When and where was Havana in Cuba founded?
Havana is founded
La fundación de La Habana
c. 16 November 1519. San Cristóbal de La Habana was first settled in 1515 on Cuba's south coast, one of the seven towns founded under Diego Velázquez, and moved in 1519 to the…
Draft: not yet checked against its sources.
Where: The Spanish Caribbean, Cuba, Havana
What happened
San Cristóbal de La Habana was first settled in 1515 on Cuba's south coast, one of the seven towns founded under Diego Velázquez, and moved in 1519 to the great sheltered bay on the north coast, the Puerto de Carenas. Tradition says the first mass and town council were held on 16 November 1519 under a ceiba tree, the spot marked today by El Templete; the date is kept as the city's birthday, though no founding document survives. The bay made Havana's fortune: from the mid-sixteenth century the treasure fleets from Mexico and Panama gathered there each year before sailing for Spain, and the city grew into the best-fortified port in the Americas, the 'key to the New World'.
Say it
La Habana celebra su cumpleaños el 16 de noviembre.
Havana celebrates its birthday on 16 November.
Why it matters
Havana became the meeting point of the Spanish Atlantic and later the capital of Spain's last American colony; Old Havana's colonial centre is a World Heritage Site.
There today
- See
- You can walk Old Havana, a World Heritage Site, and find El Templete, which marks the spot where the first mass was said under a ceiba tree.
Read about it
Connected
- Silver and the first global trade (1545–1800)
- Drake raids the Spanish Caribbean (1585–28 January 1596)
- The British take Havana (7 June 1762–1763)
- The British take Havana (7 June 1762–1763)
- Before: The Laws of Burgos
- After: The Viceroyalty of New Spain is created
Sources
- Capital de Cuba siempre turística cumple 505 años — Prensa Latina
- Spanish Treasure Fleets — World History Encyclopedia