Trinidad, Cuba

21.804444444444 - 79.984444444444Koordinaten: 21 ° 48 'N, 79 ° 59 ' W

Trinidad is a city in the province of Sancti Spiritus on the central south coast of Cuba. In the municipality of 74 739 people ( census 2012) over an area of ​​1166.74 km ². This corresponds to a population density of 64 inhabitants per km ².

History

Trinidad was founded in 1514 by the Spanish conquistador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar under the name "Villa de la Santisima Trinidad ". It was the third Spanish settlement founded to Baracoa and Bayamo. 1519 started the conquistadors under Hernán Cortés from Trinidad to their conquest to Mexico. In Trinidad we had initially hoped to find in the nearby rivers gold. As the plans, however, had proved to be unrealistic, one lived up to the 18th century, mainly from smuggling.

His rise as a prosperous city owes Trinidad sugar and the associated slave trade. Until the mid-19th century Trinidad was one of the most important sugar cities of Cuba. In addition, have been successfully operated tobacco cultivation and animal husbandry, so that quadrupled the population 1780-1830. The recovery of Trinidad 's third-largest city in Cuba could not stop three times looting by pirates. Among the largest sugar cane plantations, the Valle de los developed Ingenios where planters family Iznaga began in 1830 with the construction of sugar mills. 1846, sugar production reached 7700 tons with its highest level. At the beginning of his second expedition to South America, Alexander von Humboldt held in 1801 for a short time, in Trinidad.

As with the increased cultivation of sugar beet in Europe in the late 19th century, the production of sugar from sugar cane declined dramatically ended the flowering phase of the city. Trinidad lost its supremacy in the region to the adjacent Cienfuegos, which in turn experienced by the opening of new roads and the expansion of its port an upswing. Trinidad sank into insignificance, but was unable to get its medieval streets and partly also the magnificent buildings around the Plaza Major. Only in the 1950s experienced Trinidad another boom by the new road links to Cienfuegos and Sancti Spiritus. In the first half of the 1960s, a few kilometers north of the city of Sierra de Escambray was retreat counterrevolutionary groups. Since 1988, the city is in common with the 20 km outside lying sugarcane plantations of the Valle de los Ingenios World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Attractions

One of the biggest tourist attractions is the Plaza Mayor, whose flair today is reminiscent of the colonial era. All major museums are located around the square, such as the Romantic Museum in the former Palacio Brunet and the Museum of Architecture. The colonial center with about 600 m in diameter is obtained for the most part, most of the houses are inhabited.

Attractions near Trinidad are the Topes de Collantes National Park in the Sierra de Escambray, the Zuckerrohrtal Valle de los Ingenios and the Ancon peninsula with sandy beaches and snorkeling opportunities.

View from the bell tower of the former Franciscan monastery

Church of the Holy Trinity in Plaza Mayor