The Velasquez expedition, in the following year, founded Baracoa, now a
small city on the northern coast near the eastern extremity of the island.
It is a spot of exceeding scenic charm. It was established as the capital
city, but it held that honor for a few years only. In 1514 and 1515,
settlements were established at what is now Santiago, at Sancti Spiritus,
Trinidad, and Batabano. The latter was originally called San Cristobal de
la Habana, the name being transferred to the present city, on the north
coast, in 1519. It displaced the name Puerto de Carenas given to the
present Havana by Ocampo, who careened his vessels there in 1508. Baracoa
was made the seat of a bishopric, and a cathedral was begun, in 1518. In
1522, both the capital and the bishopric were transferred to Santiago, a
location more readily accessible from the new settlements on the south
coast, and also from Jamaica which was then included in the diocese.
Cuba, at about this period, was the point of departure for an important
expedition. In 1517, de Cordoba, with three vessels and 110 soldiers,
was sent on an expedition to the west for further and more northerly
exploration of the land discovered by Columbus in 1503. The coast from
Panama to Honduras had been occupied. The object of this expedition was to
learn what lay to the northward. The result was the discovery of Yucatan.
Cordoba returned to die of wounds received in a battle. A second and
stronger expedition was immediately despatched. This rounded the peninsula
and followed the coast as far as the present city of Vera Cruz. In 1518,
Hernan Cortez was _alcalde_, or mayor, of Santiago de Cuba. On November 18,
of that year, he sailed from that port in command of an expedition for
the conquest of Mexico, finally effected in 1521, after one of the most
romantic campaigns in the history of warfare. All that, however, is a story
in which Cuba has no place except that of the starting point and base of
the expedition. There is another story of the same kind, a few years later.
The first discovery of Florida is somewhat uncertain. It appears on an old
Spanish map dated 1502. Following the expedition of Ponce de Leon, in 1513,