Ranchuelo is a town and municipality in the

Villa Clara Province Villa Clara is one of the provinces of Cuba. It is located in the central region of the island bordering on the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Matanzas Province to the west, Sancti Spiritus Province to the east, and Cienfuegos Province to the Sou ...

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 ...

. It was founded in 1734 and has a municipal population of 50,708, of which about 15,000 in the town itself.

History

Originally named Boca de Ranchuelo, the settlement was founded by Dionisio Consuegra on October 1, 1734. In 1856 it was linked to the

national rail network In United States railroading, the term national rail network, sometimes termed "U.S. rail network", refers to the entire network of interconnected standard gauge rail lines in North America. It does not include most subway or light rail lines. F ...

, and in 1879 gained the municipal status.

Geography

The town is 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 Norte, Poza de la China, Sitio Viejo and Sur. Ranchuelo is 7 km from San Juan de los Yeras, 9 from Esperanza, 16 from Cruces, 28 from Santa Clara, 43 from

Cienfuegos Cienfuegos (), capital of Cienfuegos Province, is a city on the southern coast of Cuba. It is located about from Havana and has a population of 178,368 in 2022. Since the late 1960s, Cienfuegos has become one of Cuba's main industrial centers, ...

and 256 from

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.Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

, Cifuentes, Santa Clara,

Manicaragua Manicaragua () is a municipality and mountain town in the Villa Clara Province of Cuba. It is located in the Escambray Mountains at the southern part of Villa Clara, bordering the provinces of Cienfuegos Province, Cienfuegos to the west and Sanct ...

, Cruces and Lajas.

Demographics

In 2022, the municipality of Ranchuelo had a population of 50,708. With a total area of , it has a population density of .

Transport

Ranchuelo is served by the A1 motorway at the homonym exit, also known as "Ranchuelo-Cienfuegos". It counts a railway station on the Santa Clara-

line, that is also the western terminus of a freight line to

Mataguá Mataguá is a Cuban village and ''consejo popular'' ("people's council", i.e. hamlet) of the municipality of Manicaragua, in Villa Clara Province. With a population of ca. 10,000, it is the most populated village in the municipality after Manicar ...

. Esperanza, the most populated municipal hamlet, is crossed in the middle by the " Carretera Central" state highway.

Notable people

Samuel Feijóo Samuel Feijóo Rodríguez (March 31, 1914 in San Juan de los Yeras, Las Villas, Cuba – July 14, 1992 in La Habana, Cuba) was a Cuban writer and artist specializing in painting and illustration. Career Feijóo was a self-taught multifaceted ar ...

(1914-1992), singer, born in San Juan de los Yeras *

María Dámasa Jova Baró María Dámasa Jova Baró (December 11, 1890 – February 11, 1940) was a Cuban writer, educator and feminist. Biography The daughter of Feliciano Jova and María del Socorro Baró, she was born María Dámasa Jova in Ranchuelo; her father died ...

(1890-1940), writer, educator and feminist

References

External links

(historical info on guije.com)
{{Municipalities in Villa Clara Populated places in Villa Clara Province 1734 establishments in North America Populated places established in 1734 1734 establishments in the Spanish Empire