Capital city of the province of East, head of its municipality and during beginnings of the colony, capital of Cuba. Founded on 1514, after Baracoa, it is the second population of the island by his antiquity, as it is by his history first. The foundations of Bayamo, Trinidad had been decided and Port Prince (Camagüey) when the Advanced Diego de Vela'zquez, when noticing the position of the place, the facility of his communications with the island of Santo Domingo, calls to account then of the government of Indians, the greater abundance of mineral vestiges and the wonder of its nature, decided to anticipate this one and to undertake it personally.

It called of Baracoa to its relatives and considered and favored relatives more: Bernardino de the Vela'zquezes, Gonzalo de Guzmán, Courteous Hernán, Pánfilo de Nárvaez, Pedro de Paz, Pedro de Barba and Amador de Lares, between the main ones, who were the first settlers and who in union of the Advanced one drew up the lots and came to make the church and its houses, having brought to the effect numerous Indian and séquito. This foundation almost absorbed the totality of the colony of Baracoa and part of the destined one to Bayamo. In that same year of 1514 its city council was constituted, in fact the second of all America. Here the same one fixed its residence Advanced, as well as the more famous personages and captains of whatever arrived at Cuba. In 1515 Santiago he replaced Baracoa in his capitalidad, with the difference of which that was it provisional and effective Santiago and in 1522 him was granted title and arms of city and raised its church to cathedral of the island with bishopric by bula of the Pontiff Alexander VII and suppressed the one of Baracoa at the same time.

In 1516 a fire destroyed the rising population, that was reconstructed immediately and that in the previous year had changed from level the next one to the Paradas river, to the northwest of the port, to avoid the plague of the called ants butchers who infested that place. Santiago of Cuba grew quickly and as they would not be his wealth and spirit that this port left, in the first months of 1518, the exploratory expedition of the Mexican coast that directed Juan de Grijalba, the one of November sent by Courteous Hernán with ten ships and that it gave to a world to Spain and the one of March of 1520 of Pánfilo de Narváez, composed of 18 ships with more than 1.100 combatants, without including the crew nor appearing either no native, except for the counted one who were used as you interpret.

Under the new times, Santiago of Cuba was developed industrialist commercially and, like agriculturist, economic miner and. Always with certain ascending rate and fruit of the work of its own children. Despite the communications and the growth of other urban sprawls in the province, Santiago of Cuba conserved his seńorío and attraction. It had good buildings, districts of residence, schools, institutes, laboratories and industries.

Santiago of Cuba, by work of the Bacardí, knew to create an industry of national type with international category and universal esteem: the one of licores, and to make specific, the one of the credited Rum Bacardí. Name illustrates that not only it bequeathed an industry to Cuba, but a Museum and a Library like few in the world.