BARACOA

port city, Guantnamo provincia, eastern Cuba. It is situated on the extreme eastern part of the island, along a small semicircular bay on the north coast. Surrounded by rugged mountains, Baracoa was isolated from the rest of Cuba until a road was built through the mountains to connect it with Guantnamo in the 1960s. In December 1492 Christopher Columbus stopped at what is now Baracoa, and when the conquistador Diego Velzquez de Cullar colonized Cuba, he established the island's first Spanish settlement at Baracoa in 1512. The town was Cuba's capital from 1518 to 1522. Cacao, coconuts, and bananas are grown in the surrounding area and are exported from the port. The city's industries manufacture chocolate and coconut oil. Pop. (1981) city, 35,754; (1986 est.) mun., 78,300.