Havana

I

Introduction

Havana (La Habana, Spanish), national capital and chief port of Cuba. The city is the undisputed political, cultural, and economic center of the Cuban nation, and nearly 20 percent of the nation’s population resides there. Havana is situated on the northwestern coast of Cuba, along the Straits of Florida and adjacent to major international shipping lanes. It lies about 145 km (about 90 mi) south of Key West, Florida. The city's location at the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico has been critical in its development as the largest and most important urban center in the West Indies.

The city surrounds the Bay of Havana in all directions. Although the bay is small—measuring no more than 5 km (3 mi) at its widest and deepest points—it is one of the safest harbors in the world. It is accessible by oceangoing vessels through a narrow (300-m/1000-ft) channel, the Canal del Puerto. This channel runs for more than 1 km (more than 0.6 mi) between the sea and the bay.

Havana's climate is decidedly tropical, but temperatures remain moderate as a result of the city's coastal location and the breezes carried by the northeasterly trade winds. The average annual temperature stands at about 25° C (75° F), with the average in the warmest month, August, about 28° C (82° F) and the average in the coolest month, January, about 22° C (72° F). Even during times of weather extremes, temperatures rarely ever fall below 10° C (50° F), nor exceed 35° C (95° F). Precipitation in Havana is moderate, with an average of 1200 mm (50 in) falling annually. The rainy season runs from May to October, with the greatest precipitation falling in June. Hurricanes do occasionally affect Havana, but its location on the northwest side of the island reduces the full impact of the storms, which characteristically come from the south or east and lose strength as they move over land.

II

Havana and Its Metropolitan Area

Havana is one of the oldest cities founded by Europeans in the western hemisphere; the Spanish established the city in 1519. Its history spans three principal periods, each of which is clearly reflected in the urban landscape: the Spanish colonial (1519 to 1898), the American neocolonial (1898 to 1959), and the revolutionary (1960 to present). The colonial period, lasting nearly 400 years, gave Havana much of the Spanish colonial architecture that distinguishes it and led the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to designate the colonial core of the city, Old Havana, as a World Heritage Site in 1982.

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The city's first settlement was constructed on the western edge of Havana Bay. The channel into Havana Bay is flanked by four imposing colonial forts constructed of coral-limestone. Two of these sit at the entrance to the channel: on the north the Castillo del Morro, which now houses a maritime museum, and on the south the Castillo de la Punta, which contains the Museum of Fortifications and Armaments and is also the site of the nightly canon-firing ceremony. Two other forts are sited on the channel: the massive Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabana on the north side, which now houses a museum of ceramic arts, and the Castillo de la Real Fuerza on the south side, which was undergoing restoration work in the late 1990s.

The original city focused on the central plaza, the Plaza de Armas. Focusing on a central plaza was a pattern of settlement typical of Spanish colonial cities, with important military, political, and religious buildings constructed within close proximity. The imposing colonial fort, Castillo de la Real Fuerza, lies adjacent to the plaza on the north. Other noteworthy landmarks are also built along the plaza, among them the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales, which served as the home of the colony's governors, then later as the presidential palace, the seat of the city's municipal government, and the city museum. The Palacio de Segundo Cabo, originally constructed as a colonial post office in 1772, also sits on the Plaza de Armas.

The Plaza del Catedral located just a few blocks from the Plaza de Armas represents another important focus in Old Havana. Havana's cathedral, known as either the Catedral de la Habana or the Catedral de la Concepción Inmaculada dominates the plaza with its unusual mismatched belfry towers.

The Plaza Vieja, established in 1584, represents another major historic landmark of Old Havana. However, in contrast to the other plazas, public and religious architecture are absent. Instead the palatial homes and mansions of the city's colonial elite flank its sides. Many of these buildings have fallen into disrepair, but several are in various stages of restoration. One, the Casa de los Condes de Jaruco, has been fully restored and stands as an excellent example of a late colonial mansion.

Like many colonial cities in coastal areas, the Spanish walled the city to protect it from attacks by pirates and foreign powers. Havana's walls were built from 1674 to 1797 and enclosed an area of about 3 sq km (about 1 sq mi). This area defined the extent of Old Havana. The city's walls were torn down in 1863 to accommodate the growing city. The narrow streets of the old city contain many buildings of historical and cultural significance, accounting for perhaps as many as one-third of the 3000 buildings found in Old Havana.

