El Cobre, Cuba

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El Cobre
Town
El Cobre CF9A5919.jpg
Town's view with the Basilica in background
Cuba (location map).svg
Red pog.svg
El Cobre
Location of El Cobre in Cuba
Coordinates: 20°02′52.8″N75°56′42.0″W / 20.048000°N 75.945000°W / 20.048000; -75.945000
CountryFlag of Cuba.svg  Cuba
Province Santiago de Cuba
Municipality Santiago de Cuba
Area
  Total169.5 km2 (65.4 sq mi)
Elevation
100 m (300 ft)
Population
 (2011) [1]
  Total7,000
Time zone UTC-5 (EST)
Area code +53-22

El Cobre is a Cuban town and consejo popular ("people's council", i.e. hamlet) of the municipality of Santiago de Cuba, capital of the homonym province, with a population of about 7,000. [1] Mainly known for a Basilica in honour of Our Lady of Charity, the patron saint of Cuba, it was until recently the site of a large copper mine worked by slaves, free coloured people, and for a while by miners from Cornwall.

Contents

History

Monument to the cimarron Monumento al cimarron El Cobre 002.jpg
Monument to the cimarrón

Colonial era

The town of El Cobre grew up around the Cobre mine, the first open pit copper mine in Cuba. [2] It is about 12 miles (19 km) north west of Santiago Bay in the Sierra Maestra mountains. [3] Copper was first mined there in 1532. [4] The Spanish crown confiscated the mines in 1670 after the private contractor had failed to comply with the terms of his contract and had neglected them for years. 270 private slaves became the property of the king, and the town of El Cobre became a pueblo of king's slaves and free coloured people, a unique type of settlement in Cuba. [5] By 1730 El Cobre was one of just fourteen officially recognised settlements on Cuba, of which two or possibly three were Indian corporate pueblos. [6]

In 1780 an attempt was made to return the mine to private hands and increase production. By that time El Cobre had 1,320 inhabitants, including 64% royal slaves and 34% free coloured people, mostly manumitted descendants of slaves. 2% were the private slaves of the free coloured people. The men were mostly engaged in subsistence agriculture, while mining was mainly undertaken by the women. For much of this period the Cobre mine was the only source of copper on the island, supplying Cuba and sometimes other places in the Caribbean. [5]

The first great uprising of cimarrones , or escaped slaves, occurred in Cuba in the 18th century, and is commemorated by a large sculpture on a hill beside the town. [7] The 6 metres (20 ft) Monumento al Cimarrón was designed by Alberto Lescay Merencio and completed in 1997 as part of the UNESCO initiative to make people more aware of slavery. The inconspicuous location on a hill above the mine, was chosen by a local babalao, or Santería spirit guide. [8]

British mining

The mine had been abandoned by 1830. [9] The British El Compañía Consolidada de Minas del Cobre (Cobre Mining Company) acquired the mine and reopened it in the early 1830s. An adjacent concession was acquired and opened by the British El Real de Santiago (Royal Santiago Mining Company). Both companies turned to Cornwall for skilled labour and for steam engines to pump out the mines. [9] A Protestant burial ground was opened since the Cornish, considered heretics, could not be buried in the Catholic cemetery. [9]

Post-independence

The town was the location of one of the first uprisings in the Cuban War of Independence, on 24 February 1895, led by Colonel Alfonso Goulet with Rafael Portuondo Tamayo, delegate of the Cuban Revolutionary Party of the East. [10] In 1902, the mine was purchased by William A. Chanler, a wealthy New York businessman and a veteran of the Spanish–American War. Profits were initially robust enough that Chanler was able to loan $35 million to the Cuban government. [11] The mine was closed in 2001, laying off 325 workers. The quarry filled with water, which is high in minerals, particularly sulphur. [7] Today the town is mainly known for the Basílica Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre, the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Charity. [2]

Geography

Located below the Sierra del Cobre, part of the Sierra Maestra mountain range, El Cobre lies 18 km west of Santiago de Cuba and 26 kn south of Palma Soriano. El Cobre River, also named Parada, flows south of it and forms a reservoir (Parada) few km east. The state highway "Carretera Central" (CC) crosses the northern side of the settlement. [12]

Notable people

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Source: Mapa de Carreteras de Cuba (Road map of Cuba). Ediciones GEO, Havana 2011 - ISBN   959-7049-21-X
  2. 1 2 Town and Mine of El Cobre – Slavery and Remembrance.
  3. Payton 2005, p. 113.
  4. El Cobre Mine ... Mindat.
  5. 1 2 Díaz 2006, p. 22.
  6. Díaz 2000, p. 10.
  7. 1 2 El Cobre mine might become ... tourist attraction.
  8. Twigg 2004, p. 43.
  9. 1 2 3 Cobre – The Cornish in Latin America.
  10. Guillermo Calleja Leal 1994, p. 6.
  11. Thomas 1971.
  12. 2114885071 El Cobre on OpenStreetMap

Sources