Sierra Maestra
Sierra Maestra near the border of Granma and Santiago de Cuba provinces.
Highest point
Peak	Pico Turquino
Elevation	1,974 m (6,476 ft)
Coordinates	19°59′22″N 76°50′09″W / 19.98944°N 76.83583°W / 19.98944; -76.83583
Dimensions
Length	240 km (150 mi)
Width	30 km (19 mi)
Geography
Location of Sierra Maestra in Cuba
Country	Cuba
Provinces	Granma and Santiago de Cuba
Range coordinates	20°0′0″N 76°45′0″W / 20.00000°N 76.75000°W / 20.00000; -76.75000

Pico Turquino in the Sierra Maestra, Cuba's highest mountain.

The Sierra Maestra is a mountain range that runs westward across the south of the old Oriente Province in southeast Cuba, rising abruptly from the coast. The range falls mainly within the Santiago de Cuba and in Granma Provinces.^[1] Some view it as a series of connecting ranges (Vela, Santa Catalina, Quemado Grande, Daña Mariana),^[2] which join with others to the west.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} At 1,974 m (6,476 ft), Pico Turquino is the range's – and the country's – highest point. The area is rich in minerals, especially copper, manganese, chromium, and iron.

History

The Sierra Maestra has a long history of guerrilla warfare, starting with the resistance of the Taínos under Guamá (died 1532), the Cimarrón Neo-Taíno nations escaped slave cultures, the Ten Years' War (1868–1878) and the Cuban War of Independence (1895–1898), and various minor conflicts such as the Race War of 1912, and the uprisings of Antonio Guiteras (died 1935) against Gerardo Machado (President of Cuba from 1925 to 1933) and Fulgencio Batista (President 1940–1944 and 1952–1959). After Fidel Castro returned to Cuba in 1956 from exile in Mexico, he and the few other survivors from the failed 1953 attack on Moncada Barracks hid in the Sierra Maestra. There they succeeded in expanding their 26th of July Movement, starting a revolution throughout the region. They built up guerrilla columns, and in collaboration with other groups in the central provinces, Escopeteros on the foot-hills and plains, and the urban resistance, eventually overthrew Batista on 1 January 1959.

Ornithology

Calls of the Cuban subspecies of the ivory-billed woodpecker, now possibly extinct, were reported but not confirmed in the Sierra Maestra in 1998; it remains the most likely habitat to contain a population of the species.^[8] The mountain range also hosts a population of wintering Bicknell's thrushes.^[9]