Although Havana expanded slowly westward beyond the city's walls as early as 1800, this expansion increased during the four–year occupation of Cuba by the United States following the Spanish-American War (1898). Styles of architecture from the United States exerted a strong influence in these new areas of the city. Located just west of Old Havana and symbolic of U.S. influence is the Capitolio Nacional, a stunning white limestone building built in 1929 representing a near replica of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The building once served as the seat of the Cuban legislature and now houses the Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum. The Capitolio marks the beginning of Central Havana, a working class neighborhood and commercial district. Central Havana is sandwiched between Old Havana on the east and the new urban districts of Vedado and Miramar on the west.

Vedado, located along the Caribbean waterfront, was developed extensively during the decades between 1930 and 1960, when Havana developed as a major destination for U.S. tourists. High-rise hotels, casinos, restaurants, and upscale commercial establishments, many reflecting the then-popular art deco style, mushroomed in the Vedado district. In the late 1990s Vedado represented the principal commercial area of the city, and its environs were home to a variety of important landmarks including the José Martí Stadium, the University of Havana, the National Theater of Cuba, and the Colón Cemetery.

The upscale suburb of Miramar lies further west along the coast. The wealthy Cubans and foreigners who once occupied the expensive homes and mansions of this seaside district are mostly gone, primarily as refugees to the United States, but the district still retains its exclusive feel. Foreign embassies, diplomatic residences, upscale shops, and tourist facilities for wealthy foreigners are common in the area.

Influence from the United States in Havana is also reflected in some elements of the road system. American engineers conceived and initiated the construction of the city's Malecón, an elegant road that begins on the bay near the Plaza de Armas in Old Havana and hugs the coast as it runs westward to Vedado. Havana has a number of multilane highways, following the North American pattern. One such route connects the José Martí International Airport south of the city with the Plaza de la Revolución in the city center.

The Cuban Revolution in 1959, which brought the revolutionary government of Cuban leader Fidel Castro to power, led to dramatic changes in the city's urban landscape. Perhaps most significant was the decision by the government to reduce the level of investment and the concentration of resources in the city and distribute them more evenly among Cuba’s cities. Reduced government funding for Havana lead to the neglect, deterioration, and decay of much of the city's streets, buildings, and infrastructure.

Nevertheless, important innovations have taken place in the urban landscape during the revolutionary period. Notable changes have included the construction of new buildings following the rather austere styles of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), which became a close ally of Cuba following the Cuban Revolution. The development of the Habana del Este area on the east side of the bay and the construction of large apartment block towers throughout the city are typical of this pattern. Havana's landscape, especially in the southern and southwestern suburbs became increasingly industrial as the government sought to promote and diversify manufacturing in Cuba.

Housing in Havana is in short supply and what is available is often overcrowded and in poor repair. The unwillingness of the government to devote a greater proportion of the national budget to Havana has contributed to this problem. The loss of economic support from the USSR following the collapse of Communism in eastern Europe during the late 1980s and early 1990s has made the housing situation worse. Water, sewer, electricity, and cooking facilities are found in well over 90 percent of all dwelling units. However, services have deteriorated dramatically, causing water shortages and electric blackouts. Many generations of a family will often share dwelling units, while the former homes of wealthy residents have been subdivided into smaller living units or transformed into student dormitories.

III

Population

Havana's population was estimated to be 2,189,716 in 2000 estimate, and it is distributed over a total area of 727 sq km (281 sq mi). Its inhabitants, who are known as Habaneros, account for about 20 percent of the nation's population. Havana is Cuba's largest city, nearly five times larger than the next largest city, Santiago de Cuba, whose population numbers about 400,000. The city is typical of many other Latin American capital cities, known as primate cities. A primate city often accounts for a large percentage of a nation's population and dominates its political, economic, and cultural life.

Yet Havana is different. While the populations of most other primate cities in Latin America, such as Mexico City or São Paulo, Brazil, have grown rapidly in the last 30 or 40 years, Havana's population has remained stable. Strict government policies designed to curtail immigration to the city have contributed to this. In addition, after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, large numbers of the city’s residents emigrated to the United States. In contrast, the city grew rapidly during the first half of the 20th century. Its population stood at about 250,000 at the turn of the century, grew to about 750,000 by 1931, and reached 1.25 million in 1953.

