Artemisa
Artemisa is a municipality and city in Cuba, formerly part of La Habana Province. According to a law approved by the Cuban National Assembly in August 2010, Artemisa became the capital city of the newly formed Artemisa Province, which comprises eight municipalities of the former La Habana Province and three from Pinar del Río. It has an area of 642.0 square kilometers and a population of over 85,000 inhabitants (2017).
Due to its coffee crops in the past and the bucolic local landscape, it has received the nickname "Jardín de Cuba" (Garden of Cuba) and is also known as the "Villa Roja" (Red Village) due to the color of its soils.
The municipality is home to the University of Artemisa, which trains professionals in agricultural sciences, high school and higher education teachers, business sciences, among others. There is also the Faculty of Medical Sciences of Artemisa, which trains doctors, dentists and other health professionals.
The town was founded in 1818. It arose as a result of a fire that occurred on April 25, 1802, in the Jesús María and Guadalupe neighborhoods in the city of Havana, which left many families homeless and pressured the Royal Consulate of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce to approve the creation of populations in extramural areas. In 1818, thanks to the donation of Don Francisco de Arango y Peñalver, the construction of the church began, which was inaugurated on December 22, 1825. The origin of the name of Artemisa is uncertain. It has been argued to have originated from the Greek goddess Artemis (Diana, in the Roman version) or that it refers to the name of Ragweed in Spanish, Artemisia (Ambrosia artemisifolia), abundant at the time.
The municipality is founded on June 9, 1878, by royal decree in which this city is assigned as the head. On January 1, 1879, the first meeting of the City Council is held.
Although Artemisa did not participate in the first War of Liberation against Spain in 1868–78 (Guerra de los Diez Años), since it did not reach the West of the country, it did in the one of 95 in which more than 200 children of that region joined the Mambi forces, of which 135 survivors were discharged. Among them, important figures stand out such as Manuel Valdés (the first Artemiseño martyr, messenger of the Mambi forces), Colonel Federico Nuñez, General Alberto Nodarse Bacallao (who was part of General Antonio Maceo's staff when he fell in San Pedro) and the parish priest of the Church of Artemisa, Guillermo González Arocha.
The territory of Artemisa suffered in that period from the "Reconcentration" policy of Captain General Valeriano Weyler, a direct precedent of the Nazi concentration camps, who in an attempt to cut off the support of the liberating troops among the Cuban rural population, forced it to concentrate in urban places.
Artemisa was an important source of fighters supporting Fidel Castro's Revolution during the attack on "Cuartel Moncada" in Santiago de Cuba (1953) and Sierra Maestra Guerrilla (1956–1959). Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, Vice President of the Council of State of Cuba, who was also a combatant alongside Che, is a native of Artemisa. Two other Artemiseños also stood out in the Revolution as members of the leadership of two other organizations: Eduardo García Lavandero of the Revolutionary Directorate March 13 and Carlos Rodríguez Careaga of the Popular Socialist Party. The Martyrs Mausoleum (Mausoleo de los Mártires) in Artemisa is a National Monument of Cuba.
Artemisa belonged to Pinar del Río Province until 1970.
Due to its coffee crops in the past and the bucolic local landscape, it has received the nickname "Jardín de Cuba" (Garden of Cuba) and is also known as the "Villa Roja" (Red Village) due to the color of its soils.
The municipality is home to the University of Artemisa, which trains professionals in agricultural sciences, high school and higher education teachers, business sciences, among others. There is also the Faculty of Medical Sciences of Artemisa, which trains doctors, dentists and other health professionals.
The town was founded in 1818. It arose as a result of a fire that occurred on April 25, 1802, in the Jesús María and Guadalupe neighborhoods in the city of Havana, which left many families homeless and pressured the Royal Consulate of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce to approve the creation of populations in extramural areas. In 1818, thanks to the donation of Don Francisco de Arango y Peñalver, the construction of the church began, which was inaugurated on December 22, 1825. The origin of the name of Artemisa is uncertain. It has been argued to have originated from the Greek goddess Artemis (Diana, in the Roman version) or that it refers to the name of Ragweed in Spanish, Artemisia (Ambrosia artemisifolia), abundant at the time.
The municipality is founded on June 9, 1878, by royal decree in which this city is assigned as the head. On January 1, 1879, the first meeting of the City Council is held.
Although Artemisa did not participate in the first War of Liberation against Spain in 1868–78 (Guerra de los Diez Años), since it did not reach the West of the country, it did in the one of 95 in which more than 200 children of that region joined the Mambi forces, of which 135 survivors were discharged. Among them, important figures stand out such as Manuel Valdés (the first Artemiseño martyr, messenger of the Mambi forces), Colonel Federico Nuñez, General Alberto Nodarse Bacallao (who was part of General Antonio Maceo's staff when he fell in San Pedro) and the parish priest of the Church of Artemisa, Guillermo González Arocha.
The territory of Artemisa suffered in that period from the "Reconcentration" policy of Captain General Valeriano Weyler, a direct precedent of the Nazi concentration camps, who in an attempt to cut off the support of the liberating troops among the Cuban rural population, forced it to concentrate in urban places.
Artemisa was an important source of fighters supporting Fidel Castro's Revolution during the attack on "Cuartel Moncada" in Santiago de Cuba (1953) and Sierra Maestra Guerrilla (1956–1959). Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, Vice President of the Council of State of Cuba, who was also a combatant alongside Che, is a native of Artemisa. Two other Artemiseños also stood out in the Revolution as members of the leadership of two other organizations: Eduardo García Lavandero of the Revolutionary Directorate March 13 and Carlos Rodríguez Careaga of the Popular Socialist Party. The Martyrs Mausoleum (Mausoleo de los Mártires) in Artemisa is a National Monument of Cuba.
Artemisa belonged to Pinar del Río Province until 1970.
Map - Artemisa
Map
Country - Cuba
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| Flag of Cuba | |
The territory that is now Cuba was inhabited by the Ciboney people from the 4th millennium BC with the Guanahatabey and Taíno peoples until Spanish colonization in the 15th century. From the 15th century, it was a colony of Spain, and slavery was abolished in 1886, remaining a Spanish colony until the Spanish–American War of 1898, when Cuba was occupied by the United States and gained independence in 1902. In 1940, Cuba implemented a new constitution, but mounting political unrest culminated in a coup in 1952 and the subsequent dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, which was later overthrown in January 1959 by the 26th of July Movement during the Cuban Revolution, which afterwards established communist rule under the leadership of Fidel Castro. The country was a point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, and a nuclear war nearly broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba faced a severe economic downturn in the 1990s, known as the Special Period. In 2008, Fidel Castro resigned after 49 years of leadership of Cuba and was replaced by his brother Raúl Castro.
Currency / Language
| ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
|---|---|---|---|
| CUC | Cuban convertible peso | $ | 2 |
| CUP | Cuban peso | $ | 2 |
| ISO | Language |
|---|---|
| ES | Spanish language |