Jovellanos is a municipality and town in the
Matanzas Province
Matanzas () is one of the provinces of Cuba. Major towns in the province include Cárdenas, Colón, Jovellanos and the capital of the same name, Matanzas. The resort town of Varadero is also located in this province.
Among Cuban provinces, ...
of
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 ...
.
Overview
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 Asunción, Isabel, Realengo and San José.
It was founded in 1842 as Corral de la Bemba
[ on the location of an old ranch called ''Bemba''. It took its current name in 1870, in honor of 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, Cana ...
writer Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (born Gaspar Melchor de Jove y Llanos, 5 January 1744 – 27 November 1811) was a Spanish neoclassical statesman, author, philosopher and a major figure of the Age of Enlightenment in Spain.
Life and influence of ...
. The same year it achieved the status of ''villa'' (town).
Jovellanos is also called "Bemba" by its inhabitants and locals. "Bemba" means "big lip" in Cuban Spanish
Cuban Spanish is the variety of the Spanish language as it is spoken in Cuba. As a Caribbean variety of Spanish, Cuban Spanish shares a number of features with nearby varieties, including coda weakening and neutralization, non-inversion o ...
; this term refers to the black population of the city. To outsiders, it may have negative racial overtones, but in the city this is not the case. Inside Jovellanos, the black and white population for the most part live harmoniously, side by side. Therefore, "Bemba" is an affectionate name for the town used by locals.
Jovellanos is an industrial
Industrial may refer to:
Industry
* Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry
* Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems
* Industrial city, a city dominate ...
town, with large and small factories, while sugar cane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks t ...
is cultivated in the surrounding areas.
Demographics
In 2004, the municipality of Jovellanos had a population of 58,685.
Notable people
* Manuel Navarro Luna (1894–1966), Cuban poet and journalist
See also
*Municipalities of Cuba
The Provinces of Cuba, provinces of Cuba are divided into 168 municipality, municipalities or ''municipios''. They were defined by Cuban Law Number 1304 of July 3, 1976Fifth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, Vo ...
*List of cities in Cuba
This is a list of cities in Cuba with at least 20,000 inhabitants, listed in descending order. Population data refers to city proper and not to the whole municipality, because they include large rural areas with several villages. All figu ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Populated places in Matanzas Province