Havana

Havana, or HAVANNAH (properly 'San Cristobal de la Habana'), the capital of the island of Cuba, and the principal centre of commerce in the West Indies, is situated on the north side of the island. Access is obtained to its magnificent well-sheltered harbour by a channel 350 yards wide, the entrance to which is defended by several forts. The streets of the older part of the town, which until 1863 was enclosed within walls, are narrow and dirty, and the harbour has been for generations polluted by the town sewage. With this older part the more modern portion lying to the west is connected by broad tree-shaded avenues and gardens. The houses, which are low, are solidly built of stone, have flat roofs, verandas, and barred windows reaching down to the ground, and are gay with paint and white marble decorations. The most noteworthy of the public buildings are the cathedral, built in the old Spanish style in 1724, whence the bones of Columbus (q.v.) were removed to Spain after the loss of the island in the war with the United States in 1898, and the hospital 'Beneficencia,' with orphan and lunatic asylums and a poorhouse. The public institutions include an arsenal, a botanical garden, a university, a technical school, and theatres. It is the seat of the governor of the island and of a bishop. Yellow fever is prevalent during the summer months. The population in 1897 was over 200,000. The staple industry of the place is cigar-making; sugar and tobacco are the staple products; molasses, rum, wax, and honey are also exported. Before the ruinous war of 1895–98 the exports had an annual value of £12,000,000, the imports of £10,000,000. The chief imports are rice, lard, flour, jerked beef, cod-fish, and coal. The United States take 90 per cent. of the exports, bring 20 per cent. of the imports, and provide vessels for one-third of the carrying trade. Another third of the vessels that enter Havana fly the Spanish flag, and the remaining third is divided between Holland, Great Britain, and France. Havana was originally founded on the south coast, near the modern Baracôa, by Diego Velasquez in 1515, but four years later was transferred to its present site. In the course of its unfortunate history it was burned to the ground by buccaneers in 1528, plundered by another band in 1555, and captured by a third in 1563, and again by the English in 1762. In the 17th century, however, it was made the chief emporium of Spanish trade in the West Indies and the point of rendezvous for the Spanish gold fleets.