Havana is the capital city, largest city, province, major port, and leading commercial center of Cuba. The city has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of 781.58 km2 – making it the largest city by area, the most populous city, and the fourth largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean region.The city of Havana was founded by the Spanish in the 16th century and due to its strategic location it served as a springboard for the Spanish conquest of the Americas, becoming a stopping point for treasure-laden Spanish galleons returning to Spain. The King Philip II of Spain granted Havana the title of City in 1592. Walls as well as forts were built to protect the old city. The sinking of the U.S. battleship Maine in Havana's harbor in 1898 was the immediate cause of the Spanish–American War.The city is the center of the Cuban government, and home to various ministries, headquarters of businesses and over 90 diplomatic offices. In 2009, the city/province had the third highest income in the country.Contemporary Havana can essentially be described as three cities in one: Old Havana, Vedado and the newer suburban districts. The city extends mostly westward and southward from the bay, which is entered through a narrow inlet and which divides into three main harbors: Mari melena, Guanabacoa and Antares. The sluggish Almendares River traverses the city from south to north, entering the Straits of Florida a few miles west of the bay.The city attracts over a million tourists annually;the Official Census for Havana reports that in 2010 the city was visited by 1,176,627 international tourists, a 20% increase from 2005.

Havana Havana is the capital city of Cuba

The city is located on La Habana Bay on the island’s north coast. It is the largest city in the Caribbean region and has one of the great treasuries of historic colonial preserves in the Western Hemisphere. Prior to 1959, when Fidel Castro came to power, it was a mecca for tourists from the United States, who were drawn by the city’s many attractions, which included climate and nightlife in addition to history. During the following years, however, despite its continued importance as the island’s major economic hub, Havana lost much of its lustre, because Castro’s socialist government redirected the country’s resources primarily toward the improvement of conditions in rural Cuba.
 

• Standing 39 floors, the Edificio Focsa is the tallest high rise in the capital—and at the time it was built in 1956, it was also the second-tallest building made of concrete in the world
   
• Singer Gloria Estefan was born in the Cuban capital on September 1, 1957. Her dad was a bodyguard for President Fulgencio Batista
   
• Andy Garciawas born in 1956, his family lost ownership of their land during the revolution and migrated to Miami. He went on to star in classics like 1987’s The Untouchables, 1988’s Stand and Deliver, and 1990’s The Godfather: Part III
   
• Average daily highs range from 72ºF (22ºC) in January / February to 82ºF (28ºC) in August
   
• Ernest Hemingway lived near Havana for over 20 years, during which he wrote The Old Man and the Sea. The novel's fishing village was based on the little port town of Cojímar, where Hemingway kept his own fishing boat, and the main character was based on a local fisherman he knew
   

Havana is administered by a city council, with a mayor as chief administrative officer. The city is dependent upon the national government, however, for much of its budgetary and overall political direction. The national government is headquartered in Havana and plays an extremely visible role in the city’s life. Moreover, the all-embracing authority of many national institutions, including the Communist Party of Cuba , the Cuban army, the militia, and neighbourhood groups called the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution , has led to a declining role for the city government, which, nevertheless, still provides such essential services as garbage collection and fire protection. The CDRs, which exist in virtually every street and apartment block, have two main functions: first, to actually defend the revolution against both external and internal opposition and, second, to handle routine tasks in maintaining neighbourhoods. Havana’s borders are contiguous with the province Ciudad de la Habana. Thus Havana functions as both a city and a province. There are two joint councils upon which city and provincial authorities meet—one embraces municipal and provincial leaders on a national basis, the other a Havana city and provincial council. Utility services are under the control of several nationalized state enterprises that have developed since the Castro revolution. Water, electricity, and sewage service are administered in this fashion. Electricity is supplied by generators that are fueled with oil. Much of the original power plant installation, which operated before the Castro government assumed control, has become somewhat outdated. Electrical blackouts occurred, prompting the national government in 1986 to allocate the equivalent of $25 million to modernize the electrical system. It is said that any part of Havana is within five minutes of a firefighting unit; the equipment is largely new.

The current governor is Reinaldo García Zapata, he was elected on January, 2020.The city is administered by a city-provincial council, with a governor as chief administrative officer, thus Havana functions as both a city and a province. The city has little autonomy and is dependent upon the national government, particularly, for much of its budgetary and overall political direction. The national government is headquartered in Havana and plays an extremely visible role in the city's life. Voters elect delegates to Municipal Assemblies in competitive elections. There is only one political party, the Communist Party, but since there must be a minimum of two candidates, members of the Communist Party often run against each other. Candidates are not required to be members of the party. They are nominated directly by citizens in open meetings within each election district. Municipal Assembly delegates in turn elect members of the Provincial Assembly, which in Havana serves roughly as the City Council; its president functions as the Mayor. There are direct elections for deputies to the National Assembly based on slates, and a portion of the candidates is nominated at the local level. The People's Councils consist of local municipal delegates who elect a full-time representative to preside over the body. In addition, there is participation from «mass organisations» and representatives of local government agencies, industries and services.

