San Juan de Dios de Cárdenas, or simply Cárdenas (), is a municipality and city 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, ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, about by air by roadeast of

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.15th most-populated Cuban city and the second most populated one not being a provincial seat, after Manzanillo. The Cuban Flag was first raised over Cuba in this historic city of straight and narrow streets (the "Charleston of the Caribbean"), horse-drawn carriages, industry and "cangrejos" (

blue crab Blue crab may refer to: * Blue Crab 11, an American sailboat design * ''Callinectes sapidus ''Callinectes sapidus'' (from the Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek ,"beautiful" + , "swimmer", and Latin , "savory"), the blue crab, Atlantic blue ...

s). It was in Cárdenas where José Arechabala S.A. launched and started production of

Havana Club Havana Club (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Club Habana'') is a brand of rum created in Cuba in 1934. Originally produced in Cárdenas, Cuba, by family-owned José Arechabala S.A., the brand was nationalization, nationalized after the Cuban Revolu ...

in 1934. Cárdenas is the northernmost municipality in Cuba.

Geography

Overview

Cárdenas is a maritime port town on the level and somewhat marshy shore of a spacious bay of the northern coast of the island ( Bay of Cárdenas), sheltered by a long promontory ( Hicacos peninsula, including the

Varadero Varadero (), also referred to as ''Playa Azul'' (Blue Beach), is a resort town in the province of Matanzas, Cuba, and one of the largest resort areas in the Caribbean. Varadero Beach is rated one of the world's best beaches in TripAdvisor's Travel ...

beach resort). The city lies between the sea and hills. A large quantity of asphalt has been taken from the bed of the harbour. A flow of fresh water from the bed of the harbour is another peculiar feature; it presumably comes from the outlets of subterranean rivers. There are mostly narrow streets, various squares (including the Plaza de Colón, with a bronze statue of Columbus given to the city by Queen Isabella II. and erected in 1862) and substantial and elegant business and public buildings, including the ornate parish church designed by Architect Rafael Carrerá, who also built the famous Palacio Aldama in Central Havana.

Subdivision

Before the 1976 reform, Cárdenas 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 delimited by functional (e.g. residential, comm ...

s of Cantel, Fundición, Guásimas, Marina, Méndez Capote, Pueblo Nuevo and Versalles. The world-famous beach and resort town of

is part of the municipality. Other villages included in the territory are Boca de Camarioca, Buena Vista, Camarioca, Cantel, Central José Smith Comas, Dos de Diciembre, El Castillito, Guásimas, Humberto Álvarez, Julián Alemán, La Emilia, Los Morúa, Méndez Capote, Merceditas, Precioso, San Joaquín de Mora,

Santa Marta Santa Marta (), officially the Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta (), is a port List of cities in Colombia, city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena Department and the fou ...

and Siguapa.

History

Cárdenas was founded on 8 March 1828, with the help of several old aristocratic Spanish-Cuban families from the nearby provincial capital of

Matanzas Matanzas (Cuban ; ) is the capital of the Cuban province of Matanzas Province, Matanzas. Known for its poets, culture, and Afro-American religions, Afro-Cuban folklore, it is located on the northern shore of the island of Cuba, on the Bay of Mat ...

and in 1861 already had 12,910 inhabitants. The completion of the

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

in 1841 led to further development. Cárdenas was one of the first cities in Cuba to have electric service, public transportation (trams), telegraph and telephone. The city was not laid out in the traditional central-plaza Spanish custom, but rather, inspired on a North American perpendicular grid pattern, modeled on the city of

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

, with the help of American (Confederate) landscape engineers. Another notable link between the city and South Carolina was Cárdenas native, Ambrosio José Gonzales, who would spend several years residing there and married Harriet Elliot, daughter of prominent South Carolina planter and state Sen. William Elliot, in 1856, living 24 miles from Charleston. According to historian Antonio Rafael de la Cova, Gonzales would join the Confederate forces and was nominated for the rank of general six times but was unsuccessful due to a personal feud with

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...

