Pico Turquino (), sometimes erroneously spelled as Pico Torquino, is the
highest point 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 ...
. It is located in the southeast part of the island, in the
Sierra Maestra
The Sierra Maestra is a mountain range that runs westward across the south of the old Oriente Province in southeast Cuba, rising abruptly from the coast. The range falls mainly within the Santiago de Cuba and in Granma Provinces. Some view it a ...
mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
in the municipality of
Guamá
Guamá (died c. 1532) was a Taíno rebel chief who led a rebellion against Spanish rule in Cuba in the 1530s. Legend states that Guamá was first warned about the Spanish conquistador by Hatuey, a Taíno cacique from the island of Hispaniola. ...
,
Santiago de Cuba Province
Santiago de Cuba Province is the second most populated province in the island of Cuba. The largest city Santiago de Cuba is the main administrative center. Other large cities include Palma Soriano, Contramaestre, San Luis and Songo-la Maya.
Hi ...
.
Etymology
The name is believed to be a
corruption of the phrase for "
turquoise
Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrated phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula . It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone and ornamental stone for thousands of year ...
peak" ( es, ), so-named for its apparent blue hues seen by the heights in certain views.
History
The peak was first mentioned (under the name "Tarquino") on a map drawn by
Geert de Kremer in the late 16th century. The first documented ascent of the peak was in 1860 by Fred W. Ramsden, a twenty-year-old Englishman then living in Santiago de Cuba. The climb was not widely publicized at the time. In 1915 the Swedish botanist
Erik Leonard Ekman
Erik Leonard Ekman was a Swedish botanist and explorer. Biography
Erik Leonard Ekman was born into a low-income household with five children on October 14, 1883. Due to economic difficulties, the family moved to the central-Swedish town of Jön ...
climbed the mountain and speculated that he was probably the first person to have done so. The following year, in response, Ramsden's son published a letter his father had written to his own mother describing the original ascent.
A bust of
José Martí
José Julián Martí Pérez (; January 28, 1853 – May 19, 1895) was a Cuban nationalist, poet, philosopher, essayist, journalist, translator, professor, and publisher, who is considered a Cuban national hero because of his role in the libera ...
sculpted by
Jilma Madera was placed on the peak in 1953 to celebrate his centenary.
Fidel Castro and his soldiers summitted the peak in 1957 during their
insurgency
An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irr ...
. According to
, Castro's second-in-command, the mountain had an "almost mystical significance" to the revolutionaries, chiefly due to it being the highest point in Cuba.
[Ernesto Che Guevara. "Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War".]
Conservation
Turquino National Park
Turquino National Park, also known as Sierra Maestra National Park, is a national park in Santiago de Cuba Province, southeastern Cuba.
Geography
The park is located in the Sierra Maestra mountain range. It is west of Guamá, in Guamá Munici ...
is established on a area around the peak.
See also
*
Uvero
Uvero, also known as El Uvero, is a Cuban village and ''consejo popular'' ("people's council", i.e. hamlet) of the municipality of Guamá, in Santiago de Cuba Province. In 2011 it had a population of 2,581.
History
The toponym derives from the Sp ...
References
External links
Turquino
Geography of Santiago de Cuba Province
Highest points of countries
{{Cuba-geo-stub