La Havana History
La Havana city was founded by Diego Velasquez de Cuellar a Spanish conqueror on August 25, 1515 on the southern coast of Cuba. The original name of the city was “San Cristobal de la Habana”. It believe that the word “Habana” derived possibly from “Habaguanex” an native chief who controlled all this area before Spanish arrival; nevertheless the legend relates that Habana was the name of the Habaguanex’s daughte. In 1519 the city was moved to actual localization on the natural harbor of the Bay of Havana, this establishment was the sixth town founded by the Spanish on the Island.
Some years after its foundation, La Havana was the main Spanish port in the New World, because it was a required step for ships that traveled between Europe and America; it was called “The key of the New World”. From here departed the expedition of Hernan Cortes which conquered Mexico. All treasures of Mexico and Peru arrived first to La Havana before to continue the trip to Spain. Thanks to it many people arrived to La Havana, they were adventurers attracted by legends like “El Dorado” and “The seven cities of gold” who quickly populated the city.
Between XVI and XVII centuries the city was often attacked by pirates and corsairs from England, France and Holland who destroyed and burned the city several times. The first of them was the French corsair Jacques de Sores in 1555. That was the reason for the construction of the first fortresses and the Havana wall; which were used also for to control the commerce with the rest of Spanish colonies in America. Besides, the Spanish Crown decided that its ships had traveling in fleet for avoid the attacks and all ships required to assemble in the Havana. Because of this, the commerce was booted and the city developed rapidly. The growing of the city caused that in 1563 the governor of Cuba moved his residence from Santiago de Cuba to La Havana, since that date La Havana has been the Capital of the Island. In 1592 the King Philip II of Spain grants to La Havana the title of City. Also in this time, the main defensive infrastructures like “San Salvador de la Punta”, “Castillo de los Tres Reyes Magos del Morro” and “Castillo de la real Fuerza” were built. Besides, also were constructed in this period the defensive towers of “La Chorreara” and “San Lazaro”.
During the next centuries of Spanish rule the city developed so much, many luxury buildings, civics monuments, and beautiful churches were made in these years.
In 1649 a epidemic killed a third of the population nevertheless in XVIII century the city had over 70000 inhabitants.
In 1762 a great British fleet composed by 50 ships and 14000 men invaded the city which was under British domain one year during this time; the Britishs opened up trade and transformed Cuban society. In 1763 thanks to a treaty which gave Florida to British in exchange for Cuba, the Island returned to Spanish domain.
Then the Spanish transformed the city into the most fortified of America, in this period it constructed the Fortress of San Carlos de la Cabaña, the biggest and one of the most expensive in America, whose construction lasted eleven years .
In 1796 the remains of Christopher Columbus were brought from Santo Domingo and rested here till 1898 when they were transported to Sevilla.
At the beginning of XIX century the prosperity of the city increased so much. Many theaters were built and in them, many of the best actors made their shows daily. In this time La Havana was called the Paris of the Antilles. Besides, during this century , it constructed the first railroad, which had 51 Km between La Havana and Bejucal and was used for sugar transportation. Cuba was. The end of XIX century marked also the end of Spanish dominance and the beginning of American dominance which lasted till 1902 when the government changed to Cuban hands. Nevertheless the American influence lasted until 1959. During the first half of XX century, the city continued its meteoric growth mainly in 1930s when the biggest buildings, hotels and Casinos were constructed. In this period La Havana was called the “Gomorra of the Antilles” because of the impressive nightlife of the city. It was currently to see celebrities like Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Marlene Dietrich, Ernest Hemingway and Gary Cooper as well as big mafia like Meyer Lanski, Lucky Luciano amongst others. Also it organized many events like grand prix car racing and musical shows. Thanks to it almost 270000 tourists arrived to La Havana every year.
But also there was a lot of poverty in the city, which contrasted with the luxury of the hotels and nightclubs. This is one of the reasons that explain the revolution in 1959 which expropriated all privately owned business entities in Cuba.
Today many buildings in the city are in ruins in part because of the American embargo and the Soviet Union collapse. These factors do that life in La Havana is very hard. Nevertheless since 1976 when the Cuban government started its efforts for to restore the former building with the help of International Organizations; several buildings mainly in old Havana have been reconstructed and opened to the tourism that is now one of main economical activities in La Havana and that supports a great part of the almost 2 500 000 inhabitants of the city (the majority of them less than 20 years old).
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