Oriente (Spanish for "East" or "Orient") was one of six provinces of Cuba until 1976. It was known as "Santiago de Cuba Province" before 1905. The name is still used to refer to the eastern part of the country. The provincial capital was Santiago de Cuba. Fidel and Raúl Castro were born there.
The province was split up in 1976, with the administrative re-adjustment proclaimed by Cuban Law Number 1304 of July 3, 1976. Historical Oriente is currently represented by 5 provinces:
Las Tunas Province
Granma Province
Holguín Province
Santiago de Cuba Province
Guantánamo Province
Diego Velazquez founded the capital of Oriente province in 1514 and named it Santiago de Cuba. The province comprises 22 municipalities and is Cuba’s largest province containing about one third of the country’s population. Oriente Province is in the most eastern region of Cuba with a population of 1,797,606. It stretches across 14,641 square miles (37,920 km2) and consists of various mountain ranges with the Sierra Maestra region having Cuba’s highest mountain peak and elevation in Pico Turquino. Oriente Province is the cradle of much of Cuba’s history being the place of Fidel and Raul Castro’s birth. José Martí was killed in battle in Dos Ríos and many guerrllla wars have also taken place in Oriente. Cuba’s first guerilla-style war was in 1523. against the advancing Spaniards in the Sierra Maestra Mountains. Some of Cuba’s oldest cities are in Oriente Province (such as Baracoa) and carry a rich history of Cuba’s struggle for independence and racial equality.
Throughout the 1800s. a significant amount of African slaves were brought to Cuba to work at the sugar mills, although many were brought from Haiti and other neighboring islands because they were also cheap and efficient labor. Open warfare broke out after an independence movement and lasted from 1867 to 1878. Slavery was finally abolished in 1886, but life for many Afro-Cubans remains a struggle, especially in Oriente Province.
After the occupation of the Spanish ended in 1899, Oriente Province became a refuge for Afro-Cubans. Oriente had the highest number of individual land owners and renters with 96% of the population being native-born. Afro-Cubans constituted as many as 26% of the land workers. Of the total land owned by Afro-Cubans, 75% were in Oriente Province. Even though Afro-Cubans fared better in Oriente, poverty was still rampant in the province and they remained oppressed by wealthy Cubans and foreign land owners.
Sugar and coffee were the main agricultural products produced. And at the highest there were forty-one sugar mills spread throughout the region. Foreign investors saw opportunity within the province and began to buy as much land as possible to increase sugar production. As investors bought land, local farmers were pushed out and frustration increased. Poverty grew and by May 1912 Cubans in Oriente Province had reached a boiling point. Massive demonstrations erupted and Afro-Cubans began to loot and burn businesses and property owned by foreign investors. In response, the Cuban government sent in the army to burn the property of the Afro-Cubans and slaughtered many. Within two years, half of the sugar mills in Oriente were owned by U.S. investors. For Cubans working within the province, life had become near unbearable.The presence of Americans, Jamaicans and Haitians, brought in by the United Fruit Company exacerbated racial problems not present until the U.S. occupation of 1898. Cuba´s national hero, José Martí called for a multiracial republic.
1511 Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar
1528 Pedro de Barba
1532 Gonzalo Ñuño de Guzmán
1538 Juan de Rojas; Isabel de Bobadilla
1539 Hernando de Soto
1545 Juan de Avila
1547 Antonio de Chávez
1549 Gonzalo Pérez de Angulo
1550 Juan de Hinestrosa
1554 Diego de Mazariegos
1565 García Osorio
1567 Diego de Ribera y Cepero
1568 Francisco de Zayas; Pedro Menéndez de Airlés
1570 Pedro Vázquez Valdés
1571 Juan Alonso de Navia
1574 Sancho Pardo Osorio
1576 Gabriel de Montalvo
