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Manzanillo, Cuba

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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Manzanillo, Mexico

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An important commercial city of Cuba, in Santiago province, on the gulf of Guacanabo, about 17 m. S. of the mouth of the Rio Cauto, on the shore of Manzanillo Bay. Pop. (1907), 15,819. It is shut off to the east and south by the Sierra Maestra. Besides the Cauto, the rivers Yara and Buey are near the city. Manzanillo is the only coast town of importance between Trinidad and Santiago. It exports large quantities of sugar, hides, tobacco, and bees-wax; also some cedar and mahogany. The history of the settlement begins in 1784, but the port was already important at that time for a trade in woods and fruits; French and English corsairs resorted thither for ship-building woods. The settlement was sacked by the French in 1792, and in the following year a fort was built for its protection. In 1833 it received an ayuntamienlo (council) and in 1837, for its "loyalty" in not following the lead of Santiago in proclaiming the Spanish Constitution, received from the crown the title of Fiel. In 1827 the port was opened to commerce, national and foreign.