Guantánamo, land between rivers

Official name: Guantánamo
Guantánamo province population: 511, 224
Guantánamo city population: 208, 145

The indigenous name "Guantánamo" stands for "land among rivers". This region stands out because of its impressive mountainous rural zones as well as its important basins like those of the "Guantánamo- Guaso" and "Toa" rivers. The latter has the greatest flow among all of the country rivers. There is also the mountain range "Cuchillas del Toa" covering 125.000 hectares containing the main biosphere reserve. These are the most important wooded zones of the country and the Caribbean as a whole.

It was in these lands that the Admiral Christopher Columbus disembarked in 1492. Then in 1511 the first colonial settlement Baracoa was founded by Diego Velásquez and its territory became an important bastion during Wars of Independence.

Many French colonists from Haiti came to this part of the island, who in a short time grew cocoa orchards, fruit areas and large coffee trees plantations in mountainous areas. We have learned that their knowledge of agriculture as well as their habits exists to this day.

There are still some traces of native settlements in "La Caridad de los Indios" zone, in the municipality of Manuel Tames, and they are considered an aspect of great ethnic cultural interest.

This is the most mountainous area in the archipelago and its soils are arid in the southern parts, but not in the north where it rains more than the national average.

Guantánamo is largely an agricultural province where the production of cocoa, coconut, salt and coffee prevails.

American capital started flowing into the economy of Guantánamo around the end of the 20th century; mainly in the sugar industry and in the services and employments generated by the military Naval Base in Guantánamo.

The triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 set the beginning of a profound social and economical transformation in the territory. This was illustrated by the disappearance of the landocracy with the First Agrarian Reform Law, the development of public health and education as well as the diversification of economic activities.

Guantanamo City Census