Regla

Regla, formerly an important suburb of Havana, Cuba, opposite that city, on the bay; now a part of Havana. Pop. (1899) 11,363. It was formerly the scene of the Havana bullfights. The church is one of the best in Cuba; the building dates substantially from 1805, but the church settlement goes back to a hermitage established in 1690. Regla is the shippingpoint of the Havana sugar trade. It has enormous sugar and tobacco warehouses, fine wharves, a dry dock, foundries and an electric railway plant. It is the western terminus of the eastern line of the United Railways of Havana, and is connected with the main city of Havana by ferry. A fishing village was established here about 1733. At the end of the 18th century Regla was a principal centre of the smuggling trade, and about 1820 was notorious as a resort of pirates. It first secured an ayuntamiento (city council) in 1872, and after 1899 was annexed to Havana.