Mataguá is a

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 ...

n village and ''consejo popular'' ("people's council", i.e. hamlet) of the municipality of

Manicaragua Manicaragua () is a municipality and mountain town in the Villa Clara Province of Cuba. It is located in the Escambray Mountains at the southern part of Villa Clara, bordering the provinces of Cienfuegos Province, Cienfuegos to the west and Sanct ...

, in

Villa Clara Province Villa Clara is one of the provinces of Cuba. It is located in the central region of the island bordering on the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Matanzas Province to the west, Sancti Spiritus Province to the east, and Cienfuegos Province to the Sou ...

. With a population of ca. 10,000, it is the most populated village in the municipality after Manicaragua.

History

Founded in 1868 as a farm estate owned by a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

man named Jacinto Rivero, it was sold some years later to Susano Rodríguez, who changed its aboriginal name, Mataguá, to ''Palma Sola''. In 1904, the property was transferred to the brothers Pablo and Belisario Millar Vila. The new owners restored the estate's original name, Mataguá. The village was connected to the mains in 1927, and had a

train station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing suc ...

on a no longer active line. During the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

, Mataguá was taken by

the revolutionaries The Revolutionaries (sometimes known as "Revolutionaires") was a Jamaican reggae band. Career Set up in 1975 as the house band of the Channel One Studios owned by Joseph Hoo Kim, The Revolutionaries with Sly Dunbar on drums and Bertram "Ranchi ...

on 22 December 1958, one week before the

Battle of Santa Clara The Battle of Santa Clara was a series of events in late December 1958 that led to the capture of the Cuban city of Santa Clara by rebel forces under the command of Che Guevara at the end of the Cuban Revolution. A decisive victory for the re ...

, by a group led by the commander Raúl Nieves.

Geography

Located 11 km in north of

and 27 in south of the city of Santa Clara, Mataguá spans on a valley 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 ...

, next to the village of Jorobada (8 km far). It is crossed in the middle by the

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...

"474" (''Carretera de Manicaragua''), linking Santa Clara to Manicaragua and to the A1 motorway exit "Santa Clara South", 10 km in north of Mataguá. The highway, which continues as "152" and crosses the

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 d ...

nature reserve, ends in the town of

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

, 71 km in south. The village is also 31 km far from the resort of Hanabanilla, 26 from

Báez Báez is a Cuban village and ''consejo popular'' ("people's council", i.e. hamlet) of the municipality of Placetas, in Villa Clara Province. In 2011 it had a population of around 7,000. History The village was founded in 1804 with the name ''Hato ...

, 53 from

Placetas Placetas () is a city in the Villa Clara Province in the center of Cuba; before the change in the country's government in 1959 the province was called Las Villas. The town is also known as because of its wild Lauraceae, laurel trees. Placetas is ...

, and 66 from

Cienfuegos Cienfuegos (), capital of Cienfuegos Province, is a city on the southern coast of Cuba. It is located about from Havana and has a population of 178,368 in 2022. Since the late 1960s, Cienfuegos has become one of Cuba's main industrial centers, ...

Personalities

Ofelia Domínguez Navarro Ofelia Domínguez Navarro (Mataguá, December 9, 1894 – Havana, July 7, 1976) was a Cuban writer, teacher, lawyer, feminist and activist. She was a proponent of the rights of women and illegitimate children. As a journalist, Domínguez Navarro s ...

(1894-1976), writer, teacher, lawyer, feminist, and activist.

References

External links

Mataguá at geografiainfo.es
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matagua Populated places in Villa Clara Province Populated places established in 1868 1868 establishments in North America 1868 establishments in Cuba 1868 establishments in the Spanish Empire Wards of Cuba

History

Geography

Personalities

See also

References

External links