Baracoa

Baracoa lies on a sheltered bay at the eastern end of Cuba, between the sea and steep, forested mountains. The flat-topped El Yunque rises above the surrounding landscape. Long before Spanish colonization, the area was inhabited by Taíno communities whose settlements and cultivation made use of the rivers and coastal land.

In 1511 Diego Velázquez founded Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Baracoa here, the first Spanish villa in Cuba and its earliest colonial capital. It also became the seat of the island’s first bishopric. Both capital and bishopric later moved to Santiago, leaving Baracoa separated from the other early towns by the mountains of eastern Cuba. Its parish preserved the Cruz de la Parra, a wooden cross long associated with the first years of Spanish arrival.