Cienfuegos

Cienfuegos: Valle's Palace

Cienfuegos, city and port, central Cuba. One of the country’s chief ports, it stands on a broad, level peninsula opposite the narrow entrance to the sheltered Cienfuegos Bay on the Caribbean Sea.

The bay was visited by Christopher Columbus in 1494 but attracted no permanent settlement until 1738; the Castillo (castle) de Jagua fortress was completed in 1745 at the entrance to the bay as protection against pirates. The city was founded in 1819 as Fernandina de Jagua by French colonists. After it was destroyed by a storm in 1825, it was rebuilt and renamed in honour of a participant in its founding.

Cienfuegos is built on a rectangular pattern with wide streets, numerous parks and promenades, and attractive buildings. The historic city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2005.

Cienfuegos serves as a trading centre for the fertile lands of southern Cuba, and it has become one of the country’s most prosperous and modern cities. A major part of Cuba’s shrimp-trawling industry operates out of Cienfuegos, and the port handles the bulk of the country’s sugar exports.

In addition to large quantities of sugarcane, the hinterland produces significant amounts of coffee, tobacco, henequen, rice, fruit, and livestock. The main industries in the city are coffee- and tobacco-processing plants, distilleries, and fish canneries. Cienfuegos also has a fertilizer factory and a thermoelectric plant. The area is the site of a Soviet-built oil refinery that closed in 1991 when Soviet support dried up following the collapse of the U.S.S.R. The refinery was renovated in the early 21st century with financial aid from the Venezuelan government, and it has the capacity to refine hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil daily. Cienfuegos is well served by railways, highways, and domestic airlines. Pop. (2002) 140,734; (2011 est.) 144,207.