HAVANA: AN EARLY URBANIZER

Cuba was an early urbanizer. By 1899, 28.5 percent of its population lived in localities of 20,000 or more inhabitants, a percentage slightly higher than that of the US (23.8 percent). In Latin America, only Argentina and Uruguay approximated that same level, having urban populations of 22.5 percent and 30.5 percent respectively.

Accordingly, the country’s relative level of urbanization was comparable to levels found in the more industrialized and urbanized countries of the world.

The urban hierarchy of Cuba was dominated by Havana. In 1899, the capital city had 235,981 inhabitants and was more than 5 times larger than the second largest city, Santiago de Cuba, which had 43,090 inhabitants.

The population of Havana City represented 55.5 percent of the total for Havana province, 15 percent of the nation’s total, and 31.8 percent of the country’s urban population.

Aside from natural increase,  Havana’s demographic growth was fed by the movement of campesinos (peasants) from the countryside to the city, and by immigration which was predominantly Spanish, African, and French in origin.

660,958 immigrants arrived in Cuba during the first three decades of the 20th century; and about one out of every three settled in Havana.

In the aftermath of World War I (and later World War II), Havana accepted refugees and migrants fleeing war-torn Europe and the break-up of colonial empires. East European and Sephardic Jews were gettoized in the neighborhoods of Old Havana at least until the Second World War.

In Havana, the core area known as Old Havana (Habana Vieja) had long played a commanding role. It was the center of the colonial city and held the country’s major port.

Photograph by Lisa Reynolds Wolfe.