Jagua

Jagua's bay on Cuba's southern coast offered a sheltered harbour whose entrance could be controlled from a single fortified position. The fortress of Nuestra Senora de los Angeles de Jagua was begun in 1733 under the military engineer Joseph Tantete and completed in the 1740s. Its purpose was to bar corsairs, pirates and illicit traders from the bay. A small community grew beside the defensive works, preserving a maritime character distinct from the later city farther inside the harbour. In 1819 a new colonial settlement, Fernandina de Jagua, was founded on the bay; it developed into Cienfuegos. Many early settlers were of French origin, arriving from Bordeaux and French colonial territories including Louisiana, though the colony remained Spanish. Its centre was laid out as twenty-five regular blocks, with space assigned to government, church and customs functions. In 1830 the main square was enlarged. The combination of defended harbour, fertile hinterland and planned settlement prepared the bay for the growing commerce of the nineteenth century.

The later city of Cienfuegos lies here.