Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
.
Geography
The town is located in the east of
Havana
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.San José de las Lajas and Santa Cruz del Norte. The municipality borders with Habana del Este (municipal borough of Havana), Santa Cruz del Norte, Madruga and San José de las Lajas.
The Escaleras (stairs) of Jaruco rise up out of the plains and provide views of the area. The area is protected as a park and is a visiting spot from Havana and the beaches.
History
Jaruco was founded in 1762 under the name San Juan Bautista de Jaruco (Ciudad Condal de San Juan Bautista de Jaruco).*Ignacio A, Ortiz-Bello. Jaruco, un aporte para su historia 1959 "Ajaruco" was the pre-Columbian
Taíno
The Taíno are the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, Indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles and surrounding islands. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now The ...
name of the settlement.
In 1940, the municipality was divided into the
barrio
''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city delimited by functional (e.g. residential, comm ...
s of Arroyo Vuelto, Casiguas, Castilla, Ciudad de Jaruco, Don Martín, Escaleras de Jaruco, Bainoa, San Antonio de Río Blanco del Norte and Santa Ana.
After 1959 this area was grouped into the Regional San José (with the small municipalities of Jaruco, San Antonio-Caraballo (formerly part of pre 1959 Aguacate municipality), Bainoa, etc.) Later Jaruco was the capital of Regional Bainoa which included the municipalities of Jaruco, Camilo Cenfuegos, Santa Cruz del Norte, Aguacate y Madruga.
Since 1976, the Jaruco municipality includes: Jaruco, Caraballo, San Antonio de Rio Blanco del Norte, Bainoa, Casiguas, Vista Alegre, Escaleras de Jaruco (and its beautiful park inside the mountains), Castilla y Tumba Cuatro.
In 2009 the
Benedictines
The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly Christian mysticism, contemplative Christian monasticism, monastic Religious order (Catholic), order of the Catholic Church for men and f ...
being a
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
congregation started to erect an own residence in Jaruco. The project failed in 2010 because of lack of water so that the Benedictines remained in their provisorial house in
Havana
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. With a total area of , it has a population density of .
Municipalities of Cuba
The Provinces of Cuba, provinces of Cuba are divided into 168 municipality, municipalities (). They were defined by Cuban Law Number 1304 of July 3, 1976Fifth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, Vol. II, publish ...
*
List of cities in Cuba
This is a list of cities in Cuba with at least 20,000 inhabitants, listed in descending order. Population data refers to city proper and not to the whole municipality, because they include large rural areas with several villages. All figu ...