20160316_Cuba_4403 Havan sRGB avtor Dan Lundberg

Inside La Cabaña Fortress which guarded the east side of the natural channel leading to Havana Bay (Bahia de La Habana). The largest (10 hectares/25 acres) Spanish colonial fortress in the Americas, La Cabaña Fortress was built between 1763 and 1774 on a previously unprotected ridge that the British used to their advantage to overtake Havana on the opposite side of the channel in 1762. (El Morro fort at the very entrance to the channel could defend attacks by sea, notably by pirates, but proved deficient when the British approached by land.) Cuban patriots faced firing squads here in the 19th century before achieving independence from Spain in 1898. Dictators Machado and Batista used the fort as a military prison. After ‘the triumph of the Revolution’ in 1959, Che Guevara made this his headquarters where he executed Batista’s officers. Today the fort is the site of shops and restaurants. San Cristóbal de La Habana was founded by a Spanish conquistador in 1514 on Cuba’s southern coast but ended up moving twice to get away from mosquitoes before finally arriving at its present site on the northern coast in 1519. Havana’s sheltered harbor strategically located at the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico proved useful for regrouping treasure fleets transporting the spoils from the Spanish conquest of México and Perú. In 1607 Havana supplanted Santiago as the capital of Cuba. During the Seven Years’ War (also known as the French and Indian War) when Spain sided with France against Britain, the British gained control of Havana for eleven months in 1762/1763 until Spain swapped Florida for the city as part of the Treaty of Paris. Old Havana and its Fortification System was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1982. On Google Earth: Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña 23° 8'49.19"N, 82°20'59.42"W