Havana

Havana is the capital of Cuba, a port on the island's northwest coast facing the Straits of Florida. Its old center and the fortresses that guarded its harbor were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1982.

José Martí, the poet and leader of the Cuban independence movement, was born in a small house in Habana Vieja that is kept as a museum. The Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro, a stone fortress with a lighthouse, has watched over the harbor entrance since the turn of the 17th century. Along the shore west of the old town runs the Malecón, a seawall promenade where people gather in the evenings. El Capitolio, finished in the late 1920s, marks kilometer zero, the point from which road distances across Cuba are measured, in the floor beneath its dome. The Gran Teatro de La Habana Alicia Alonso, named after the dancer who led the Cuban National Ballet for decades, is the company's main stage.

Spanish settlers first placed San Cristóbal de la Habana on the south coast and moved it to its sheltered northern bay in 1519. From the late 16th century the Spanish treasure fleets gathered in the harbor before sailing for Seville, and Havana replaced Santiago de Cuba as the island's capital at the start of the 17th century. Sugar and tobacco wealth in the 19th century paid for arcaded mansions, theaters and the first railway in Latin America. American cars from the 1950s, kept in service with improvised parts, still carry passengers through its streets as taxis.

Cigars rolled by hand in Havana factories carry brands such as Partagás and H. Upmann, and Habanos S.A., headquartered in the city, sells them abroad. The Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology on the western side of Havana develops vaccines and medicines, among them Heberprot-P for diabetic foot ulcers. Cruise ships dock at the port, entered through a narrow channel, while most container traffic moved to the new terminal at Mariel in the 2010s.