FOUNDATION OF THE VILLA SANTIAGO DE CUBA

In 1515, the Spanish King Ferdinand II ordered to build the encomienda colonization system in all territories of the New World that had been conquered by the Spanish until that time, making Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, the first governor of Cuba, responsible of accomplishing this task. Diego Velázquez divided the island into seven parts, building seven villas in each to reinforce the conquest of the island by the Spaniards (Villa Baracoa, San Salvador de Bayamo, La Santísima Trinidad, Sancti Spiritus, San Cristóbal de La Havana, Puerto Principe (now Camaguey) and Santiago de Cuba). The term villa is used as a category of settlement that is more than a town, but that does not come to be considered a city. Diego Velazquez, disembarked in Cuba with about 300 men, allowed each conqueror to select which town to colonize, but reserved approximately one third, about 100 men, for the foundation of the last town that would be the principal city, in other words the capital of the new colonization system.

The foundation of the Villa Santiago de Cuba, the last of the seven villas, occurred towards the end of the process of the conquest of Cuba by the Spanish. The foundation of Santiago de Cuba was entrusted to Diego Velázquez by Diego Colombus (Diego Colón), eldest son of Christopher Columbus and viceroy of Spain in Indies. July 25, 1515, is endorsed as the date of its foundation, and at this day festivals are held in honor of Santiago Apóstol, patron saint of Spain.

Initially, the settlement was founded on the western side of the bay, but in 1516, the aggression of the fire ants (fire ant is the common name for several species of ants in the genus solenopsis) forced the residents to move to the eastern side of the bay, where it now stands.  Unfortunately, the same year most of the settlement was destroyed by fire, but it was immediately rebuilt.

Baracoa was the first Spanish settlement in Cuba, and it functioned as the metropolis of the island in the period of 1518-1522. Diego Velázquez was aware of the exceptional geographic characteristics of the area, when he decided in founding the Villa Santiago de Cuba, which can be summarized as the excellent location of the natural port and its proximity to the rich mineral deposits around.

Diego Velázquez moved the headquarters of the Spanish government in Cuba from Baracoa to Santiago de Cuba, because from the military point of view it was easier to lead the conquest and the colonization of the territory and its exploitation for the benefit of the colonists and the Spanish crown from this localization. Velázquez gave the name Santiago to the port, the name of the patron saint of Spain. He endeavored to increase the population of the city. For this purpose, he brought different conquerors with their circles from other towns, such as Baracoa and Bayamo. He designed the administration by constituting the town council, consisted of four aldermen (regidors), and some different authorities more (Pedro Nuñez de Guzman, the first treasurer; Pedro de Paz, the first accountant; Juan de Texin, the first priest).

The residence of Velázquez in Plaza de Armas (now Céspedes Park) served as the council house (ayuntamiento). Such a council house is considered the first in the history of Cuba. Velázquez assigned the husband of his sister-in-law, Hernán Cortés Monroy, the mayor of the city. Some other important officials of the colonial government, like the royal officers that work for the Royal Treasury, were domiciled in Santiago de Cuba. The conquistadores named the house in that they work, the Casa de la Contratación. The function of these royal officers was to observe Diego Velázquez and to give reports to the Crown about his performance.

Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar

(1465 - 1524)

In 1516, the creation of the bishopric in Cuba was granted to Diego Velázquez. At that time there was a church in Baracoa that was known under the name of La Iglesia Parroquial de la Villa de Baracoa. Diego Velázquez ordered to build the same church in Santiago de Cuba immediately, because Pope Alexander VI, had moved the bishopric to Santiago in 1522. The pope had also elevated the existing church in Baracoa to the rank of Cathedral with the name of "Nuestra Señora de la Asunción". The construction of the first Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción of Santiago de Cuba, dedicated to St. Catherine (Santa Catalina), took 4 years and it was opened to the cult in 1526.

The town of Santiago de Cuba was elevated to the rank of city parallel with the relocation of the bishopric. Shortly after the construction of the central trading house in 1522, the settlement became Cuba’s capital.

Due to its location on the far eastern end of the island, Santiago de Cuba has a history that is notable for the many Spanish expeditions embarking from its port. In 1518, Juan de Grijalba and the infamous Hernan Cortés sailed out for the first excursions along the shoreline of Mexico. Cortés is remembered as being the man largely responsible for the decimation of the Aztec civilization. In 1538, another famous Spanish explorer, Hernando de Soto, made the first voyages to Florida, in the United States. He is remembered as the first European that encountered and crossed the Mississippi river.

Santiago de Cuba, a city of eclectic style, also became a port of the only exportable good value that the island had in those years, namely the gold, because the main smelter was in Santiago de Cuba, the headquarters of the government and the royal treasury. All those that had collected gold, had to go to Santiago de Cuba to melt and to weigh it. Of course, they had to pay taxes for this. Another source of the wealth in the city was the commerce. Commercial ships were forced to arrive in the port of Santiago de Cuba and the goods were reexported to other towns or to other colonies, so that the local merchants profited appreciably from this intermediary trade.

The city had the most prosperous period during the production of gold in 1520s and 1530s, which reached a total value of three million pesos (100.000 pesos for each year). Velázquez was pleased to find such an excellent natural port close to the sources of gold; unfortunately, these sources were quickly exhausted. Therefore, after this auspicious start the city’s importance dwindled somewhat, but the discovery of a rich vein of copper in the foothills in nearby the so-called Cerro de Cardenalilo or Cardenilo, populated by El Cobre in 1530 sustained the importance of the city for a while. The silversmith Luis de Espinoza that had undertaken the exploitation of the copper mines in 1534, increased the copper output to a considerable level by employing the slaves.

As the town became increasingly rich, the first street names began to be given: Calle del Adelantado (Santo Tomás), Calle de la Catedral (Heredia), Calle de la Marina (Aguilera), Calle del Cabildo (General Lacret)were the main ones.

With the exhaustion of gold in a short period, a change in the attitude of the Spanish government towards the land necessarily took place. It was indispensable to deal with the livestock that was almost the only source that remained on the island and had exportable value, to sustain or to achieve their wealth.  On the other hand, the discovery of the advantages of navigating through the channel of the Bahamas in the north of Cuba, took Santiago de Cuba out of the usual route of the ships that came to Cuba or called at its port to proceed to Spain. Soon, Havana became the popular port of the island, followed by the depopulation of Santiago de Cuba. The inhabitants of Santiago de Cuba moved to other rich colonies, particularly to Havana, even to Bayamo. The attacks of the pirates and the corsairs accelerated the migration from Santiago de Cuba. In 1553, the city took the knock, when the governor of Cuba, Gonzalo Pérez de Angulo, moved his office to the fortified Havana, to the new capital of Cuba. All these gave rise to the decline of the city for a long period.