Havana – formerly called Havana City – is the current capital city of the Republic of Cuba and at the same time one of the fifteen Cuban provinces. Havana is the most populated city in Cuba and in the entire insular Caribbean, with a population of over two million people. [2]
The territory of the capital occupies the sixteenth place in extension among the provinces, with 726.75 square kilometers, representing 0.7 percent of the total area of the country. [2]
Founded in the spring of 1514, further south, with the name of San Cristóbal de La Habana, Havana is the main center of the political, economic and socio-cultural life of the nation, being the headquarters of the offices of the Government and the Cuban Communist Party as well as the main cultural and scientific institutions of the country.
According to a law approved in August 2010 by the National Assembly of Cuba, said province retakes the name of Havana, officially eliminating the nickname “City”, unnecessary after the disappearance of the homonymous province, approved by that same law. . The city is administratively divided into 15 municipalities.
The tradition recognizes as the date of founding the 16 of November of 1519, when the Spanish conquistador Diego Velázquez in the name of the kings of Spain established its third and final settlement today. In 2019, it reached 500 years of being founded.
Developed from an original population nucleus, Havana is the fusion of dissimilar localities. According to data provided by the National Statistics Office (ONE), the province has 49 neighborhoods, 329 districts and 36 population settlements, for a total of 414 officially recognized spatial units or localities.
In 1982, its Historic Center was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. [3]
Havana was elected on 7 of December of 2014 in Dubai, in the New7WondersCities initiative, as one of the seven great cities of the world to represent the global diversity of urban society. [4]
Havana Bay
The bay of Havana is one of the largest and safest bays in America and the world, in the form of a bag, which gives security to the ships it welcomes. It has a strategic geographical and economic situation, as it is located in the middle of the GulfCorridor, an area that connects the ports of Veracruz, New Orleans and Miami as well as the Mississippi delta with Europe. Inside was the US battleship Maine exploded the 15 as February as 1898, a fact that meant the pretext for the United Statesintervened in the War of 95, also known as the Necessary War, snatching the victory from the Mambisa hosts and starting the Spanish-Cuban-American war, which constituted the first conflagration of an imperialist type.
The port of Havana is considered one of the most important in the region and during colonial times one of the strategic centers for colonial Spain, which is why the bay was protected with a very important network of fortifications, which include the Torreón of San Lázaro, the Castle of the Three Kings of Morro, the Fortress of San Carlos de la Cabaña, the Castle of Atarés, La Chorrera and other elements dedicated to the protection of the port and the city.
Entrance of the bay of Havana in April 2012, in the distance the Simón Bolívar School Ship of the Venezuelan Navy.
One of the distinctive elements associated with the bay is the lighthouse located in the El Morro fortress, whose construction dates from the 18th century, and which currently works with French optics, which were installed at the time of its construction, including the mechanisms original counterweight and levers for its operation, being the lighting system (currently electric), the only significant change made to this work.
According to Shopareview, today one of the fundamental challenges of the bay is to overcome its high levels of pollution that make it one of the most polluted bays in the world, not only due to the high concentration of population on its coastline (close to a million people) but also Most of the city’s industries are located in the bay area, so most of its waste ends up at sea.
Despite everything, the government and several Cuban and international scientific institutions have promoted a great rescue plan for the bay, which seeks through educational formulas to instill values of respect for the environment.
Flora and fauna
Due to its proximity to the Tropic of Cancer, temperatures are pleasant all year round. The vegetation is abundant, highlighting the green ring of the city of which the Great Metropolitan Park of Havana is part, in the Almendares basin, and which covers areas of four municipalities: Playa, Plaza de la Revolución, Cerro and Marianao. Within this park, the Havana Forest, the Forest Park, the Almendares Park, and the El Husillo dam stand out. The National Zoo, the Parque Lenin, Expocuba and the National Botanical Garden, part of the forest encirclement of the city.
There are areas of an impressive natural landscape such as the banks of the upper course of the Cojímar River, the Itabo Lagoon, Rincón de Guanabo and the Coca area. Several peripheral municipalities are characterized by their greenery: East Havana, Guanabacoa, Cotorro, San Miguel del Padrón, Arroyo Naranjo, Boyeros, Plaza de la Revolución, La Lisa, Marianao and Playa. This characteristic has made Havana a “Garden City”.
This region of the country has several endemic species of plants. The fauna is made up of birds, reptiles and mammals; in addition to others brought by man such as large and small livestock, breeding birds, domestic dogs and cats, and others. Within the historical-cultural heritage thirty-eight national monuments, six local monuments and eleven protection zones are recognized today, between the built and natural heritage.