Australia, Cuba

Australia
Village
Location of Australia in Cuba
Coordinates: 22°29′58.16″N 81°8′9.17″W / 22.4994889°N 81.1358806°W / 22.4994889; -81.1358806Coordinates: 22°29′58.16″N 81°8′9.17″W / 22.4994889°N 81.1358806°W / 22.4994889; -81.1358806
Country  Cuba
Province Matanzas
Municipality Jagüey Grande
Founded 1862
Elevation[1] 7 m (23 ft)
Population (2011)[1]
 • Total 8,850
Time zone UTC-5 (EST)
Area code(s) +53-52

Australia is a Cuban village and consejo popular ("people's council", i.e. hamlet)[2] of the municipality of Jagüey Grande, Matanzas Province. It has an estimated population of 8,850.[3][1]

History

The village, founded in 1862, is in a sugar growing area and "dominated by the old, out-of-service sugar factory's chimney, with "Australia" written prominently down its length."[4] The village is named after the factory, the Central Australia,[5] which like others in the area were named after continents.[2]

The village was the first sugar town in Cuba to stop using slave labour,[6] and served as Fidel Castro's base of operations during the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.[4]

Geography

Located 2 km south of Jagüey Grande, Australia lies next to Zapata Swamp (Ciénaga de Zapata). It is served by the A1 motorway (linking Havana to Santa Clara) at the exit of Jagüey.[7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 (in Spanish) Australia on EcuRed
  2. 1 2 (in Spanish) Australia (Jagüey Grande) on EcuRed
  3. ↑ "Australia's Cuban namesake is a small town with a proud history". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  4. 1 2 Atfield, Cameron (22 October 2014). "Town of Australia, Cuba: The Australia you've never heard of". Traveller. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  5. ↑ (in Spanish) Central Australia on EcuRed
  6. ↑ "Australia's Cuban namesake is a small town with a proud history". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  7. ↑ Google. "Australia" (Map). Google Maps. Google.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.