Uñas, Uñitas, Velasco, Yareyal and Yayal.

The main secondary education institution is the University of Holguín
University of Holguín
The University of Holguín "Oscar Lucero Moya" is a university located in Holguín, Cuba...

.

Economy

The brewery Cerveceria Bucanero - a joint venture with Labatt of Canada - is based in the city. It makes three brands of beer (Bucanero, Cristal and Mayabe) sold in convertible pesos
Cuban convertible peso
The convertible peso , is one of two official currencies in Cuba, the other being the peso. It has been in limited use since 1994, when it was treated as equivalent to the U.S. dollar: its value was officially US$1.00. On November 8, 2004, the U.S...

.

Near Holguin, the Villa El Quinque and the Villa El Cocal are world-renowned centers for addictions treatment, receiving patients from around the world. Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona
Diego Maradona
Diego Armando Maradona is a retired Argentine football player and widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time. Over the course of his professional club career Maradona played for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla and Newell's Old Boys, setting...

 was treated for his cocaine addiction there.
The popular Playa Pesquero (Fishing Boat Beach) is located on the coast north of Holguín city, about an hour's drive from the International Airport.

Demographics

In 2004, the municipality of Holguín had a population of 326,740. With a total area of 666 km² (257.1 sq mi), it has a population density of 490.6 /km2.

Transportation

Holguín is served by Frank País Airport
Frank Pais Airport
Frank País Airport is an international airport that serves the city of Holguín in Cuba. It bears the name of Cuban revolutionary Frank País and is located in the municipio of Frank País.-Airlines and destinations :-Holguín Air Base:...

 (HOG/MUHG), located at 20°47´08"N, 076°18´54"W.

Notable residents

  • Faustino Oramas
    Faustino Oramas
    Faustino Oramas Osorío, El Guayabero, was a Cuban singer, tres guitarist and composer, the last surviving member of the traditional Cuban trova. Most of his repertoire consisted of sons and guaracha-sons, many with double entendres in the lyrics...

    , Cuban composer and musician
  • Mario Kindelan, Olympic
    Olympic Games
    The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

     Gold Medalist amateur boxer
  • Eglise Gutiérrez
    Eglise Gutiérrez
    Eglise Gutiérrez is a Cuban-American coloratura soprano. She studied voice in Cuba, in Miami with Manny Perez, and at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from which she graduated in 2004. She presently works with the voice teacher, William Schumann.In 2004 she won the Mirjam...

    , opera singer
  • Reinaldo Arenas
    Reinaldo Arenas
    Reinaldo Arenas was a Cuban poet, novelist, and playwright who despite his early sympathy for the 1959 revolution, grew critical of and then rebelled against the Cuban government.- Life :...

    , poet and novelist
  • Oscar Hijuelos
    Oscar Hijuelos
    Oscar Jerome Hijuelos is an American novelist. He is the first Hispanic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.- Early life and career :...

    , Cuban-American Pulitzer Prize-winning author, whose parents were born and raised in Holguín before immigrating to the USA.

Sister cities

Etobicoke, Ontario
Etobicoke, Ontario
Etobicoke is a dissolved municipality located within the current city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the western section of the current city, it had an official population of 338,117 as measured by the 2001 Census and 334,491 people as of the 2006 Census. While it only contains 13% of...

, Canada Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...

, USA Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico West Kanpur
West Kanpur
West Kanpur is a suburb in Kanpur, India, situated about 15 km from Kanpur on the NH 86 to Dewas.The population was 200000 as of the 2001 census.It has 80% of literacy and is 10 km from Kanpur Cantonment.It also Comes under Kanpur Metropolitan Region-Local Government:West Kanpur...


External links

Holguín Web portal
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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