Trinidad () is a town in the province of

Sancti Spíritus Sancti Spíritus () is a municipality and capital city of the province of Sancti Spíritus in central Cuba and one of the oldest Cuban European settlements. Sancti Spíritus is the genitive case of Latin ''Sanctus Spiritus'' ("Holy Spirit"). ...

, 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 Caribb ...

. Together with the nearby

Valle de los Ingenios Valle de los Ingenios, also named Valley de los Ingenios or Valley of the Sugar Mills, is a series of three interconnected valleys about outside of Trinidad, Cuba. The three valleys, San Luis, Santa Rosa, and Meyer, were a centre for sugar pro ...

, it has been a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

World Heritage site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

since 1988, because of its historical importance as a center of the sugar trade in the 18th and 19th centuries. Trinidad is one of the best-preserved cities in the Caribbean from the time when the

sugar trade Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or doubl ...

was the main industry in the region.

History

Trinidad was founded on December 23, 1514 by

Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar Diego Velázquez de CuéllarPronounced: (1465 – c. June 12, 1524) was a Spanish conquistador and the first governor of Cuba. In 1511 he led the successful conquest and colonization of Cuba. As the first governor of the island, he establi ...

under the name Villa de la Santísima Trinidad.

Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (; ; 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of w ...

recruited men for his expedition from Juan de Grijalva's home in Trinidad, and

, at the start of his 1518 expedition. This included

Pedro de Alvarado Pedro de Alvarado (; c. 1485 – 4 July 1541) was a Spanish conquistador and governor of Guatemala.Lovell, Lutz and Swezey 1984, p. 461. He participated in the conquest of Cuba, in Juan de Grijalva's exploration of the coasts of the Yucat ...

and his five brothers. After ten days, Cortes sailed, the

alcayde Qaid ( ar , قائد ', "commander"; pl. '), also spelled kaid or caïd, is a word meaning "commander" or "leader." It was a title in the Norman kingdom of Sicily, applied to palatine officials and members of the ''curia'', usually to those w ...

Francisco Verdugo failing to prevent Cortes from leaving, despite orders from

Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptized June 6, 1599August 6, 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of th ...

.Diaz, B., 1963, The Conquest of New Spain, London: Penguin Books, The

Narvaez Expedition Narvaez is a surname of Spanish and also Basque origin, and may refer to: *Darcia Narvaez, American psychologist *Francisco de Narváez (born 1953), Colombian-born politician and businessman *Kiko (footballer, born 1972), born Francisco Miguel Na ...

landed at Trinidad in 1527 en route to Florida. Caught in a hurricane, the expedition lost two ships, twenty horses and sixty men to the violent storm. Francisco Iznaga, a Basque landowner in the southern portion of Cuba during the first 30 years of the colonization of Cuba, was elected Mayor of

Bayamo Bayamo is the capital city of the Granma Province of Cuba and one of the largest cities in the Oriente region. Overview The community of Bayamo lies on a plain by the Bayamo River. It is affected by the violent Bayamo wind. One of the mos ...

in 1540. Iznaga was the originator of a powerful lineage which finally settled in Trinidad where the ''Torre Iznaga'' (Iznaga Tower) is. His descendants fought for the independence of Cuba and for annexation to the U.S., from 1820 to 1900.

Geography

The town proper is divided into the ''

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish word that means " quarter" or " neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residential, commercial, industrial, etc.), social, a ...

s'' (quarters) of Primero, Segundo and Tercero. The whole municipality counts the ''consejos populares'' (wards) of Centro, Zona Monumento, Armando Mestre, La Purísima, Casilda, Federación Nacional de Trabajadores Azucareros (FNTA), Condado, Topes de Collante, San Pedro, Manacas - Iznaga, Algarrobo, Pitajones, and Caracusey.

Economy

Nowadays, Trinidad's main industry is

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

processing. The older parts of town are well preserved, as the Cuban tourism industry sees benefit from tour groups. In contrast, some parts of town outside the tourist areas are very run down and in disrepair, especially in the centre. Tourism from Western nations is major source of income in the city.

