Matanzas () is one of the
provinces of Cuba. Major towns in the province include
Cárdenas,
Colón,
Jovellanos
Jovellanos is a municipality and town in the Matanzas Province of Cuba.
Overview
The municipality is divided into the barrios of Asunción, Isabel, Realengo and San José.
It was founded in 1842 as Corral de la Bemba on the location of an old ...
and the capital of the same name,
Matanzas. The resort town of
Varadero is also located in this province.
Among Cuban provinces, Matanzas is one of the most
industrialize
Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econom ...
d, with
petroleum
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...
wells, refineries,
supertanker
An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined ...
facilities, and 21
sugar mills to process the
harvests of the fields of
sugarcane in the province.
Geography
The second largest in
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 ...
, Matanzas province is largely flat, with its highest point (Pan de Matanzas) at only 380m above
sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...
.
The north-western coast is largely rocky, with a few beaches, while the north-eastern coast has numerous small
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 Great ...
s of its coast (part of
Sabana-Camaguey Archipelago), and
scrubland and
mangrove
A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...
s near the shoreline. Cuba's northernmost point is located in on
Hicacos Peninsula
The Hicacos Peninsula ( es, Península de Hicacos) is a peninsula on Cuba's northern shore, in the province of Matanzas. The resort town of Varadero is located on the peninsula. The name comes from a species of cactus.
Geography
It is located betw ...
.
The southern coast has one of Cuba's most distinctive features: an enormous
marsh
A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found a ...
,
Ciénaga de Zapata that covers both the southern part of the province and the
Zapata Peninsula
Zapata Peninsula ( es, Península de Zapata) is a large peninsula in Matanzas Province, southern Cuba, at . Ciénaga de Zapata National Park is located on the peninsula.
It is located south of Ensenada de la Broa, east of the gulf of Batabano an ...
. East of the peninsula lies the
Bay of Pigs, the site of the failed US backed
invasion
An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity aggressively enter territory (country subdivision), territory owned by another such entity, gen ...
.
Municipalities
From 1976 to 2010 Matanzas was sub-divided into 14 municipalities.
Starting from 2011, the municipality of
Varadero was abolished and merged to
Cárdenas. Thus Matanzas now has 13 municipalities.
''Source: Population from 2004 Census.''
''Area from 1976 municipal re-distribution.''
Demographics
In 2004, the province of Matanzas had a population of 675,980.
[ With a total area of ,]
See also
*
References
Further reading
*
External links
Provincial portal
{{Authority control
Provinces of Cuba