Cienfuegos Bay

Cienfuegos Bay
Bahia de Cienfuegos
Jagua Bay (Bahia de Jagua)
Cienfuegos Bay
Location in Cuba
Coordinates 22°08′02″N 80°28′51″W / 22.13389°N 80.48083°W / 22.13389; -80.48083Coordinates: 22°08′02″N 80°28′51″W / 22.13389°N 80.48083°W / 22.13389; -80.48083
Ocean/sea sources Caribbean Sea
Basin countries  Cuba
Max. length 22 kilometres (14 mi)
Max. width 13 kilometres (8.1 mi)
Surface area 88.46 square kilometres (34.15 sq mi)[1]
Settlements Cienfuegos, Cuba
Jagua

Cienfuegos Bay (Spanish: Bahia de Cienfuegos) is a bay in the Caribbean Sea located in Cienfuegos Province on the southern coast of Cuba. It has served as a refuge for boats for many years. It has two of the most important ports in the country, one of which is the city of Cienfuegos, the capital of the province.

On his second vogage to the Americas, Christopher Columbus visited the bay in 1494. The first permanent settlements occurred in 1738. The Jagua Fortress was erected by King Philip V of Spain in 1742 to protect the bay from pirates who prowled the Caribbean coast in those days. They used it as refuge at landfall, on their way to the city of Cienfuegos.[1]

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/24/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.