The area generally features flat topography in the south, while the north intersperses small, significant elevations such as Bartola, Salsipuedes, and La Plata, creating a beautiful landscape.

Early on, local Creole communities developed, leading over the centuries to land exploitation primarily in livestock and small crop plots using primitive methods until, after the Spanish occupation, a production system utilizing slave labor was established.

Forces under the command of Calixto García Iñiguez fought battles on September 22, 1873, against Fort Martillo, joined by generals such as Flor Crombet, Leyte-Vidal, Guillermo Moncada, and Ricardo de Céspedes.

The Catalan José Miró Argenter, along with Diego Carballo Hidalgo and Pablo García, gathered the first troops, staging the Mala Noche Uprising.

14 operated between Buenaventura and Holguín under the command of fighter Oscar Orozco Viltres, with Arsenio García Dávila as second, an expeditionary of the Granma.

In 1976, with the creation of the OACE on October 10, 1976, which coincidentally was constituted, the government was recognized as a popular power, following the experience taken from the province of Matanzas and by agreement of the politburo.

With the annexation of part of San Andrés, the municipality takes the name of Calixto García, with a territorial extension of 616.97 km2 and a population of just over 53,000 inhabitants.

The largest and longest river is the Río La Rioja, which became tragically famous during Hurricane Flora, when its floods caused destruction in the area.