Holguín

Holguín, a town of the high plateau country in the interior of Oriente province, Cuba, about 65 m. N.W. of Santiago de Cuba. Pop. (1907) 7592. The town is near the Marañon and Jigüé rivers, on a plain from which hills rise on all sides except the E., on which side it is open to the winds of the plateau. Holguín was long the principal acclimatization station for Spanish troops. The oldest public buildings are two churches built in 1800 and 1809 respectively. Holguín has trade in cabinet woods, tobacco, Indian corn and cattle products, which it exports through its port Gibara, about 25 m. N.N.E., with which it is connected by railway. Holguín was settled about 1720 and became a ciudad (city) in 1751. In the Ten Years’ War of 1868-78 and in the revolution of 1895-98 Holguín was an insurgent centre.