Havana has a diversified economy, with traditional sectors, such as manufacturing, construction, transportation and communications, and new or revived ones such as biotechnology and tourism. The city's economy first developed on the basis of its location, which made it one of the early great trade centres in the New World. Sugar and a flourishing slave trade first brought riches to the city, and later, after independence, it became a renowned resort. Despite efforts by Fidel Castro's government to spread Cuba's industrial activity to all parts of the island, Havana remains the centre of much of the nation's industry.

The traditional sugar industry, upon which the island's economy has been based for three centuries, is centred elsewhere on the island and controls some three-fourths of the export economy. But light manufacturing facilities, meat-packing plants, and chemical and pharmaceutical operations are concentrated in Havana. Other food-processing industries are also important, along with shipbuilding, vehicle manufacturing, production of alcoholic beverages , textiles, and tobacco products, particularly the world-famous Habanos cigars. The port also supports a considerable fishing industry.

In 2000, nearly 89% of the city's officially recorded labour force worked for government-run agencies, institutions or enterprises. Havana, on average, has the country's highest incomes and human development indicators. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba re-emphasized tourism as a major industry leading to its recovery. Tourism is now Havana and Cuba's primary economic source. Havana's economy is still in flux, despite Raul Castro's embrace of free enterprise in 2011. Though there was an uptick in small businesses in 2011, many have since gone out of business, due to lack of business and income on the part of the local residents, whose salaries average $20 per month.

In Havana, Cuban-owned businesses and U.S.-owned businesses were nationalized and today most businesses operate solely under state control. In Old Havana and throughout Vedado there are several small private businesses, such as shoe-repair shops or dressmaking facilities. Banking as well is also under state control, and the National Bank of Cuba, headquartered in Havana, is the control center of the Cuban economy. Its branches in some cases occupy buildings that were in pre-revolutionary times the offices of Cuban or foreign banks. In the late 1990s Vedado, located along the Atlantic waterfront, started to represent the principal commercial area. It was developed extensively between 1930 and 1960, when Havana developed as a major destination for U.S. tourists; high-rise hotels, casinos, restaurants, and upscale commercial establishments, many reflecting the art deco style.

The city's public buses are carried out by the Empresa Provincial de Transporte de La Habana . The Red Principal, previously known as MetroBus, serves the inner-city urban area, with a maximum distance of 20 km . The Red Principal consists of 17 main lines, identified with the letter «P» with long-distance routes. The stops are usually 800–1,000 metres , with frequent buses in peak hours, about every 10 minutes. It uses large modern articulated buses, such as the Chinese-made Yutong brand, Russian-made Liaz, or MAZ of Belarus. The Red Alimentadora, known as the feeder line, connects the adjacent towns and cities in the metropolitan area with the city center, with a maximum distance of 40 km . This division has one of the most used and largest urban bus fleets in the country, its fleet is made up of mostly new Chinese Yutong buses. The Airport lies about 11 kilometres south of the city center, in the municipality of Boyeros, and is the main hub for the country's flag carrier Cubana de Aviación. The airport is Cuba's main international and domestic gateway, it connects Havana with the rest of the Caribbean, North, Central and South America, Europe and one destination in Africa. The city is also served by Playa Baracoa Airport which is small airport to the west of city used for some domestic flights, primarily Aerogaviota. Havana has a network of suburban, interurban and long-distance rail lines. The railways are nationalised and run by the FFCC . The FFCC connects Havana with all the provinces of Cuba. The main railway stations are: Central Rail Station, La Coubre Rail Station, Casablanca Station, and Estación de Tulipán. In the 1980s there were plans for a Metro system in Havana similar to Moscow's, as a result of the Soviet Union influence in Cuba at the time. The studies of geology and finance made by Cuban, Czech and Soviet specialists were already well advanced in the 1980s. The Cuban press showed the construction project and the course route, linking municipalities and neighborhoods in the capital. In the late 1980s the project had already begun, each mile of track was worth a million dollars at the time, but with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 the project was later dropped.

An interurban line, known as the Hershey Electric Railway, built in 1917 runs from Casablanca to Hershey and on to Matanzas.Havana operated a tram system until 1952, which began as a horsecar system, Ferro Carril Urbano de la Habana in 1858[, merged with rival coach operator in 1863 as Empresa del Ferro-Carril Urbano y Omnibus de La Habana and later electrified in 1900 under new foreign owners as Havana Electric Railway Company. Ridership decline resulted in bankruptcy in 1950 with new owner Autobus Modernos SA abandoning systems in favor of buses and sold the remaining cars were sold to Matanzas in 1952. Ferries connect Old Havana with Regla and Casablanca, leaving every 10–15 minutes from Muelle Luz .