Havana Historical Background

Havana stands at one of the Caribbean's best natural harbours, and since the Spanish discovered as much, they established a city at it where their treasure bearing galleons could lay anchor. The city was originally built over a swampy marshland that proved highly ill conducive to urban development in 1515 and called San Cristobal de la Habana. Its present location was achieved in 1519. The port city of Havana was established in 1519 by the Spanish as a major stopover for cargo ships heading for Mexico and Peru. In 1556 it became the capital of Cuba. In 1762 when Spain got embroiled in the Anglo-French Seven Day War, it lost Havana to the British who administered it for 11 months before the exchange for Florida was effected. It became, when it came back to the Spanish, a heavily fortified city, flourishing with the growth of free trade. The late 19th century wars of independence left Havana unexpectedly unscathed. Much of the colonial architecture that is being refurbished in Havana today was crumbling due to disrepair and not because it was victim to those wars.

The blowing up of the US battleship Maine in the Havana harbour triggered the Spanish-American War of 1898. Subsequently US troops occupied the city, fallouts of which were an improvement of sanitation and the eradication of yellow fever. When the communists took power in 1959 a lot of public spending began to be directed to the rural areas due to which Havana took on a somewhat ramshackle look of neglect. But in 1980s and 90s, efforts have been made to restore the city to its former glory. Visitors to it now will definitely be impressed.