Matanzas Province | |
Settlement Type: | Province of Cuba |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Name: | Cuba |
Seat Type: | Capital |
Seat: | Matanzas |
Parts Type: | Municipalities |
Parts Style: | para |
Leader Title: | President |
Leader Name: | Mario Felipe Sabines Lorenzo |
Unit Pref: | Metric |
Area Total Km2: | 11798.02 |
Population Footnotes: | [1] |
Population Total: | 710,127 |
Population As Of: | 2021-12-31 |
Population Density Km2: | auto |
Blank Name Sec2: | HDI (2019) |
Blank Info Sec2: | 0.789[2] · 4th of 16 |
Timezone1: | EST |
Utc Offset1: | -5 |
Area Code: | +53-52 |
Iso Code: | CU-04 |
Website: | www.matanceros.gob.cu/es |
Matanzas (pronounced as /es/) is one of the provinces of Cuba. Major towns in the province include Cárdenas, Colón, Jovellanos and the capital of the same name, Matanzas. The resort town of Varadero is also located in this province.
Among Cuban provinces, Matanzas is one of the most industrialized, with petroleum wells, refineries, supertanker facilities, and 21 sugar mills to process the harvests of the fields of sugarcane in the province.
The second largest in Cuba, Matanzas province is largely flat, with its highest point (Pan de Matanzas) at only 380m above sea level.
The north-western coast is largely rocky, with a few beaches, while the north-eastern coast has numerous small cays of its coast (part of Sabana-Camaguey Archipelago), and scrubland and mangroves near the shoreline. Cuba's northernmost point is located in on Hicacos Peninsula.
The southern coast has one of Cuba's most distinctive features: an enormous marsh, Ciénaga de Zapata that covers both the southern part of the province and the Zapata Peninsula. East of the peninsula lies the Bay of Pigs, the site of the failed US backed invasion.
From 1976 to 2010 Matanzas was sub-divided into 14 municipalities.[3] Starting from 2011, the municipality of Varadero was abolished and merged to Cárdenas. Thus Matanzas now has 13 municipalities.
Municipality | Population (2004) | Population (2022) | Area (km²) | Location | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Calimete | |||||
Cárdenas | |||||
Cienaga de Zapata | Playa Larga | ||||
Colón | |||||
Jagüey Grande | |||||
Jovellanos | |||||
Limonar | |||||
Los Arabos | |||||
Martí | |||||
Matanzas | Province capital | ||||
Pedro Betancourt | |||||
Perico | |||||
Unión de Reyes | |||||
Varadero | see Cárdenas | Abolished in 2010 | |||
In 2004, the province of Matanzas had a population of 675,980.[4] With a total area of 11802.72km2,[6] the province had a population density of 57.3/km2.