Morón is a city and a municipality in
Ciego de Ávila Province
Ciego de Ávila () is one of the provinces of Cuba, and was previously part of Camagüey Province. Its capital is Ciego de Ávila, which lies on the Carretera Central (central highway), and the second city is Morón, further north.
The provinc ...
in central
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 one of ten municipalities in the province, and is the second in importance and the oldest. Morón is the closest city to the tourist resorts on
Cayo Coco and
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 mun ...
.
Geography
The municipality is located north of the city of
Ciego de Ávila, bordering the
Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
municipality to the east,
Chambas
Chambas is a municipality and town in the Ciego de Ávila Province of Cuba.
Geography
It is located in the northern part of the province, bordering the municipalities of Morón and Florencia, as well as the province of Sancti Spíritus. To the ...
to the west, the
Bay of Buena Vista
The Bay of Buena Vista ( es, Bahía de 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 ...
and the
Jardines del Rey
Jardines del Rey ( en, Gardens of the King) is an archipelago off the northern coast of Cuba, in the northern parts of the provinces of Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey.
Overview
Jardines del Rey developed on the coral reef system that lines Cuba's ...
to the north and the
Ciro Redondo
Ciro Redondo is a municipality and town in the Ciego de Ávila Province of Cuba. It is located halfway between the cities of Ciego de Ávila and Morón and was named after .
Demographics
In 2004, the municipality of Ciro Redondo had a populatio ...
municipality to the south. The terrain is mostly plain, with small hills to the north, made up of salt domes. The north shore is covered by marshes.
Morón has the largest natural water mirror in Cuba,
Laguna de Leche
Laguna de Leche (Spanish for "Milk Lagoon", also called ''Laguna Grande de Morón'') is the largest natural fresh water lake in Cuba. It is located in the wetland of northern Ciego de Ávila Province, north of Morón, and has a total surface of . ...
, of .
Cayo Coco and
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 mun ...
, two of the
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
Jardines del Rey
Jardines del Rey ( en, Gardens of the King) is an archipelago off the northern coast of Cuba, in the northern parts of the provinces of Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey.
Overview
Jardines del Rey developed on the coral reef system that lines Cuba's ...
archipelago is located north of Morón, across the Bay of Dogs (''Bahia Perros'').
Previously the municipality was much larger, being one of nine in the previous province of Camagüey. In 1943, it was 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 Coronel Hernández, Chambas, Cupeyes, Este, Guadalupe, Mabuya, Marroquí, Oeste, Punta Alegre, Ranchuelo, Santa Gertrudis, Simón Reyes o Sandoval and Tamarindo.
History
Early history
The first residents of Morón were Creoles from
Sancti Spíritus
Sancti Spíritus () is a municipality and capital city of the province of Sancti Spíritus Province, Sancti Spíritus in central Cuba and one of the oldest Cuban European settlements. Sancti Spíritus is the genitive case of Latin language, Lat ...
, although among them were also said to be a group of Spanish sailors who, having navigated all around Cuba, had disembarked nearby and had decided to settle here. They were from Andalusia, in Old Castile, Extremadura, Galicia and the Canary Islands, among other places.
In the first half of the 20th century, the archipelago and the nearby keys had attained little development. The town of Morón, which started as a community in 1750, survived on a basis of a limited, non-mechanized agricultural, and mostly sugar, production. The settlement pattern that prevailed in the coastal areas and keys was that of squatters, people living in very poor, tach-roof, earth floor dwellings, usually not more than five houses together.
Making
charcoal
Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...
and fishing, in many cases both activities at the same time, were apparently the main economic activities on the keys and their surroundings. Fishing was mostly done by using dinghies moved by sticks, oars, or small sails, which did not allow them to venture out of the key shelf. This means were the ones used also to reach the mainland and to transport products out. In the settlements, livestock was mostly limited to a few animals. Still standing at some places are remains of the stone fences that were used to confine the animal.
