Cienfuegos

Cienfuegos (originally Fernandina de Jagua), city in south-central Cuba, capital of Cienfuegos Province, on Bahía de Cienfuegos (an arm of the Caribbean Sea). The region surrounding the city is one of the most picturesque and fertile in Cuba. Sugar cane is the chief crop; coffee and tobacco are also grown, and cattle are raised. Cienfuegos is one of the chief seaports of Cuba and a centre of the sugar trade.

Near the entrance to Bahía de Cienfuegos, explored by Christopher Columbus in 1494, is Castillo de Jagua, a fortress built (1740-1745) for protection against Caribbean pirates. The city was founded in 1819 by French settlers from Louisiana and was badly damaged by a tropical storm in 1825. The historic centre of Cienfuegos was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005. During the Spanish-American War (1898) the city was blockaded by two United States warships. Population 165,231 (2007 estimate).