Trinidad () is a town in the province of

Sancti Spíritus Sancti Spíritus () is a municipality and capital city of the province of Sancti Spíritus in central Cuba and one of the oldest Cuban European settlements. Sancti Spíritus is the genitive case of Latin ''Sanctus Spiritus'' ("Holy Spirit"). ...

, central

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 ...

. Together with the nearby

Valle de los Ingenios Valle de los Ingenios, also named Valley de los Ingenios or Valley of the Sugar Mills, is a series of three interconnected valleys about outside of Trinidad, Cuba. The three valleys, San Luis, Santa Rosa, and Meyer, were a centre for sugar prod ...

, it has been a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

since 1988, because of its historical importance as a center of the sugar trade in the 18th and 19th centuries. Trinidad is one of the best-preserved cities in the Caribbean from the time when the

sugar trade Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

was the main industry in the region.

History

Trinidad was founded on December 23, 1514, by

Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar Diego Velázquez de CuéllarPronounced: (1465 – c. June 12, 1524) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' and ''adelantado'' who was first governor of Cuba. In 1511 he led the successful conquest and colonization of Cuba. As the first governor ...

under the name Villa de la Santísima Trinidad.

Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca (December 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions o ...

recruited men for his expedition from

Juan de Grijalva Juan de Grijalva (; c. 1490 – 21 January 1527) was a Spanish conquistador, and a relative of Diego Velázquez.Diaz de Castillo, Bernal. 1963, The Conquest of New Spain, London: Penguin Books, He went to Hispaniola in 1508 and to Cuba in 1511. ...

's home in Trinidad, and

, at the start of his 1518 expedition. This included

Pedro de Alvarado Pedro de Alvarado (; 1485 – 4 July 1541) was a Spanish conquistador, ''conquistador'', ''adelantado,'' governor and Captaincy General of Guatemala, captain general of Guatemala.Lovell, Lutz and Swezey 1984, p. 461. He participated in the c ...

and his five brothers. After ten days, Cortes sailed, the

alcayde Qaid ( ', "commander"; pl. ', or '), also spelled kaid or caïd, is a word meaning "commander" or "leader." It was a title in the Norman kingdom of Sicily, applied to palatine officials and members of the ''curia'', usually to those who wer ...

Francisco Verdugo failing to prevent Cortes from leaving, despite orders from

Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptised 6 June 15996 August 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the Noble court, court of King Philip IV of Spain, Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He i ...

.Diaz, B., 1963, ''The Conquest of New Spain'', London: Penguin Books, . The

Narvaez Expedition Narvaez (also appearing with an acute accent, as Narváez) is a surname of Spanish and also Basque origin. Notable people with the surname include: Politics *Elina Narváez, Ecuadorian politician *Francisco de Narváez (born 1953), Colombian-born ...

landed at Trinidad in 1527 en route to Florida. Caught in a hurricane, the expedition lost two ships, twenty horses and sixty men to the violent storm.

Geography

The town proper 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'' (quarters) of Primero, Segundo and Tercero. The whole municipality counts the ''consejos populares'' (wards) of Centro, Zona Monumento, Armando Mestre, La Purísima,

Casilda Casilda is a city in the provinces of Argentina, province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe, Argentina. It is the head town of the Caseros Department, and lies about west of Rosario and 202 km south-southwest of the provincial capital Santa Fe, ...

, Federación Nacional de Trabajadores Azucareros (FNTA), Condado, Topes de Collante, San Pedro, Manacas - Iznaga, Algarrobo, Pitajones, and Caracusey.

Economy

Nowadays, Trinidad's main industry is

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

processing. The older parts of town are well preserved, as the Cuban tourism industry sees benefit from tour groups. In contrast, some parts of town outside the tourist areas are very run down and in disrepair, especially in the centre. Tourism from Western nations is a major source of income in the city.

Tourism

The city is located on the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

coast near the

Escambray Mountains The Escambray Mountains () are a mountain range in the central region of Cuba, in the provinces of Sancti Spíritus, Cienfuegos and Villa Clara. Overview The Escambray Mountains are located in the south-central region of the island, extending a ...

Culture

Town

;Plaza Mayor The Plaza Mayor of Trinidad is a

plaza A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Rela ...

and an open-air museum of Spanish Colonial architecture. Only a few square blocks in size, the historic plaza area has

cobblestone Cobblestone is a natural building material based on Cobble (geology), cobble-sized stones, and is used for Road surface, pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Sett (paving), Setts, also called ''Belgian blocks'', are often referred to as " ...

streets, houses in pastel colors with

wrought-iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

grilles, and colonial-era edifices such as the ''Santísima Trinidad Cathedral'' and ''Convento de San Francisco''. The Municipal History Museum is in town also. ;Music There are several ''casas de musica'', including one next to the cathedral in Plaza Major. There are also discothèques, including one in the

ruins Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

of a church; another is in a large cave formerly used as a war time hospital.

