LA HAVANA , Cuba

T the Cuban Capital is, without a doubt, the tourism destination of excellence of the largest of the West Indies. Within the city, its historic center (considered by UNESCO World Heritage in 1982) is an obliged reference destination for all visitors who come to this city. For centuries, this city has been considered the key to the Gulf (of México). The foundation of the city, in its final place next to the entrance channel of a well protected bay, dates far back to November of 1519. The settlement of San Cristóbal de La Havana prospered mainly due to its bay, which was a natural port of call for ships sailing to and from the New World.

La Villa de San Cristóbal de la Havana, became with the course of time the meeting place for the Spanish fleets in charge of transporting to the Metropolis all the wealth extracted from their domains in the so called New World.
It also became the center of trade and communications between the region and the Old Continent. Similar advantages, essentially derived from its strategic geographic position, also influenced directly the future development of this prosperous villa, which started to grow under the protection of a unique defensive system in the Hispanic America and surrounded by a wall whose construction (started from the second half of the XVII century and finished more than 100 years later) was considered ineffective and expensive from the very beginning.
Alejo Carpentier, one of Cuba's most famous authors, called it "the city of columns" and focused attention on its streets, which he considered a perennially rich show of life, humanity and contrasts that was bound to entertain any observer.

The Parade Square is located just a few steps away, around which we can see the important Castillo de la Real Fuerza (1577) -which exhibits today the most important artistic pottery collection in the island, holding on its tower La Giraldilla, an artistic wind vane that has become a symbol of the city- The General Captains' Palace (Museum of the City) and El Segundo Cabo.

The settlement of San Cristóbal de La Havana, which was founded in the southwestern part of the island in 1514, was moved to the northern coast of the port of Carenas in 1519.

Every November 16, the anniversary of its founding is observed with a picturesque traditional ceremony at the Templete, around an ancient silk-cotton tree in whose shade-according to the oral tradition-the first meeting of the town council and the first Mass were held.

Capital of Cuba and the country's administrative, political, cultural and scientific center, it is also the capital of two provinces: City of Havana and Havana. Though only around 280 square miles (727 square kilometers) in size-0.65 percent of the archipelago's total area-it is where 20 percent of the Cuban people live. Starting in 1634, because of its strategic location, San Cristóbal de La Havana was considered the key to the New World-as attested to by royal letters patent-and the main defense of the West Indies.