Cuba - Lonely Planet [323]
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HIGHLIGHTS
African Folklore Explore Cuba’s numerous Afro-Cuban dance genres at a folklórico show in Santiago de Cuba (see boxed text,)
Spectacular Drive Take the coast road west toward Chivirico amid rolling mountains and crashing surf
It’s All in the Coffee Get the lowdown on Cuba’s French-inspired coffee culture at Cafetal La Isabelica
Fort Thoughts Wonder at how Henry Morgan breached the ramparts at the Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca del Morro (see boxed text,)
Eco-tour Shower beneath a waterfall at the eco-friendly Hotel Carrusel El Saltón Click here
TELEPHONE CODE: 022
POPULATION: 1.04 MILLION
AREA: 6170 SQ KM
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History
Illuminated by a rich cast of revolutionary heroes and characterized by a cultural legacy that has infiltrated everything from music and language to sculpture and art, the history of Santiago is inseparable from the history of Cuba itself.
Founded in 1514 by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar (his bones purportedly lie underneath the cathedral), the city of Santiago de Cuba moved to its present site in 1522 on a sharp horseshoe of harbor in the lee of the Sierra Maestra. Its first mayor was Hernán Cortés – Velázquez’ wayward secretary – who departed from the deep yet tranquil bay in 1518 en route to Mexico.
Installed as the colony’s new capital, after the abandonment of Baracoa in 1515, Santiago enjoyed a brief renaissance as a center for the copper-mining industry and a disembarkation point for slaves arriving from West Africa via Hispaniola. But the glory wasn’t to last.
In 1556 the Spanish captains-general departed for Havana and in 1607 the capital was transferred permanently to the west. Raided by pirates and reduced at one point to a small village of only several hundred people, embattled Santiago barely survived the ignominy.
The tide turned in 1655 when Spanish settlers arrived from the nearby colony of Jamaica, and this influx was augmented further in the 1790s as French plantation owners on the run from a slave revolt in Haiti settled down in the city’s Tivolí district. Always one step ahead of the capital in the cultural sphere, Santiago founded the Seminario de San Basilio Magno as an educational establishment in 1722 (six years before the founding of the Universidad de La Habana) and in 1804 wrested ecclesiastical dominance from the capital by ensuring that the city’s top cleric was promoted to the post of archbishop.
Individuality and isolation from Havana soon gave Santiago a noticeably distinct cultural heritage and went a long way in fuelling its insatiable passion for rebellion and revolt. Much of the fighting in both Wars of Independence took place in the Oriente, and one of the era’s most illustrious fighters, the great mulato general Antonio Maceo, was born in Santiago de Cuba in 1845.
In 1898, just as Cuba seemed about to triumph in its long struggle for independence, the US intervened in the Spanish-Cuban-American War, landing a flotilla of troops on nearby Daiquirí beach. Subsequently, decisive land and sea battles of both Wars of Independence were fought in and around Santiago. The first was played out on July 1 when a victorious cavalry charge led by Teddy Roosevelt on outlying Loma de San Juan (San Juan Hill) sealed a famous victory. The second ended in a highly one-sided naval battle in Santiago harbor between US and Spanish ships, which led to the almost total destruction of the Spanish fleet.
A construction boom characterized the first few years of the new, quasi-independent Cuban state, but after