Region

;Sugar mills The Valley of the Sugar Mills—''

'', also a

, has around 70 historic

sugar cane mill A sugar cane mill is a factory that processes sugar cane to produce raw sugar or plantation white sugar. Some sugar mills are situated next to a back-end refinery, that turns raw sugar into (refined) white sugar. The term is also used to refer ...

s. They represent the importance of sugar to the

Cuban economy The economy of Cuba is a planned economy dominated by state-run enterprises. The Communist Party of Cuba maintains high levels of public sector control and exerts significant influence over the Cuban economy. The island has a low cost of living, ...

since the 18th century. The valley has ''la Torre Iznaga'', a tower built by Alejo Iznaga BorrellJorge Iznaga
ALEJO MARIA IZNAGA BORRELL
Iznaga Genealogy (IZNAGA - 1420 - Present), Retrieved 5 December 2012. in 1816. ;Coasts and beaches from the city is

Topes de Collantes Topes de Collantes is a nature reserve park in the Escambray Mountains range in Cuba. It also refers to the third highest peak in the reserve, where a small settlement and tourist center is located, all sharing the same name. Geography Topes d ...

, one of Cuba's premier

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the Ecological conservation, conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conserv ...

centres. Another attraction is the

Bay, which attracts both

snorkelers Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming face down on or through a body of water while breathing the ambient air through a shaped tube called a snorkel, usually with swimming goggles or a ...

and divers. A nearby islet has pristine beaches. Ancón Beach—''

Playa Ancón Casilda is a Cuban village and ''consejo popular'' ("people's council", i.e. hamlet) of the municipality of Trinidad, Cuba, Trinidad, Sancti Spíritus Province. Casilda is a seaside resort, due to the presence of Tourism, tourist beaches such as ...

'', is a white sand

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

and was one of the first new

resorts A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that aims to provide most of a vacationer's needs. This includes food, drink, swimming, accommodation, sports, entertainment and shopping, on the premises. A hotel ...

to be developed in Cuba following the 1959 revolution. Along the Ancón Peninsula are three hotels: Hotel Costa Sur (South Coast Hotel), Hotel Ancón, and Brisas Trinidad del Mar.

Demographics

In 2022, the municipality of Trinidad had a population of 76,500. With a total area of , it has a population density of .

Photo gallery

File:Saint Francis of Assini in Trinidad Cuba.jpg, A view from Saint Francis of Assini, Trinidad, Cuba File:2008-06-07 Trinidad D Bruyere.JPG, Plaza Mayor and Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco File:Cuba 2013-01-26 (8543458731).jpg, Plaza Mayor File:TrinidadCuba.jpg, A typical colonial street in October 2000. File:Asamblea Municipal de Trinidad.jpg, Town hall File:Cuba 2013-01-26 (8544552364).jpg File:Trinidad, Cuba (44170439415).jpg File:Museo de la Lucha contra Bandidos -Cloître du Convento de San Francisco (Trinidad, Cuba).jpg, Tower of the Convento de San Francisco File:Iglesia de Santa Ana - Trinidad - 01.jpg, Church of Santa Ana File:Trinidad, Cuba (17136576477).jpg

Notable people

Alexandre Arrechea Alexandre Arrechea (born 1970) is a Cuban visual artist. His work explores the themes of power and its associated networks of hierarchy, surveillance, control, prohibition, and subjugation. For twelve years, he was a member of the art collecti ...

Julio Emilio Carretero Julio Emilio Carretero Escajadillo (1928 – 22 June 1964) was a Cuban anti-communist rebel. Between 1963 and 1964, he served as a commander of the guerrilla army during the Escambray rebellion. Captured as a result of a special operation by :es: ...

Tomás San Gil Tomás David Pérez Díaz (29 December 1939 – 28 February 1963), alias Tomás San Gil, was a Cuban anti-communist rebel and one of the leaders of the Escambray rebellion. After the death of Osvaldo Ramírez García, he took command of the rebe ...

Manolo Urquiza Manuel Fernández Urquiza, (January 29, 1920 – December 30, 1987) more commonly known as Manolo Urquiza, was a Cuban-born media personality whose career spanned over three decades. He developed his career as a radio announcer, public relations ...

References

External links

{{Authority control Cities in Cuba Populated places in Sancti Spíritus Province Populated places established in 1514 1510s establishments in the Spanish West Indies 1510s in Cuba World Heritage Sites in Cuba 1514 establishments in the Spanish Empire Port cities in Cuba