El Cobre, Cuba

El Cobre is a Cuban town and consejo popular ("people's council", i.e. hamlet) of the municipality of Santiago de Cuba, capital of the homonym province, with a population of about 7,000.

[1] Mainly known for a Basilica in honour of Our Lady of Charity, the patron saint of Cuba, it was until recently the site of a large copper mine worked by slaves, free coloured people, and for a while by miners from Cornwall.

[4] The Spanish crown confiscated the mines in 1670 after the private contractor had failed to comply with the terms of his contract and had neglected them for years.

[5] By 1730 El Cobre was one of just fourteen officially recognised settlements on Cuba, of which two or possibly three were Indian corporate pueblos.

[5] The first great uprising of cimarrones, or escaped slaves, occurred in Cuba in the 18th century, and is commemorated by a large sculpture on a hill beside the town.

[7] The 6 metres (20 ft) Monumento al Cimarrón was designed by Alberto Lescay Merencio and completed in 1997 as part of the UNESCO initiative to make people more aware of slavery.

Monument to the cimarrón