| La Isabela | |
| |
| Nation: | Pirates (Nation) |
|---|---|
| Region: | Antilles |
| Info: | Conquerable Port |
| Resources: | Fertile Soil Fertile Soil (Sugar) Forest (Teak) Iron Deposits River |
| NPC Level: | Unknown |
History
La Isabella is also known as Isabela de Sagua was built on the site of a Taino native village.
Pre-Columbian
Cuba, the largest of the Caribbean islands, was first inhabited by Indigenous peoples known as the Taíno and Ciboney.
Colonization
On 27 October 1492, Christopher Columbus sighted the island of Cuba during his first voyage of discovery and claimed it for Spain. Cuba subsequently became a Spanish colony to be ruled by the Spanish governor in Havana, though in 1762 this city was briefly held by Britain before being returned in exchange for Florida in The Seven Years War.
La Isabella sits on a point by the mouth of a river, known as the Sagua or Çagua where the Taino villagers called Sagüeros lived. Pánfilo de Narváez was the first Spaniard to visit the village and record the name of the river in 1511. It was 79 years later that the Spanish colonized the area in two waves led by Don Alonso de Zepeda in 1590 and Jumagua y Don Antón Díaz in 1591.
The Spanish had a hard time developing the area due to the "curse of pirates." It was so bad that in 1664 Don Melchor Francisco al Cabildo de Remedios petitioned for a military garrison but the Spanish government could not spare any. So the area got no relief or protection.
Later iron was discovered and mined in the Sagua area. Today Isabela de Sagua is a thriving port.
Alternate History
Due to the constant pirate raids the Spanish colonists abandoned the port following the refusal of the government in Havana to send a garrison. The French buccaneers, Dutch raiders and English pirates moved in and stayed using the Sabana Archipelago as cover for their ambusquades of shipping.
Sources
-Se habla de la mención que hace el historiador Don Manuel Dionisio González en su historia de Santa Clara,de una Ermita que se construyó en 1707 en “el camino del embarca-dero”,pero quizás la referencia que usó del camino,sea de su época(sigloXIX)y no de 1707.