Güines is a municipality and town in the

Mayabeque Province Mayabeque Province is one of two new provinces created from the former La Habana Province, whose creation was approved by the Cuban National Assembly on August 1, 2010, the other being Artemisa Province. The new provinces came in to existence on J ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. It is located southeast of

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, next to the

Mayabeque River Mayabeque River (alternately ''Rio Mayabeque'') ( es, Río Mayabeque) is a river of western Cuba, considered the largest in the southwestern watershed of Cuba, with an extensive fluvial network that encompasses the municipalities of Güines, Sa ...

. It is the most populated town, but not the capital, of its province.

History

The city was founded in 1737 by the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish, what is now Güines was part of a region ruled by the Indian chief

Habaguanex Habaguanex was a Native American (Taíno people, Taíno) chief (cacique) who controlled the area of Havana, Cuba. See also

* List of famous Cubans * List of Tainos *Taínos Cuban people of Taíno descent People from Havana Taíno leaders Taí ...

. One of the earliest mentions of the word Güines is in 1598, when Don Diego de Rivera or Ribera was awarded a land grant for ''Los Güines Corral''. Güines can be considered one of the primary points of Cuba's transformation into a sugar-producing slave society in the wake of the

Haitian Revolution The Haitian Revolution (french: révolution haïtienne ; ht, revolisyon ayisyen) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolt ...

. Its demographics radically changed as a result. As the historian Ada Ferrer explains, "people classified as white had accounted for about three-quarters of the population in 1775" but "by the 1820s, they constituted less than 38 percent." In 1837, a railway was opened from Havana - the first in Cuba and Spain, and one of the earliest in the Americas.

Geography

The municipality is divided into the

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residenti ...

s of

Catalina Catalina may refer to: Arts and media * ''The Catalina'', a 2012 American reality television show * ''Catalina'' (novel), a 1948 novel by W. Somerset Maugham * Catalina (''My Name Is Earl''), character from the NBC sitcom ''My Name Is Earl'' ...

, Norte, Rural Primero, Rural Segundo, Rural Tercero, Rural Cuarto and Sur.

Demographics

In 2004, the municipality of Güines had a population of 68,951. With a total area of . It has a population density of .

Notable people

* Cristina Ayala (1856–1936), poet * Julio Moreno (1921–1987), baseball player * Roberto Torres (born 1940), musician *

Leinier Domínguez Leinier Domínguez Pérez (born September 23, 1983) is a Cuban and American chess grandmaster. A five-time Cuban champion, Domínguez was the world champion in blitz chess in 2008. He competed in the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2002 and 2 ...

(born 1983), chess player

References

External links

Guineros.comFacebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guines Cities in Cuba Populated places in Mayabeque Province 1737 establishments in the Spanish Empire