Camaguey

Camagüey lies inland on the broad plains of central Cuba. Its historic town grew around an irregular network of streets and squares, and its buildings reflect the wealth of the surrounding cattle country. The name comes from an Indigenous settlement associated with the area, while the colonial town was long known as Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe.

Founded by the Spanish on the northern coast in 1514, Puerto del Príncipe moved inland to the Camagüey area in the sixteenth century. Cattle raising sustained the town, while its inland position did not entirely shield it from attack: the privateer Henry Morgan sacked it in 1668. Churches, convents and spacious houses grew within a street plan that followed the settlement’s own development rather than a strict grid, giving the town a distinctive character among Cuba’s early colonial villas.