Editing Matanzas (section)

==History==
{{see also|Timeline of Matanzas}}
[[File:Parque Libertad (5978575312).jpg|thumb|left|Libertad Square in Matanzas city]]
[[File:Necropolis de San Carlos Borromeo 2007.jpg|thumb|left|[[Necropolis de San Carlos Borromeo]]]]

Matanzas was founded on October 12, 1693,  as ''San Carlos y San Severino de Matanzas''.<ref name=guije/>  This followed a royal decree ("''[[real cédula]]''") issued on September 25, 1690, which decreed that the bay and port of Matanzas be settled by 30 families from the [[Canary Islands]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cubagenweb.org/Matanzas/index.htm|title=Matanzas|website=www.cubagenweb.org}}</ref>

Matanzas was one of the regions that saw intensive development of sugar plantations during the colonial era. Consequently, many African slaves were imported to support the sugar industry, particularly during the first half of the nineteenth century. For example, in 1792 there were 1900 slaves in Matanzas, roughly 30% of its population. In 1817, the slave population of Matanzas had grown to 10,773, comprising nearly 50% of the overall population. By 1841, 53,331 slaves made up 62.7% of the population of Matanzas.<ref name=Bergard>Bergad, Laird W. ''Cuban Rural Society in the Nineteenth Century: The Social and Economic History of Monoculture in Matanzas''. Princeton University Press, 1990.</ref> Census figures for 1859 put the Matanzas slave population at 104,519.<ref name=Bergard/> Matanzas was the site of several slave insurrections and plots, including the infamous ''Escalera'' conspiracy<sub>([[:es:Conspiración de la Escalera|es]])</sub> (discovered in late 1843, see also [[Year of the Lash]]). Due to the high number of both slaves and, importantly, free Afro-Cubans in Matanzas, the retention of African traditions is especially strong there. In 1898, Matanzas became the location of the first action in the [[Spanish–American War]]. The city was bombarded by American Navy vessels on 25 April 1898, just after the beginning of the war.

===Name origin===
The name Matanzas means "[[Wiktionary:massacre|massacre]]" and refers to a putative slaughter in 1510 at the port of the same name, in which 30 Spanish soldiers tried to cross one of the rivers to attack an aboriginal camp on the far shore. The Spanish soldiers had no boats, so they enlisted the help of native [[fishermen]]. However, once they reached the middle of the river, the fishermen flipped the boats, and due to the Spanish soldiers' heavy metal armor, most of them drowned.<ref>[http://parnaseo.uv.es/Editorial/Maura/CuartaParte.pdf Matanzas legend] (PDF)</ref> Only two women—one said to be the beautiful María de Estrada—survived, the result of being taken by a [[Cacique]]. De Estrada is said to have later escaped the "power of the Cacique" and married Pedro Sánchez Farfán in the city of [[Trinidad, Cuba|Trinidad]].  According to municipal historian Arnaldo Jimenez de la Cal, "[i]t was the first act of rebellion of natives in Cuba."