Jardines del Rey () is an

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

off the northern coast of

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, in the northern parts of the provinces of

Ciego de Ávila Ciego de Ávila () is a city in the central part of Cuba and the capital of Ciego de Ávila Province. The capital city has a population of about 156,322 and the province 430,507. Geography Ciego de Ávila lies on the Carretera Central highway a ...

and

Camagüey Camagüey () is a city and municipality in central Cuba and is the nation's third-largest city with more than 333,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Camagüey Province. It was founded as Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe in 1514, by Sp ...

Overview

Jardines del Rey developed on the

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

system that lines Cuba's shore, between the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

, the

Bay of Buena Vista The Bay of Buena Vista () is a bay on Cuba's northern Atlantic shore. It is located in the northern part of the provinces of Sancti Spíritus, Villa Clara and Ciego de Ávila, between mainland Cuba and the archipelago that lines its northern coa ...

and Bay of Jiguey. The reef, part of the

Sabana-Camagüey Archipelago Sabana-Camagüey () is an archipelago that lies on Cuba's north-central Atlantic coast. It is located off the northern coast of the provinces of Matanzas, Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey, and is bounded to the north by ...

, extends for on a north-west to south-east direction.

Jardines del Rey Airport Jardines del Rey Airport (, ) is an airport situated on the island of Cayo Coco, part of the Cuban province of Ciego de Ávila. It takes its name from the Jardines del Rey archipelago, which includes Cayo Coco. Inaugurated in December 2002, the a ...

is located on Cayo Coco. Additional access to Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo is by a causeway that connects the islands to mainland Cuba.

Cays

Of the many

cay A cay ( ), also spelled caye or key, is a small, low-elevation, sandy island on the surface of a coral reef. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans, including in the Caribbean and on the Grea ...

s and islands that compose Jardines del Rey, the most important are (from north to south): *

Cayo Guillermo Cayo Guillermo is a cay of the Jardines del Rey archipelago. It is located on the northern coast of Cuba, between the Bay of Dogs (''Bahia de Perros'') and the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Ciego de Ávila Province, and lies in the Morón m ...

Cayo Coco Cayo Coco is an island on the north coast of central Cuba, known for its all-inclusive resorts. It lies within the Ciego de Ávila Province and is part of a chain of islands called Jardines del Rey ('King's Gardens'). The cay is administered b ...

Cayo Romano Cayo Romano is an island on the northern coast of Cuba, in the province of Camagüey. It is the largest cay of the Jardines del Rey archipelago with . Situation Administratively, the south part is on Esmeralda ( Camagüey Province)

Cayo Guajaba Cayo Guajaba is a cay on the northern coast of Cuba, in the province of Camagüey. Geography It is part of Jardines del Rey archipelago, and is located west of Cayo Sabinal, east of Cayo Romano, north of The Bay of la Gloria (''Bahia de la Glor ...

* Cayo Sabinal Other islands include

Cayo Santa María Cayo Santa María (Saint Mary Cay or "Key") is an island off Cuba's north central coast in the Jardines del Rey archipelago. The island is linked by road and bridge to the town of Caibarién on the main island. Cayo Santa María is well known for ...

, Cayo Paredón Grande, Cayo Cruz and

Cayo Confites Cayo or cayó may refer to: * ''Cayo'' (film), a 2005 Puerto Rican film starring Roselyn Sánchez * Cayo District, a district in the west of the nation of Belize ** San Ignacio, Belize, a town in the Cayo District (originally named "El Cayo") * C ...

History

The islands were named in 1513 by Spanish

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

s to honor their king,

Ferdinand II of Aragon Ferdinand II, also known as Ferdinand I, Ferdinand III, and Ferdinand V (10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), called Ferdinand the Catholic, was King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As the husband and co-ruler of Queen Isabella I of ...

. In the 16th century, the islands were refuges for corsairs and pirates.

Jacques de Sores Jacques de Sores was a French pirate and corsair who attacked and burnt Havana, Cuba in 1555. Other than his attack on Havana, little is known of de Sores. He was nicknamed "The Exterminating Angel" ("L'Ange Exterminateur"). He was the leader o ...

is said to have used one as a base of operations for his attacks of

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

in 1554. In the 19th century, they were used as a point of entry for illegal slave ships after the

slave trade Slave trade may refer to: * History of slavery - overview of slavery It may also refer to slave trades in specific countries, areas: * Al-Andalus slave trade * Atlantic slave trade ** Brazilian slave trade ** Bristol slave trade ** Danish sl ...

was officially abolished.

El Bagá Nature Park

Bagá Nature Park () was established on 29 December 2002 on land reclaimed from the former Cayo Coco Airport. Named for the Baga tree (''árbol del pan''), it extends over 69 hectares of forests and lagoons on Cayo Coco and onto neighboring cays. The park has an interpretative centre, a walkway through a Bagá forest, a

Taíno The Taíno are the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, Indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles and surrounding islands. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now The ...

village and fauna exhibits (

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large, semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term "crocodile" is sometimes used more loosely to include ...

iguana ''Iguana'' (, ) is a genus of herbivorous lizards that are native to tropical areas of Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. The genus was first described by Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti, J.N. Laurenti in ...

s, flamingos and

Cuban hutia Desmarest's hutia or the Cuban hutia (''Capromys pilorides'') is a stout, furry, rat-like mammal found only on Cuba and nearby islands. Growing to about , it normally lives in pairs and feeds on leaves, fruit, bark and sometimes small animals. It ...

s). The archipelago is a natural habitat for

Caribbean flamingo The American flamingo (''Phoenicopterus ruber'') is a large species of flamingo native to the West Indies, northern South America (including the Galápagos Islands) and the Yucatán Peninsula. It is closely related to the greater flamingo and Chi ...

s (''Phoenicopterus ruber'').

References

External links