History of Granma
The history of Granma dates back to November the 5th, 1513. Founded by Diego Velázquez as San Salvador de Bayamo, it was the second village to be founded in Cuba by the colonizers. Francisco Iznaga, rich owner of Basque origin settled in Eastern Cuba during the first decades of the colonization of the island, was elected councilor of the village of Bayamo in 1540. Due to the navigation conditions allowed by Bayamo river, the village flourished quickly, along with Santiago de Cuba, then capital of the colony.
In the 19th century, the Cubans organized in Masonic lodges to be able to conspire against the Spanish government without raising suspicions. Bayamo happened to be a fundamental place in the Cuban independista thought, when the development of the movement started on October 10, 1868 in La Damajagua, the first capital of the Republica en Armas. Here was sang the National anthem of Cuba for the first time on October 10, 1868. Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, father of the Cuban homeland, presented here the flag of the Republica en Armas, which is the one that today represents the National Assembly of the People’s Power.Read More...
On January 12, 1869 its inhabitants preferred to burn the city rather than deliver it to the Spanish colonial army, a transcendental fact in history of Cuba. In the later stages of the struggle for national liberation, the Bayamenses continued to integrate and stand out within the liberating army.