1577 Diego de Soto
1578 Juan Carreño
1580 Gaspar de Torres
1584 Gabriel Luján
1586 Pedro Vega de la Guerra
1589 Juan Tejada
1596 Juan Maldonado
1602 Pedro Valdés
1608 Juan de Villaverde Ozeta
1609 Juan Ortiz
1614 Juan García de Navia
1618 Rodrigo de Velazco
1625 Pedro Fonseca Betancourt
1627 Alonso Cabrera
1630 Juan Acevedo
1632 Joan de Amezquita Quijano
1633 Pedro de la Roca y Borgés
1643 Bartolomé Osuna
1649 Diego Felipe Ribera
1654 Pedro Bayona Villanueva
1659 Pedro Morales
1662 Francisco de la Vega
1663 Juan Bravo Acuña
1664 Pedro Bayona Villanueva
1670 Andrés de Magaña
1678 Francisco de la Vega
1683 Gil Correoso Catalán
1688 Tomás Pizarro Cortés
1690 Juan Villalobos
1691 Alvaro Romero Venegas
1692 Sebastián Arencibia Isasi
1698 Mateo Palacio Saldurtum
1700 Juan, Barón de Chaves
1708 José Canales
1711 Luis Sañudo Asay
1712 Mateo de Cangas
1713 Carlos Sucre
1728 Juan del Hoyo; Pedro Ignacio Jiménez
1738 Francisco A Cagigal
1747 Lorenzo de Arcos y Moreno
1754 Lorenzo Madariaga
1765 Marqués de Casa Cagigal
1770 Esteban de Olaris
1772 Juan Antonio Ayauz de Ureta
1776 José Teutor
1779 Antonio de Salas
1781 Vicente Manuel de Céspedes
1782 Nicolás de Arredondo
1788 Juan Bautista Vaillant
1796 Juan Nepomuceno Quintana
1798 Isidoro de Limonta
1799 Sebastián Kindelán
1800 Pedro Alcántara de Urbina
1814 Pedro Celestino Duharte; Antonio Mozo de la Torre
1816 Eusebio Escudero
1821 Marqués de San Felipe y Santiago
1822 Juan de Moya; Gabriel de Torres y Velasco
1824 Juan de Moya
1825 Francisco de Yllas
1826 Juan de Moya; Isidro Barradas; Francisco de Yllas
1828 Juan de Moya
1830 Francisco de Yllas
1831 Juan de Moya
1834 José Santos de la Hera; Fernando Cacho
1835 Manuel Lorenzo
1837 Santiago Fortuns; Juan de Moya; Tomás Yarto
1839 Joaquín Escario; Pedro Becerra
1840 Juan Tello
1843 Cayetano Urbina
1846 Gregorio Piquero
1847 José Mac-Crohón
1851 Joaquín del Manzano
1852 Joaquín Martínez de Medinilla
1854 Marqués de España
1855 Carlos de Vargas Machuca
1859 Primo de Rivera
1860 Antonio López de Letona
1862 José Colubrí Massort
1863 José Ramón de la Gándara
1864 Casimiro de la Muela; Blas Villate de la Hera, Conde de Valmaseda
1865 Marqués de la Concordia; Juan de Ojeda; José del Villar y Flores
1866 Juan de Ojeda; José del Villar
1867 Juan de Ojeda; Ramón Vivanco y León; Joaquín Ravenet y Morantes
1868 Juan de Ojeda; Fructuoso García Muñoz
1869 Simón de la Torre y Orsuaza; Juan de Ojeda; Félix Ferrer y Mora; Blas Villate, Conde de Valmaseda
1870 Juan de Ojeda; Conde de Valmaseda; José Melero y Calvo; Zacarías González Goyeneche
1871 Carlos Palanca y Gutiérrez
1872 Arsenio Martínez de Campo; Luis Riquelme; Adolfo Morales de los Ríos
1873 Juan García Navarro; Sabas Marín; Adolfo Morales de los Ríos; Juan Nepomuceno Burriel
1874 Juan Nepomuceno Burriel
1875 Sabas Marín
1876 Ramón Menduiña
1877 José Sáenz de Tejada; Enrique Bargés y Pombo; Luis Prendergast y Gordón; Camilo Polavieja; Andrés González Muñoz
1878 Luis Daban y Ramírez de Arellano
1880 Luis M de Pando; Camilo Polavieja; Emilio March y García
1881 Camilo Polavieja; Emilio March y García
1885 Luis M de Pando; Antonio Molto y Díaz-Bario; Francisco Acosta Alvear
1887 Santos Pérez y Ruiz; Alvaro Suárez Valdés
1889 Luis Izquierdo Roldán; Andrés González Muñoz; Ramón Barrio y Ruiz Vidal
1890 Francisco Javier Obregón
1891 Andrés González Muñoz; Leopoldo Barrios Carrión
1892 Andrés González Muñoz; Francisco Rodríguez del Rey; José Blanco y González Calderón; Rafael Suero Marcoleta; Antonio Gálvez y González
1893 Rafael Suero Marcoleta; Agustín Bravo y Jóven; Enrique Capriles y Osuna
1895 Sebastián Kindelán y Griñau; Jorge Garrich y Allo; José Giménez y Moreno
1897 Carlos Denis y Trueba; Juan A Vinent y Kindelán; Federico Ordax y Avecilla; Enrique Capriles
1898 Francisco Oliveiros y Jiménez; Enrique Capriles; Leonardo Ros y Rodríguez; Leonardo Wood
1902 Samuel Whiteside
Present day municipalities that were part of Oriente include
in Granma Province,
in Guantánamo Province,
in Holguín Province,
in Las Tunas and
in Santiago de Cuba Province.