Living conditions here were in general very difficult, due mostly to the remoteness of the area and the lack of proper means of transportation. Transportation consisted usually of a small sailboat that traveled back and forth once a month, and whose journey took many hours, Reaching the mainland from Cayo Coco, for example, took around 10 hours, in addition to the risks that had to be run at sea.
During Cuba's
1st War of Independence in 1869, the town of Morón became the northern end of the line of forts, the
Trocha from Júcaro to Morón built by the Spanish to contain Cuban rebels on the eastern end of the island. The Trocha also included a railroad line to move troops and supplies, the first government railroad line in Cuba.
Recent history
The town of Morón began to grow in 1915 when the Trocha rail line was bought by Colonel Jose M. Tarafa as he began to assemble the Ferrocarriles del Norte railway line. Morón was chosen as the line's headquarters. The railway's maintenance shops and a large central station became the central feature of the town. Morón became the junction of a network of several branchlines and sugar lines which stimulated the expansions of
sugar plantations and centralized
sugar mills which previously were located mainly in the south and central part of Cuba.
"Origins", ''50 Years of Railway Progress Consolidated Railroads of Cuba Headquartered''(1952) Camaguey
In the 1960s a road was built through the marshland to the coast, and in the 1990s this was extended on a man-made causeway to Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo, where a number of hotels were built. Many of the hotel workers live in Morón and commute to work in specially provided buses.
Economy
The main economic activities are agriculture and tourism.
Demographics
In 2004, the municipality of Morón had a population of 60,612. With a total area of , it has a population density of .
Transport
Morón railway station is an important junction point between the lines Santa Clara-Nuevitas
Nuevitas is a municipality and port town in the Camagüey Province of Cuba. The large bay was sighted by Christopher Columbus in 1492.
History
Founded in 1775, the city was moved to its present site in 1828. Before the 1977 national municipal refo ...
, and Júcaro
Venezuela () is a municipality and town in the Ciego de Ávila Province of Cuba. It is located immediately south of the provincial capital, Ciego de Ávila.
History
The territory in the colonial period of what is Venezuela was characterized by t ...
- Ciego de Ávila-Morón. The northern state highway, "Circuito Norte
The ''Circuito Norte'' (CN), meaning "Northern Circuit", is a west-east highway spanning the length of the island of Cuba, through the Atlantic Coast. With a length of 1,222 km, it is the second-longest Cuban highway, after the " Carretera ...
" (CN), passes through the city; and the main road from Ciego de Ávila to Cayo Coco also skirts it.
Jardines del Rey Airport
Jardines del Rey Airport ( es, Aeropuerto de Jardines del Rey) 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. ...
, located in Cayo Coco, serves the municipality. It replaces the former Cayo Coco Airport
Cayo Coco was an airport in Cayo Coco, Cuba that served as the main airport of the island until it was superseded by the Jardines del Rey Airport, which opened in 2002. The former runway of the airport was incorporated as the new route of a hig ...
, demolished in 2002.
Notable residents
*Pío Leyva
Pío Leiva (May 5, 1917 – March 22, 2006) was a Cuban singer and the author of the guaracha ''El Mentiroso'' ("The Liar"). Leyva was part of the Buena Vista Social Club, and composed some of Cuba’s best known standards.
Biography
Leyva was bor ...
(1917-2006), singer
See also
* List of cities in Cuba
*Municipalities of Cuba
The provinces of Cuba are divided into 168 municipalities or ''municipios''. They were defined by Cuban Law Number 1304 of July 3, 1976Fifth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, Vol. II, published by the United N ...
*Morón Municipal Museum
Morón Municipal Museum is a museum located in Morón, Cuba. It was established on 30 November 1981.
The museum holds collections on history, weaponry, archeology and ethnology.
See also
* List of museums in Cuba
References
Museums i ...
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moron, Cuba
Cities in Cuba
Populated places in Ciego de Ávila Province
1543 establishments in New Spain
1540s establishments in the Spanish West Indies
1540s in Cuba