Cienfuegos

[syen-fwe-gaws]

Cienfuegos, city (1995 est. pop. 125,000), capital of Cienfuegos prov., central Cuba, a port on the Caribbean Sea. It is the marketing and processing center of a region producing sugarcane, tobacco, coffee, and rice; it also has an oil refinery, rum distilleries, fish canneries. The city is Cuba's leading sugar exporting port as well as a major fishing port. Founded in 1819 by French emigrants from Louisiana and named for one of the original founders, Cienfuegos was destroyed by a tropical storm in 1825 and later rebuilt.

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Licensed from Columbia University Press

Cienfuegos

Cienfuegos is a city on the southern coast of Cuba, capital of the province of Cienfuegos. It is located about 250 km (155 miles) from Havana, and has a population of 150,000. The city is dubbed "La Perla del Sur"(Pearl of the South). Cienfuegos literally translates to "Hundred fires".

Geography

Near the entrance to Bahia de Cienfuegos (bahia meaning "bay") is Castillo de Jagua (full name Castillo de Nuestra Señora de los Angeles de Jagua), a fortress erected in the 1745 for protection against Caribbean pirates.

Cienfuegos, one of the chief seaports of Cuba, is a center of the sugar trade, as well as coffee and tobacco. While sugarcane is the chief crop, local farmers grow coffee.

The downtown contains 6 buildings from 1819-50, 327 buildings from 1851-1900, and 1188 buildings from the 20th century. There is no other place in the Caribbean which contains such a remarkable cluster of Neoclassical structures.

Demographics

In 2004, the municipality of Cienfuegos had a population of 163,824. With a total area of , it has a population density of .

History

The area was called Cacicazgo de Jagua when the Spanish arrived here, and was settled by indigenous people.

The city was settled by French immigrants from Bordeaux and Louisiana, led by Don Louis D'Clouet, on April 22 1819. Its original name was Fernardina de Jagua, in honor of Ferdinand VII of Spain. The settlement became a town (Spanish: Villa) in 1829, and a city in 1880. The city was subsequently named Cienfuegos, sharing the name with Cienfuegos, a Captain General in this time, in the island.

During the Cuban Revolution the city saw an uprising against Fulgencio Batista and was bombed, on september 5 1957.

World Heritage Site

In 2005, UNESCO inscribed the Urban Historic Centre of Cienfuegos on the World Heritage List, citing Cienfuegos as the best extant example of the 19th-century early Spanish Enlightenment implementation in urban planning.

Hurricane Dennis 2005

In 2005, Hurricane Dennis made its second landfall near Cienfuegos at about 1:00PM AST (17:00 UTC) with winds of 232km/h (144 MPH), and gusts reaching 285 km/h (177 MPH).

Attractions

Castillo de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles de Jagua - fortress
Arco de Triunfo - the only Arco de Triunfo in Cuba
Cathedral de la Purisma Conception - cathedral with stained glass work, built 1833-1869.
Delfinario - dolphins and sea lions in a saltwater lagoon
Jardín Botánico de Cienfuegos - 97 hectares of botanic garden
Museo Provincial - furniture and porcelain museum
Palacio de Valle - built 1913-1917 in neo-gothic style
Palmira Yorubá Pantheon - museum of religious afro-catholic syncretism
Parque José Martí - park in Plaza de Armas
University of Cienfuegos "Carlos Rafael Rodríguez" (UCF) - the province's secondary education institution.