Tourism

The city is located on the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...

coast near the

Escambray Mountains The Escambray Mountains () are a mountain range in the central region of Cuba, in the provinces of Sancti Spíritus, Cienfuegos and Villa Clara. Overview The Escambray Mountains are located in the south-central region of the island, extending a ...

Culture

Town

;Plaza Mayor The Plaza Mayor of Trinidad is a plaza and an open-air museum of Spanish Colonial architecture. Only a few square blocks in size, the historic plaza area has

cobblestone Cobblestone is a natural building material based on cobble-sized stones, and is used for pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Setts, also called Belgian blocks, are often casually referred to as "cobbles", although a sett is distinct fr ...

streets, houses in pastel colors with wrought-iron grilles, and colonial-era edifices such as the ''Santísima Trinidad Cathedral'' and ''Convento de San Francisco''. The Municipal History Museum is in town also. ;Music There are several ''casas de musica'', including one next to the cathedral in Plaza Major. There are also discothèques, including one in the

ruins Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

of a church; another is in a large cave formerly used as a war time hospital.

Region

;Sugar mills The Valley of the Sugar Mills—''

'', also a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

, has around 70 historic

sugar cane mill A sugar cane mill is a factory that processes sugar cane to produce raw or white sugar. The term is also used to refer to the equipment that crushes the sticks of sugar cane to extract the juice. Processing There are a number of steps in pro ...

s. They represent the importance of sugar to the

Cuban economy The economy of Cuba is a mixed command economy dominated by state-run enterprises. Most of the labor force is employed by the state. In the 1990s, the ruling Communist Party of Cuba encouraged the formation of worker co-operatives and self-empl ...

since the 18th century. The valley has ''la Torre Iznaga'', a tower built by Alejo Iznaga BorrellJorge Iznaga
ALEJO MARIA IZNAGA BORRELL
Iznaga Genealogy (IZNAGA - 1420 - Present), Retrieved 5 December 2012. in 1816. ;Coasts and beaches from the city is

Topes de Collantes Topes de Collantes is a nature reserve park in the Escambray Mountains range in Cuba. It also refers to the third highest peak in the reserve, where a small settlement and tourist center is located, all sharing the same name. Geography Topes ...

, one of Cuba's premier

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide fund ...

centres. Another attraction is the Casilda Bay, which attracts both snorkelers and divers. A nearby islet has pristine beaches. Ancón Beach—''

Playa Ancón Casilda is a Cuban village and ''consejo popular'' ("people's council", i.e. hamlet)Casilda
on beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc s ...

and was one of the first new resorts to be developed in Cuba following the 1959 revolution. Along the Ancón Peninsula are three hotels: Hotel Costa Sur (South Coast Hotel), Hotel Ancón, and Brisas Trinidad del Mar.

Demographics

In 2004, the municipality of Trinidad had a population of 73,466. With a total area of , it has a population density of .

Photo gallery

File:Saint Francis of Assini in Trinidad Cuba.jpg, A view from Saint Francis of Assini, Trinidad, Cuba File:2008-06-07 Trinidad D Bruyere.JPG, Plaza Mayor and Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco File:Trinidad (Kuba) 03.jpg, Plaza Mayor File:TrinidadCuba.jpg, A typical colonial street in October 2000. File:Asamblea Municipal de Trinidad.jpg, Town hall File:Cuba Trinidad.jpg, Street

Notable people

* Manolo Urquiza *

Alexandre Arrechea Alexandre Arrechea (born 1970) is a Cuban visual artist. His work involves concepts of power and its network of hierarchies, surveillance, control, prohibitions, and subjection. For twelve years he was a member of the art collective Los Carpin ...

References

External links

{{Authority control Cities in Cuba Populated places in Sancti Spíritus Province Populated places established in 1514 1510s establishments in the Spanish West Indies 1510s in Cuba World Heritage Sites in Cuba 1514 establishments in the Spanish Empire