Havana > La Habana Ciudad de la Habana Cuba
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It is transferred in 1515 to Santiago, and finally in 1538 to Havana because of Havana's geographic location and excellent port.
The Guanahatabey (also spelled Guanajatabey) are an indigenous people of western Cuba at the time of European contact.
Archaeological and historical studies suggest the Guanahatabey are archaic hunter-gatherers with a distinct language and culture from their neighbors, the Taíno.
They might be a relic of an earlier culture that spread widely through the Caribbean before the ascendance of the agriculturalist Taíno.
The Spanish, after a prolonged guerrilla campaign, with Hatuey and successive chieftains captured and burnt alive have gained control of Cuba within three years.
A settlement is founded in 1514 in what is to become Havana.
Sugar mills have been constructed in Cuba and …
The Spanish have established at least two different settlements on the north coast of Cuba between 1514 and 1519, one of them in La Chorrera, today in the neighborhoods of Vedado and Miramar, next to the Almendares River.
The town that will become Havana finally originates in 1519 adjacent to what is at this time called Puerto de Carenas (literally, "Careening Bay").
The quality of this natural bay, which now hosts Havana's harbor, warrants this change of location.
The city will soon become an important naval and commercial center for the Spanish colonies in the Caribbean.
Pánfilo de Narváez will gave Havana—the sixth town founded by the Spanish on Cuba—its name: San Cristóbal de la Habana.
The name combines San Cristóbal, patron saint of Havana, and Habana, of obscure origin, possibly derived from Habaguanex, a Native American chief who controlled that area, as mentioned by Diego Velásquez in his report to the king of Spain.
Shortly after the founding of Cuba's first cities, the island serves as little more than a base for the Conquista of other lands.
Cristobal de Olid, born in Zaragoza, had grown up in the household of the governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar.
In 1518 Velázquez had sent Olid to relieve Juan de Grijalva, but en route a hurricane had caused the loss of Olid's anchors, and he returned to Cuba.
On January 10, 1519, Olid had sailed with Hernán Cortés' fleet, as his quartermaster, and had taken an active part in the conquest of Mexico.
He had fought at the Battle of Otumba on July 14, 1520, and has also taken part in the campaign against the Purépechas.
During the Siege of Tenochtitlan, Cristobal had been one of Cortes' key captains, playing a critical role in the capture of Xochimilco.
Cristobal had ben the Texcoco camp commander during the trial of Antonio de Villafana, for his plot to assassinate Cortes.
Commanding one of four forces under Cortes, Cristobal has acted as quartermaster.
He had helped save Cortes at one point, when he was seized by the Mexicans in one of the causeway battles.
Cortes had sent Olid to Michoacan, after he had married a Portuguese lady.
In 1522, Olid had led Spanish soldiers with Tlaxcalan allies in the conquests of Jalisco and Colima in West Mexico.
Cortés makes Olid the leader of an expedition to conquer Honduras in 1523, but while resupplying in Havana, Olid (at a suggestion by Governor Velázquez of Cuba) declares his independence from Spain and sets out to conquer Honduras for himself.
The Narváez expedition, after battling more storms, rounds the western tip of Cuba and makes its way toward Havana.
Although they are close enough to see the masts of ships in port, the wind blows the fleet into the Gulf of Mexico without their reaching Havana.
Narváez decides to press on with the journey and colonization plans.
They spend the next month trying to reach the Mexican coast but cannot overcome the Gulf Stream's powerful current.
Hernando de Soto, fascinated by the stories of Cabeza de Vaca, who had survived in North America after becoming a castaway and just returned to Spain, has selected six hundred and twenty eager Spanish and Portuguese volunteers, including some of African descent, for the governing of Cuba and conquest of North America.
Averaging twenty-four years of age, the men embark from Havana on seven of the King's ships and two caravels of de Soto's.
With tons of heavy armor and equipment, they also carried more than five hundred head of livestock, including two hundred and thirty-seven horses and two hundred pigs, for their planned four-year continental expedition.
He then writes out a new will before embarking on his travels.
On May 10, 1539, de Soto writes in his will: "That a chapel be erected within the Church of San Miguel in Jerez de los Cabelleros, Spain, where De Soto grew up, at a cost of 2,000 ducats, with an altarpiece featuring the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Conception, that his tomb be covered in a fine black broadcloth topped by a red cross of the Order of the Knights of Santiago, and on special occasions a pall of black velvet with the De Soto coat of arms be placed on the altar; that a chaplain be hired at the salary of 12,000 maravedis to perform five masses every week for the souls of De Soto, his parents and wife; that thirty masses be said for him the day his body was interred, and twenty for our Lady of the Conception, ten for the Holy Ghost, sixty for souls in purgatory and masses for many others as well; that 150,000 maravedis be given annually to his wife Isabel for her needs and an equal amount used yearly to marry off three orphan damsels...the poorest that can be found," who would then assist his wife and also serve to burnish the memory of De Soto as a man of charity and substance.
Havana is formally established in 1607 as the capital of Cuba, and the island is divided into two provinces with capitals at Santiago and Havana.
The governor-captain general at Havana rules in military matters over the entire island, but the governor at Santiago was able to exercise considerable political independence.
Although the governor-captain is nominally subject to the viceroy of New Spain, the viceroy exerts little control over the affairs of the island.
Of more direct influence, and a powerful check on the governor, is the audiencia of Santo Domingo.
This tribunal hears criminal and civil cases appealed over the decisions of the governor, but it soon, as in Spain, becomes more than a court of law; it is also an advisory council to the governor and always exercises its right to supervise and investigate his administration.
At the local level, the most important institution is the cabildo, a town council, usually composed of the most prominent citizens.
The alcaldes (judges) act as judges of first instance, and, in the absence of the governor or his lieu- tenant, preside at meetings of the cabildo.
They also visit the territories under their jurisdiction and dispense justice in rural areas.
As royal government becomes better organized and more entrenched in Cuba, the powers and prerogatives of the cabildo are progressively curtailed.
A complex and at times cumbersome political and defense system develops to ensure the uninterrupted flow of this wealth.
Cuba is relegated to a mere stopping point for passing ships.
It remains valuable only because of its strategic location as the gateway to the New World, not because of its products.
Cuba's population diminishes continuously throughout this period.
The indigenous peoples continue to die out and there is little new influx of Spanish immigrants.
An economy of scarcity and a hot, sickness-ridden tropical climate offers little incentive for new immigration.
Those who do come to Cuba are mostly Spanish officials, soldiers, and members of the clergy; there are also many transient migrants on their way to Mexico or South America.