GEOGRAPHIC SUBDIVISIONS 63 



Havana as a commercial metropolis are included in the 

 Vuelta Arriba and Vuelta Abajo, and in the minds of the 

 Havanese and the larger sugar-planters they comprise all 

 of Cuba worthy of commercial or political consideration. 



The other popular divisions, Cinco Villas, Camaguey, and 

 Tierra Adentro, are the chief seats of the Cuban population, 

 where opposition to Spanish rule has always been greatest ; 

 and though of entirely different topographic and economic 

 characteristics, they rank equally with the Vuelta districts 

 in every respect except wealth. These constitute the real 

 Cuba of the Cubans, and will play a most important part 

 in the future development of the island. 



For administrative purposes the island is divided into two 

 grand departments, known as the Eastern and the Western. 

 The Western Department is again divided into the two 

 grand districts (gobiernos) of Havana and Matanzas, and 

 into the civil districts (tenencias de gobierno) of Pinar 

 del Rio, Bahia Honda, San Cristobal, Guanajay, San An- 

 tonio de los Bahos, Guanabacoa, Santa Maria del Rosario, 

 Santiago de las Vegas, Bejucal, Guines, Jaruco, Cardenas, 

 Colon, Sagua la Grande, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Trinidad, 

 Santo Espiritu, Moron, and San Juan de los Remedios. 

 The Eastern Department is divided into the grand dis- 

 tricts of Santiago de Cuba and Puerto Principe, and into 

 the civil districts of Nuevitas, Las Tunas, Manzanillo, 

 Bayamo, Jiguani, Holguin, Guantanamo, and Baracoa. The 

 civil or subdistricts are again divided into districts (par- 

 tidos), of which there are one hundred and sixty-one in 

 the island. The headquarters (cabeceras) are those towns 

 and cities which give their names to the districts. The 

 principal ones are Havana, Puerto Principe, Matanzas, 

 Santiago de Cuba, Trinidad, Santo Espiritu, Guanabacoa, 

 Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Cardenas, Bayamo, and San Juan 

 de los Remedios. 



A century before the Anglo-Saxon found foothold in the 

 New World, Spaniards, led by Velasquez and Diego, the son 

 of Columbus, colonized Cuba and built the cities of Baracoa, 



