Cienfuegos

Cienfuegos, originally Fernandina de Jagua, city in south central Cuba, capital of Cienfuegos Province, on Bahía de Cienfuegos (an arm of the Caribbean Sea). The region surrounding the city is one of the most picturesque and fertile in Cuba. Sugarcane is the chief crop; coffee and tobacco are also grown, and cattle are raised. Cienfuegos is one of the chief seaports of Cuba and is a center of the sugar trade. Near the entrance to Bahía de Cienfuegos, first visited by Christopher Columbus, is the Castillo de Jagua, a fortress erected (1740-1745) for protection against Caribbean pirates. The city was founded in 1819 by French settlers from Louisiana and was badly damaged by a tropical storm in 1825. During the Spanish-American War (1898) it was blockaded by two United States warships under Admiral Winfield Scott Schley. Population (2000 estimate) 137,513.