Santa Cruz del Sur is a town and municipality in
Cuba. It is located in
Camagüey Province south of the provincial capital of
Camagüey
Camagüey () is a city and municipality in central Cuba and is the nation's third-largest city with more than 321,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Camagüey Province.
It was founded as Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe in 1514, by S ...
. It lies on the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
coast.
Geography
The municipality 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, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residenti ...
s of Buenaventura, Doce Leguas, El Junco, Gonzalo de Quesada, Guaicanamar, Guayabal, La Calzada, Playa Bonita, San Pedro and Yaguabo.
History
The city has a special place in history due to its total destruction by the
storm surge during the
catastrophic hurricane of 1932 beginning late on November 8, 1932. In a few hours, approximately at 10:00 am of November 9, the city disappeared under the sea, and more than 3,000 of its inhabitants drowned or were crushed by flying debris carried by winds in excess of 135 mph (215 km/h). Why a select number of survivors escaped the storm, and why the town was not evacuated prior to landfall, persist as questions. The hurricane was rumored to be destined for landfall far east of Santa Cruz, and when notification arrived about the town's peril, landfall was imminent. The last departing trains for evacuation failed to depart due to the storm surge. Fishermen of Santa Cruz were said to have predicted the event, apparently suspecting that "something wrong was brewing in the atmosphere." Survivors provided horrifying testimonies in the wake of a storm that literally drowned people in their homes.
also made landfall there 76 years later on the same night in 2008 with 100 mph (160 km/h) winds.
Demographics
In 2004, the municipality of Santa Cruz del Sur had a population of 51,335.
With a total area of ,
it has a population density of In 2007 the town of Santa Cruz del Sur had 16,600 residents.
See also
*
Santa Cruz del Sur Municipal Museum
Santa Cruz del Sur Municipal Museum is a museum located in Santa Cruz del Sur, Cuba. It was established on 30 December 1982.
The museum holds collections on history, weaponry, decorative arts and archeology.
See also
* List of museums in C ...
*
List of cities in Cuba
*
Municipalities of Cuba
The provinces of Cuba are divided into 168 municipalities or ''municipios''. They were defined by Cuban Law Number 1304 of July 3, 1976Fifth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, Vol. II, published by the United ...
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Cruz Del Sur
Populated places in Camagüey Province