Baracoa, Cuba, North America
Year 1511 latitude: 20° 20' longitude: -74° 29' Period Initiator(s) Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar Planning organization Spain Nationality initiator(s) Spanish Designer(s) / Architect(s) Design organization Inhabitants 81,974 (2005) Target population Town website Town related links www.baracoa.org http://www.guije.com/pueblo/municipios/obaracoa/index.htm Literature type of New Town: > scale of autonomy New-Town-in-Town Satellite New Town Company Town > client Private Corporation Public Corporation > policy Capital Decentralization Industrialization Resettlement Economic
Baracoa was founded in 1511 by the conquistador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, who conquered and governed Cuba on behalf of Spain. Velazquez founded seven towns on Cuba of which Baracoa was the first. Because of that it carries the nickname ciudad primada (first city). Spanish conquistadores probably chose to found their first city here, because it was assumed that this was the first spot where Christopher Columbus came on shore in October 1492. Later spanish colonial cities follow the principles that are determined in the the Laws of the Indies that was written in 1523. This town therefore couldn't have followed these exact principles. Still, like the later colonial towns, Baracoa does have a gridiron street alignment. The one set of roads follows the shoreline and the other set intersects with regular intervals. Though it must be noted that the gridiron isn't as strict as the way it would be applied in the later colonial cities, whose founders did had to follow the Laws of the Indies. source: Ellen van Holstein
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