Quivican

Quivican is one of the nineteen municipalities of the province of La Habana, Cuba.  Others include: Health; San Felipe; Santa Monica; Guiro Bonigal; Pablo Noriega; as well as thirteen rural settlements of lower population density.  These are San Agustin, San Jose, Avocado, Manuel Fajardo, CPA May 17, CPA 26 de Julio, El Tanque, La Chapa, La Estrella, Guiro Marrero, Whereabouts and Villarreal.  Quivican is considered one of twenty oldest towns across Cuba.

Located specifically at 82.5 degrees west longitude and 23.2 north, its territorial borders are to the north Bejucal, San Jose de las Lajas and San Antonio de las Vegas, to the south Batabano and the Sea West Indies, to the west San Antonio de los Banos and Guira de Melena.   Its territory is mostly flat.

The first historical references date back to the sixteenth century, specifically 2/9/1569, as stated in the documents of the City of Havana, and was granted to Don Jeronimo Vaca Quivican, the fourth land grant awarded in South Central Jurisdiction of San Cristobal de La Habana. Later in 1700 it formalized the establishment of the Villa, the emergence of a small rural community about St. Peter the Apostle Parish in its infancy, it was a poor thatched chapel erected in 1667 by Bishop Juan de Santos Matias.  Its early economic development was based on livestock and their derivatives with a diversified subsistence agriculture.

The original hacienda of the same name in the west end of the farm was called Pedroso, near the road leading to the south coast were hunters, laborers, foremen, craftsmen, traders settled, thus constituting the primitive settlement now known as Quivican.   Following the administration of this village there were joined pens in Guiro Guiro Bnigal Marrero. This became Quivican jurisdiction and the government possessed St. Philip and St. James of Bejucal.

From the eighteenth-century they made productions of meats, vegetables and fruits and these characterized the area.  In the early nineteenth century they introduced coffee-growing to the town and there was a surge in sugarcane production in the mid-century. Several mills were built at that time as was the railroad from St. Augustine Mosquera.

Regarding the origin of the name of Quivican, several sources claim that it comes from an aboriginal word, which in turn derives from the words and Quivey Can. Quivey is a common noun that names a plant commonly known as Revientacaballo and Can, adjective of which means extensive.   Other scholars consider it as an alteration of Quivijan, a word that comes from the east of the country. However, it also has presented the thesis that purports it to be based on words and suggests the aboriginal Laja Red or Red Earth, which has great weight thanks to the eminently reddish soil of the area.

Economy

The town’s industrial and economic development is based on agricultural production. It emphasizes the cultivation of sugarcane and sugar production, varied crops, meats, vegetables and fruit. It also highlights tobacco production.   They are important in the area of scientific research centers dedicated to the development of cane and its derivatives, and other horticultural research.

Cultural activity in the central park
The territory is characterized by a humid tropical climate, which is why in the winter months the temperature drops considerably in this area compared to other localities of the Cuban geography.  This is also aided by subsurface drainage and the intermittent Quivican River, which has also led to the formation of several caves and a cavernous complex, many of which are inundated by the flow of the water table, and which they have also found fossils of a kind never before encountered.

The town boasts many natural assets of geographic and physiographic settings. Forest resources are calculated 3812.72 ha of natural forest, 306.91 ha of plantations and 14% of the total area of forest vegetation.  Quivican has two rivers: the Quivican; already mentioned, also called Aguas Verdes, and San Felipe. Both have the peculiarity of intermittent surface drainage.  Its water resources include groundwater basins Guira-Quivican and Batabano.

In 2004 the town had a population of 29,253 inhabitants. With a total area of 283 km² and a population density of 103.4/km ².

The Catholic Church is the most extensive with the largest number of their faithful baptized.  But new groups are present or emerging religious groups such as the Baptist Church, the Adventist Church, Pentecostal groups and Jehovah’s Witnesses. There are also the Afro-Cuban religious beliefs.   Much of the population is indifferent towards religion, and another portion is atheist.