Baracoa Bay

The Bay of Honey forms a sheltered approach to Cuba’s far eastern coast at Baracoa, with El Yunque and the Sierra del Purial rising behind the water. Forested slopes, freshwater rivers and heavy tropical rain enclose the anchorage on nearly every landward side. Mountains cut Baracoa off by land, so ships supplied the settlement and connected it with the rest of Cuba, and the bay and river mouths were the clearest natural passages through a difficult mountain environment.

Christopher Columbus entered the coast in 1492 and described the nearby landscape with unusual admiration. Diego Velázquez founded Baracoa in 1511, making the harbour the base of Cuba’s first Spanish capital. Its early importance did not rest only on administration. The anchorage joined coastal shipping, cacao and provisioning with routes along the island’s northern and southern shores. Three forts overlooked the approaches by land and sea, reflecting concern that a remote but useful harbor could attract rival ships.

Distance from colonial centres also made the bay useful for unofficial commerce. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, French and British vessels traded with the settlement despite Spanish rules. Later, exiles from Saint-Domingue introduced coffee and cocoa cultivation. The surrounding forest shelters palms, ferns and other plants adapted to constant moisture and cloud, while offshore reefs and the river mouths define the approach to the harbor. Its geography produced both shelter and isolation.