It's hard to convey the wonder, sensuality, and odd fallen beauty of Havana. Hard to imagine a city with such rhythm and verve. A city at once so tremendously vibrant and at the same time laid-back. Until you've taken a lazy stroll along the Malecón, gotten lost in the time warp of Habana Vieja's colonial cobblestone streets, ridden in a 1940 Dodge taxi through crumbling Centro Habana, danced salsa until dawn after catching the Tropicana floor show, or witnessed Afro-Cuban religious rituals on the street, anything I write will simply not suffice.
Originally established in 1514 on Cuba's southern coast, by November 1519, San Cristóbal de la Habana had been moved to and rechristened in its present-day location on the island's north coast, at the mouth of a deep and spacious harbor with a narrow and protected harbor channel. Before long, Havana had become the most important port in the Spanish colonial empire, a natural final gathering place for the resupply and embarkation of the Spanish fleet before returning to the Old Country laden with bounty. By 1607, Havana had been declared the capital of colonial Cuba, and by the early 1700s, it was the third-largest city in the Spanish empire, behind Mexico City and Lima.
Subsequent centuries saw Havana grow steadily in wealth, size, and prominence. Havana was luckily spared the bulk of the violence and fighting that occurred in Cuba's Wars of Independence, and later revolutionary war. Following the mysterious sinking of the USS Maine in Havana harbor in 1898, a long period of direct U.S. control and indirect U.S. influence followed. This period saw the first indications of suburban sprawl and the growing importance of the western neighborhoods of Vedado and Miramar. This era was also marked by a strong presence of mob activity, with the likes of Al Capone, Meyer Lanksy, and Lucky Luciano setting up shop in Havana.
Havana has been largely frozen in time in the wake of the 1959 Revolution. Decades of economic crisis and shortages have left much of Havana in severe decay and decomposition. The great exception to this rule is Habana Vieja, which has been meticulously restored to much of its colonial glory. Although this is beginning to change, with the recent boom in tourism and tourism-related growth, what new construction has occurred over the past 40 years has largely borne the drab architectural stamp of the former Soviet Union and its central state planning. Luckily, most of this has taken place largely outside the boundaries of the traditional city center. Today, Havana, with some 2.5 million inhabitants, is the largest city in the Caribbean and Cuba's undisputed political, business, and cultural center.
