Guantánamo | |
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City | |
Main street in front of post office
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Guantánamo municipality (red) within Guantánamo Province (yellow) and Cuba |
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Location of Guantánamo in Cuba | |
Coordinates: 20°08′12″N 75°12′50″W / 20.13667°N 75.21389°WCoordinates: 20°08′12″N 75°12′50″W / 20.13667°N 75.21389°W | |
Country | Cuba |
Province | Guantánamo |
Established | 1797 |
Area | |
• City | 741.4 km2 (286.3 sq mi) |
Elevation | 46 m (151 ft) |
Population (2011) | |
• City | 210,407 |
• Density | 280/km2 (740/sq mi) |
• Metro | 216,734 |
Demonym(s) | Guantanamero/ra |
Time zone | EST (UTC-5) |
Postal code | 95100 |
Area code(s) | +53 21 |
Guantánamo is a municipality and city in southeast Cuba and capital of Guantánamo Province.
Guantánamo is served by the Caimanera port near the site of a U.S. naval base. The area produces sugarcane and cotton wool. These are traditional parts of the economy.
The city was founded in 1797 in the area of a farm named Santa Catalina. The toponym "Guantánamo" means, in Taíno language, "land between the rivers".
The municipality is mountainous in the north, at Humboldt National Park, where it overlays the Sierra Maestra (mountains), and borders the Windward Passage of the Caribbean Sea in the south. It is crossed by the Bano, Guantánamo, Yateras, Guaso, San Andrés and Sabanalamar rivers. The city is spread with a square plan and is crossed in the middle by the Carretera Central highway. Guantánamo Bay is a natural harbour south of it.
The municipality borders with El Salvador, Niceto Pérez, Caimanera, Yateras, Manuel Tames and Sagua de Tánamo; this one in Holguín Province. It counts the villages of Argeo Martínez, Arroyo Hondo, Glorieta, Las Lajas and Paraguay.