. In 1850, the

Venezuelan Venezuelans (Spanish language, Spanish: ''venezolanos'') are the Citizenship, citizens identified with the country of Venezuela. This connection may be through citizenship, descent or cultural. For most Venezuelans, many or all of these connect ...

General Narciso López, along with some Americans and Cuban exiles (including

Gonzales Gonzales may refer to: Places * Gonzales, California, U.S. * Gonzales, Louisiana, U.S. * Gonzales, Texas, U.S. * Gonzales County, Texas Other uses * Battle of Gonzales, 1835 * Gonzales (horse) (1977 – after 1996), an American-bred Thoroughbr ...

), landed here on a filibustering expedition, and held the town for a few hours, abandoning it when he saw that the people would not rise to support him in his efforts to secure Cuban independence. López did, however, raise for first time the modern

Flag of Cuba The national flag of Cuba () consists of five alternating stripes (three navy blue and two white) and a cherry red Chevron (insignia), chevron at the hoist, within which is a white five-pointed star. It was designed in 1849 and officially adopted ...

, designed by him along with a local Cuban Miguel Teurbe Tolon. In May 1898, during the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

, three notable battles were fought at Cardenas. However, credit for the Spanish victories goes mainly to the local Cuban forces, led, among others, by General Carlos M. de Rojas. In the late 19th century and early 20th Century, Cárdenas was one of the main sugar-exporting towns of Cuba, and had received a great influx of European immigrants, including from

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

- many Cárdenas families were known for having foreign-sounding surnames, such as Jones, Larrieu, Smith, Villa-Giorgi and Sterling, among others. By 1907 the population was 24,280. The shallowness of the harbour required loads to be lightened and repeated loading of cargoes. After the 1933 Cuba–Brownsville hurricane hit the city badly, José Arechabala S.A. financed the

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

of the harbour and the reform of the whole coastline, including the construction of the ''Monumento a la Bandera'' (monument to the national Cuban flag). This justified the Arechabala appointment as ''Benefactora eminente'' of Cárdenas. The surrounding region is farmed for its fertility.

Demographics

In 2022, the municipality of Cárdenas had a population of 158,322. With a total area of , it has a population density of . Cardenas experiences a population growth of 0.95% a year.

Notable people

* José Arechabala (1847–1923), industrialist * Emilio Bobadilla (1862–1921), writer * Enriqueta García Martín, socialite, landowner, and sugar baron *Belisario López (1913–1969), flautist and bandleader *Arturo Núñez (1913–1981), pianist and bandleader * Paquito Hechavarría (1939–2012), pianist *

Ernest Sosa Ernest Sosa (; ; born June 17, 1940) is an American philosopher primarily interested in epistemology. Since 2007 he has been Board of Governors Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, but he spent most of his career at Brown University. ...

(born 1940), philosopher * Juan Pablo Villar Alemán (born 1949), visual artist *

Danell Leyva Danell Johan Leyva Gonzalez (born October 30, 1991) is a Cuban American former gymnast who competed for the United States. He was a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team and is the 2012 Olympic individual all-arou ...

Cuban-American Gymnast, 2012 Olympic All-Around bronze medalist. * José Méndez (1887-1928), Hall of Fame Negro league baseball pitcher and manager * Elián González (born 1993), a child at the centre of a political controversy between Cuba and the United States in 2000. * José Antonio Echeverría Leader of the Student Revolutionary Directorate which was a major group in the Cuban Revolution.

Gallery

File:Cathedral in Cardenas.jpg, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of Cárdenas File:Cárdenas Main street, Cuba (2013).jpg, Cárdenas Main street File:Streetcorner in Cárdenas, Cuba (2013).jpg, Streetcorner in Cárdenas File:Street in Cárdenas, Cuba (2013).jpg, Street in Cárdenas File:1957 La Escuela de Escolapias en Cárdenas-1.jpg, The Madres Escolapias School of Cárdenas, in 1957.

References

External links

Cardenas, Cuba Home PageCàrdenas, Cuba Yanet Home Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cardenas Cities in Cuba Populated places in Matanzas Province Port cities and towns in Cuba Populated places established in 1828 1820s establishments in the Spanish West Indies 1820s in Cuba 1828 establishments in the Spanish Empire