Havana

Havana (Spanish: La Habana, IPA: /la a'βana/ ) is the capital city, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city forms one of the 14 Cuban provinces, the province called "Ciudad de La Habana" (City of Havana). With a city population of more than 2.3 million, and a metropolitan area population of over 3 million, Havana is the largest city in both Cuba and the Caribbean region, ninth in Latin America. The City is one of the smallest in terms of area of the Cuban provinces, but the most populated. It is located just over 144 kilometres (90 miles) south-southwest of Key West, Florida, situated on the northwest coast of Cuba, facing the Straits of Florida, and is surrounded by Havana Province to the south, east, and west.

Havana is one of the oldest cities founded by Europeans in the Western Hemisphere. It was first established in 1515, and became the capital of Spanish Cuba in 1552. In the 16th century, the city was attacked and burnt several times by pirates, buccaneers and French corsairs; Jacques de Sores was the first French corsair that attacked the city. Like many colonial cities in coastal areas, the Spanish walled the city to protect it from attacks by pirates and foreign powers. The explosion and sinking of the U.S. battleship Maine in Havana's harbor in February 1898 was the immediate cause of the Spanish-American War. Old Havana and its fortifications are protected by UNESCO.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, Havana became a flourishing and fashionable city. Wealth and power was concentrated in the city, because of its dual role as Cuba's colonial capital, and as the focus of the Spanish colonial trading system. Havana soon boasted much monumental architecture and prosperity amongst the burgeoning middle-class, and this led to many lavish classical mansions being erected. At the time, Havana's theaters featured the most distinguished actors of the age; during this period, Havana was known as the Paris of the Antilles. Nowadays, the capital is the center of the Cuban government, and various ministries are based in the city, as are the headquarters of businesses located in Vedado, such as Corporación Cimex. Like many capital cities, Havana generates a disproportionate amount of the island's industrial output and holds the lion's share of the island's service economy.