BARACOA  , a seaport

city of N.E . Cuba, in Santiago province . Pop . (1907) 5633 . The town lies under high hills on a small circular harbour accessible to small craft . The country round about is extremely rugged . The hill called the " Anvil of Baracoa " (about 3000 ft.) is remarkable for its extremely regular formation . It completely dominates the city's background, and is a well-known sailors' landmark . The town is the trading centre of a large plantation region behind it and is the centre of the banana and cocoanut export trade . There is a fort dating from the middle of the 18th century . Baracoa is the oldest town in Cuba, having been settled by Diego Velazquez in 1512 . It held from its foundation the honours of a city .

From 1512 to 1514 it was the

capital of the island, and from -1518 to 1522 its church was the cathedral of the island's first diocese . Both honours were taken from it to be given to Santiago de Cuba; and for two centuries after this Baracoa remained an obscure village, with little commerce . In the 16th century it was repeatedly plundered by pirates until it came to terms with them, gave them welcome harbourage, and based a less precarious existence upon continuous illicit trade . Until the middle of the 18th century Baracoa was almost without connexion with Havana and Santiago . In the wars of the end of the century it was a place of deposit for French and Spanish corsairs . At this time, too, about Too fugitive immigrant families from Santo Domingo greatly augmented its industrial importance . In 1807 an unsuccessful attack was made upon the city by an English force . In 1826 the port was opened to foreign commerce .