Baracoa near the eastern tip of Cuba

17 October 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  13 minutes

Sunset at the Bay of Honey © Paul Postiaux/cc-by-sa-3.0

Sunset at the Bay of Honey © Paul Postiaux/cc-by-sa-3.0

Baracoa is a municipality and city in Guantánamo Province near the eastern tip of Cuba. It was discovered by Admiral Christopher Colombus on November 27, 1492, and then founded by the first governor of Cuba, the Spanish conquistador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar in August 15, 1511. It is the oldest Spanish settlement in Cuba and was its first capital (the basis for its nickname Ciudad Primada, “First City”). Baracoa is located on the spot where Christopher Columbus landed in Cuba on his first voyage. It is thought that the name stems from the indigenous Arauaca language word meaning “the presence of the sea”. Baracoa lies on the Bay of Honey (Bahía de Miel) and is surrounded by a wide mountain range (including the Sierra del Purial), which causes it to be quite isolated, apart from a single mountain road built in the 1960s.   read more…

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