See also

• Geography of Cuba
• Turquino National Park

References

Notes

Sources

• Achenbach, Joel and Peter Essic (photographer) 2006 The next big one and special supplement (map): Earthquake risk Zones. Nation Geographic 209(4, April), 120–147 and map.
• Anderson, Jon Lee 1997. Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life. Bantam Press, ISBN 0-553-40664-7 or Grove Press, ISBN 0-8021-1600-0
• AP Latin America January 22, 2005 Ship Begins Sound Wave Research Off Yucatan
• Braddock, Daniel M. 1958 Revolutionary Activity in Western Oriente Province. Despatch From the Embassy in Cuba to the Department of State. No. 656 Havana, February 18, 1958 http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cable/cable-2-18-58.htm
• Carney, Bob revised July 11, 2005 Explorations: Gulf of Mexico: Background Geological Setting. Louisiana State University National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | U.S. Department of Commerce http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/02mexico/background/geology/geology.html
• Castellanos Garcia, Gerardo 1927. "Tierras y Glorias de Oriente (Calixto Garcia Iñiguez)" Editorial Hermes Havana p. 155.
• Castro Medel, Osviel and Aldo Daniel Naranjo 2003 (accessed 3-21-06) 490 aniversario Ciudad India y Rebelde (Bayamo). La Demajagua https://web.archive.org/web/20051023220835/http://www.lademajagua.co.cu/infgran778.htm
• Cazanas X. ; Barrabi H. ; Melgarejo J.C. ; Luna J.A. 1998. El deposito volcanogenico de Cu-Zn-Pb-Au El Cobre, Cuba Oriental: Estructura y mineralogía The Cu-Zn-Pb-Au volcanogenic deposit El Cobre, Western Cuba (sic): Structure and mineralogy Source: Acta Geológica Hispánica 33 (1–4). 277–333.
• Cazanas X.; Escusa A.; Cuba S.; Melgarejo J.C.; Alfonso P.1998 Un modelo de deposito vulcanogenico de manganeso del arco volcanico Paleogeno de Cuba: El ejemplo de la region Cristo-Ponupo-Los Chivos A model of manganese volcanogenic deposit from the Paleogene volcanic island arc of Cuba: The case of the Cristo-Ponupo-Los Chivos region ,Acta Geológica Hispánica 33 (1–4) 239–276
• Cazanas X.; Lewis J.; Melgarejo J.C.; Proenza J.A.; Mattietti Kysar G. 1998 Rocas volcanicas de las series Inferior y Media del Grupo El Cobre en la Sierra Maestra (Cuba Oriental): Volcanismo generado en un arco de islas tholeiitico Volcanic rocks from the lower and intermediate series of the El Cobre Group, Sierra Maestra, Eastern Cuba: A case of island arc tholeiites Source: Acta Geológica Hispánica 33 (1–4) 57–74
• Chiappy-Jhones C., Rico-Gray V.; Gama L.; and Giddings L. 2001 Floristic affinities between the Yucatán peninsula and some karstic areas of Cuba. Journal of Biogeography 28 (4) 535–542
• Duarte Oropesa, José 1989 Historiología Cubana. Ediciones Universal Miami Vol 1. ISBN 0-89729-490-4, All volumes ISBN 84-399-2580-8
• Enamorado, Calixto 1917 Tiempos. Heroicos Persecucion. Rambla, Bauza and Company, Havana.
• Guevara, Ernesto Che 1958 (re-accessed 22 March 2006) Pino del Agua, II. Che Guevara http://chehasta.narod.ru/pda2.htm.
• James, Daniel 2001 Che Guevara. Cooper Square Press. New York ISBN 0-8154-1144-8
• Kueny, J.A. 1998 An assessment of protected karst landscapes in the Caribbean Caribbean Geography 9 (.2). 87–100.
• Lescaille Durand, Lisván 2003 (accessed 3-22-06) Puede ser el cacique Guamá. Cuba Una identità in movimento https://web.archive.org/web/20070519175949/http://freeweb.supereva.com/carlo260/guama.html?p
• Marrero, Levi 1981 5th edition "Geografia de Cuba" La Moderna Poesia, Coral Gables Florida.
• Maso, Calixto C. 1998 Historia De Cuba. Ediciones Universal. 3rd Edition Miami ISBN 0-89729-875-6
• McGuire, Bill 2005 Global disaster paves way for global thinking. Geographical,. 77 (3) 14–18.
• Mora, Pedro 2003 (re accessed 22 March 2006) Aniversario 45 de Pino del Agua II. Importante golpe de la guerrilla. Verde Olivo https://web.archive.org/web/20030826173750/http://www.venceremos.cubaweb.cu/Textos/importante_golpe_dela_guerrilla_verde_olivo.htm
• Morán Arce, Lucas 1980 La revolución cubana, 1953–1959: Una versión rebelde. Imprenta Universitaria, Universidad Católica de Puerto Rico. Ponce, Puerto Rico. ISBN B0000EDAW9
• MVC 2005 Investiga Cuba restos de meteorite Notimex. El Universal Viernes 11 de noviembre de 2005 El Universal Online, México. https://web.archive.org/web/20051125004751/http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulos/26483.html
• Naranjo Tamayo, Aldo Daniel and Luis Carlos Palacios Leyva 2004 (Accessed 3-21-06) San Salvador de Bayamo: Proceso fundacional de la segunda villa cubana San Salvador de Bayamo. La Demajagua 3 de noviembre de 2004 https://web.archive.org/web/20071114063001/http://www.lademajagua.co.cu/bayamo.htm
• Goreau, P. D. E. 1983 Tectonic Evolution of the North Central Caribbean Plate Margin. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts.; Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge. Sponsor: National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C.. September 1983. 248p. Report: WHOI-83-34
• Rojas-Consuegra, R. 2005 Paleobiogeografía de los Rudistas (Moluscos Cretácicos) reportados en el territorio cubano. I Convención Cubana de Ciencias de la Tierra. GEOCIENCIAS’ 2005. Memorias, Trabajos y Resúmenes. Centro Nacional de Información Geológica. IGP. La Habana. CD ROM. 2005. GEO08-P6: 1–15. ISBN 959-7117-03-7.
• Rojas-Consuegra, R. 2005 Estratigrafía, Tafonomía y Paleoecología de los Rudistas (Moluscos Cretácicos) en el territorio cubano. I Convención Cubana de Ciencias de la Tierra. GEOCIENCIAS’ 2005. Memorias, Trabajos y Resúmenes. Centro Nacional de Información Geológica. IGP. La Habana. CD ROM. 2005. GEO08-2: 1–36. ISBN 959-7117-03-7.
• Rojas-Consuegra, R., M. A. Iturralde-Vinent, C. Díaz-Otero y D. García-Delgado 2005 Significación paleogeográfica de la brecha basal del Límite K/T en Loma Dos Hermanas (Loma Capiro), en Santa Clara, provincia de Villa Clara. I Convención Cubana de Ciencias de la Tierra. GEOCIENCIAS’ 2005. Memorias, Trabajos y Resúmenes. Centro Nacional de Información Geológica. IGP. La Habana. CD ROM. 2005. GEO08-P7: 1–9. ISBN 959-7117-03-7
• La Rosa Corzo, Gabino (translated by Mary Todd) [1988] 2003 Runaway Slave Settlements in Cuba: Resistance and Repression University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill ISBN 0-8078-2803-3
• Rousset, Ricardo V. 1918. Historial de Cuba. Libreria Cervantes, Havana, Vol. 3 pp. 137–153.
• Scotese, Christopher R. 1999. Evolution of the Caribbean Sea (100 mya – Present) Collision of Cuba with Florida Platform and Opening of the Cayman Trough. PALEOMAP Project http://www.scotese.com/caribanim.htm
• Sigurdsson H.; Bralower T.; King J.; Kelley S.; Leckie R.M.; Carey S. 2000 History of circum-Caribbean explosive volcanism: 40Ar/39Ar dating of tephra layers Source: Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program: Scientific Results 165, 299–314.
• Takayama H.; Iturralde-Vinent M.A.; Oji T.; Tajika E.; Kiyokawa S.; Garcia D.; Okada H.; Hasegawa T.; Toyoda K.; Tada R.; Matsui T. 2000 Origin of the Penalver Formation in northwestern Cuba and its relation to K/T boundary impact event Sedimentary Geology 135 (1–4) 295–320.
• Whitmarsh, Isabel. 1969. Bayatiquirí Tierra de Alegría, Paz y Amor. Leyenda de la Familia Ciargos de Luna. Libro Primero. Guarenas, Venezuela.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sierra Maestra.

• Cuba's Revolutionary Mountains by Zoë Barnes, The Sunday Times, March 15, 2009
• Music in the Sierra Maestra