SANTIAGO DE CUBA, a city and seaport of Cuba, on the southern coast of the eastern end of the island, capital of the province of Oriente, and next to Havana the most important city of the republic. Pop. (1931 census), 103,525, of whom about 5o% were coloured. It is connected by the Cuba railway with Havana, 540 m. to the W.N.W. ; short railways extend into the interior through gaps in the mountains northward ; and there are steamer connections with other Cuban ports and with New York and Europe.
Santiago is situated about 6 m. inland on a magnificent land locked bay (6 m. long and 3 m. wide), connected with the Carib bean sea by a long, narrow, winding channel with rocky escarpment walls, in places less than zoo yd. apart. The largest vessels have ready entrance to the harbour but direct access to the wharves is impossible for those of more than moderate draught (about 14 ft.). Smith key, an island used as a watering-place, divides it into an outer and an inner basin. To the east of the sea portal stand the Morro, a picturesque fort (built 1633 seq.), on a jutting point zoo ft. above the water, and the Estrella; and to the west the Socapa. West of the harbour are low hills, to the east pre cipitous cliffs, and north and north-east, below the superb back ground of the Sierra Maestra, is an amphitheatre of hills, over which the city straggles in tortuous streets. The houses are mostly of one storey. In the cathedral, Diego Velazquez (c. 146o-1524), conqueror of Cuba, was buried. It has suffered much from earth quakes and has been extensively repaired. Probably the oldest building in Cuba is the convent of San Francisco (a church since the secularization of the religious orders in 1841), which dates in part from the first half of the 16th century. Great improve ments have been made in the city since the end of colonial rule, especially as regards the streets, the water-supply and other public works and sanitation. On a hill overlooking the city is a beautiful school-house of native limestone, erected by the American military government as a model for the rest of the island. Santiago is the hottest city of Cuba (mean temperature in winter about 82° F, in summer about 88°), owing mainly to the mountains that shut off the breezes from the east. There is superb mountain scenery on the roads to El Caney and San Luis in the thickly populated valley of the Cauto. In the barren mountainous country sur rounding the city are valuable mines of iron, copper and manga nese. On these the prosperity of the province largely depends. There are also foundries, soap-works, tan-yards and cigar f ac tories. The city has an important trade with the interior, with other Cuban ports, and to a less extent with New York and European ports. Mineral ores, tobacco and cigars, coffee, cacao, sugar, rum and cabinet-woods are the main articles of export.
History.—Santiago is less important politically under the re public than it was when Cuba was a Spanish dependency. The place was founded in 1514 by Diego Velazquez, and the capital of the island was removed thither from Baracoa. Its splendid bay, and easy communication with the capital of Santo Domingo, then the seat of government of the Indies, determined its original importance. From Santiago in 1518-19 departed the historic expeditions of Juan de Grijalva, Hernan Cortes and Panfilo de Narvaez—the last of 18 vessels and I,Ioo men-at-arms, excluding sailors. So important already was the city that its ayuntamiento had the powers of a Spanish city of the second class. In 1522 it received the arms and title of ciudad, and its church was made the cathedral of the island. But before 155o the drain of military expeditions to the continent, the quarrels of civil, military and ecclesiastical powers, and of citizens, and the emigration of colonists to the Main produced a fatal decadence. In 1589 Havana became the capital. Santiago was occupied and plundered by French corsairs in 1553, and again by a British military force from Jamaica in 1662. The capture of that island had caused an immigration of Spanish refugees to Santiago that greatly in creased its importance ; and the illicit trade to the same island— mainly in hides and cattle—that flourished from this time on ward was a main prop of prosperity. From 1607 to 1826 the island was divided into two departments, with Santiago as the capital of the eastern department. After 1826 Santiago was simply the capital of a province. In July 1741 a British squadron from Jamaica under Admiral Edward Vernon and Gen. Thomas Wentworth landed at Guantanamo and during four months operated unsuccessfully against Santiago. The climate made great ravages among the British, who lost perhaps 2,000 out of 5,00o men. The bishopric became an archbishopric in 1788, when a suffragan bishopric was established at Havana. J. B. Vaillant (governor in 1788-96) and J. N. Quintana (governor in 1796-99) did much to improve the city and encourage literature. After the cession of Santo Domingo to France, and after the French evacuation of that island, thousands of refugees settled in and about Santiago. They founded coffee and sugar plantations and gave a great impulse to trade. There were destructive earthquakes in 1675, 1679, 1766 and 1852. In the 19th century some striking historical events are associated with Santiago including the "Vir ginius" affair of 1873. The most notable military and naval events (in Cuba) of the Spanish-American War (q.v.) of 1898 took place at and near Santiago. Monuments commemorate the actions at El Caney and San Juan Hill.