Whites of Spanish origin and blacks from West Africa have constituted the principal population groups in Havana since the city’s founding. Because the Cuban government does not include race in its census records, statistical data on the breakdown of Cuba’s racial groups is difficult to find. Unofficial estimates for 1995 suggest that the population is 66 percent white, 22 percent mulatto, and 12 percent black. The accuracy of these figures is questionable, however, and many experts on Cuba’s population believe that a sizeable proportion of the population has a mixture of black and white ancestry. Havana also has a very small Asian population. The island's indigenous inhabitants succumbed to diseases introduced from Europe and to abuses committed by early Spanish colonizers during the 1500s. They never composed a major component of the city's population mix.

During the early decades of the 16th century, black slaves, imported in large numbers as domestic and agricultural workers, outnumbered Havana's white population by a wide margin. Over half a million African slaves were imported into Cuba between 1510 and 1865 to work in the nation’s sugar fields. Since Havana served as the principal port and slave market, slaves became an important segment of Havana's population. Free blacks remained an integral part of the population after the abolition of slavery in 1886. The racial composition of the city's population changed throughout the colonial period as interracial marriages increased the relative proportion of mixed-blood peoples, or mestizos as they are known in Cuba.

After Cuba’s independence from Spain in 1898, Spaniards, especially from the regions of Asturias and Galicia, flocked to Cuba. Nearly one million had arrived by 1925, with many settling in Havana. During the last half of the 1800s over 100,000 indentured Chinese laborers arrived in Cuba, as sugar producers anticipated the abolition of slavery and sought other sources of labor to work the sugarcane fields. Most of these eventually came to Havana, and during the first half of the 20th century Havana boasted a vibrant Chinatown, the Barrio Chino. However, most of the city's Chinese left the country after the 1959 revolution.

Following the Cuban Revolution, Havana’s population mix changed significantly. The wealthy elite, professionals, business people, and their families, most of whom were white, left Cuba in droves for the United States. Of the more than 1 million Cubans who left their country in this massive exodus, the vast majority came from Havana.

The role of religion in the life of Havana's residents is limited. Nearly half of the city's residents do not identify with any formal religious group. The Roman Catholic Church has had a strong historical connection with Cuba, and Roman Catholics represent the largest religious group. However, since the Cuban Revolution the role of the church in Cuba has diminished greatly. The postrevolutionary government has discouraged church attendance and participation in church activities. There are few priests and religious services are sparsely attended. However, a visit to Havana by Pope John Paul II in January 1998 sparked renewed interest in Catholicism among a number of Cubans.

Protestant religious organizations are few and are under constant pressure from the government. A thriving Jewish community existed in Havana after World War II (1939-1945) and numbered nearly 50,000, but it has all but disappeared. Santería, a mixture of Roman Catholicism and African religious practices, is widely practiced.

Spanish is the national language of Cuba and is spoken by all Habaneros. There are no concentrations of minority language speakers in Havana or in Cuba. English, French, German, and Russian are the most common foreign languages known to Havana's residents. However, those fluent in any of these languages are comparatively few and are found mostly in institutions of higher education or in tourist areas. Since the breakup of the USSR, Russian influence has waned dramatically, and it is likely there will be fewer and fewer Russian language speakers in the future.

IV

Education and Culture

As the nation's capital, Havana is home to most of the country's principal educational institutions, cultural organizations, and museums. The University of Havana founded in 1728 is the city's only university. It enrolls over 15,000 students and offers degrees in most major academic and professional fields. The internationally recognized National Ballet of Cuba is based in the city. The National Symphony Orchestra performs in the stunning National Theater, which is built in a highly ornate architectural style. Significant museum collections include those of the National Museum of Fine Arts, the Havana Museum of Colonial Art, the Museum of Decorative Arts, and the City Museum of Havana. The nation's main library collections are also found in the city and include the José Martí National Library, the Rubén Martínez Villena Central Library of the University of Havana, and the National Archive.

Holidays are few and far between in Havana. Cuba's revolutionary government eliminated Christmas and other religious days from the calendar. There are only four official holidays. All have a revolutionary flavor. These are the commemoration of the Triumph of the Revolution on January 1; Labor Day on May 1; the July 26 commemoration of Castro's attack on the Moncada barracks during the Cuban Revolution; and the celebration of the start of Cuba’s Wars of Independence, on October 10. However, Carnival, which is a religious festival originally associated with the Roman Catholic pre-Lenten season, continues to be celebrated in February as an important secular holiday.

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