MANZANILLO  , an important commercial

city of Cuba, in Santiago province, on the gulf of Guacanabo, about 17 M . S. of the mouth of the Rio Cauto, on the shore of Manzanillo Bay . Pop . (1907), 15,819 . It is shut off to the east and south by the Sierra Maestra . Besides the Cauto, the rivers Yara and Buey are near the city . Manzanillo is the only coast town of importance between Trinidad and Santiago . It exports large quantities of sugar, hides, tobacco, and bees-wax; also some cedar and mahogany . The history of the settlement begins in 1784, but the port was already important at that time for a trade in woods and fruits; French and English corsairs resorted thither for ship-building woods . The settlement was sacked by the French in 1792, and in the following year a fort was built for its protection . In 1833 it received an ayuntamiento (council) and in 1837, for its " loyalty " in not following the lead of Santiago in proclaiming the Spanish Constitution, received from the crown the title of Fiel . In 1827 the port was opened to commerce, national and foreign .