Bay of Pigs
Coordinates: 22°13′N 81°10′W / 22.217°N 81.167°W
The Bay of Pigs (Spanish: Bahía de Cochinos) is an inlet of the Gulf of Cazones located on the southern coast of Cuba. By 1910, it was included in Santa Clara Province, and then instead to Las Villas Province by 1961, but in 1976, it was re-assigned to Matanzas Province, when the original six provinces of Cuba were re-organized into 14 new Provinces of Cuba.
Contents |
Geography [edit]
This bay is about 30 kilometers south of Jagüey Grande, 70 kilometers west of the city of Cienfuegos, and 150 kilometers southeast from the capital city Havana. On the western side of the bay there are coral reefs bordering the main Zapata Swamp, part of the Zapata Peninsula. On the eastern side are beaches bordering margins of firm ground with mangroves and extensive areas of swampland to the north and east. At the north end of the bay is the village of Buena Ventura adjacent to Playa Larga (Long Beach), and 35 kilometers southeast of that is Playa Girón (Giron beach) at the village of Girón, named after the notorious French pirate Gilberto Giron (c.1604).[1]
History [edit]
Playa Girón and Playa Larga were the landing sites for seaborne forces of armed Cuban exiles in the Bay of Pigs Invasion, an American CIA-sponsored attempt to overthrow the new government of Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro in April 1961.
Etymology [edit]
In Caribbean Spanish, cochinos may also mean the Orangeside triggerfish (Sufflamen verres), that inhabits coral reefs in Bahía de Cochinos, not swine (Sus scrofa).[2]
See also [edit]
References [edit]
Bibliography [edit]
- Rodriguez, Juan Carlos. 1999. Bay of Pigs and the CIA. Ocean Press. Melbourne. ISBN 1-875284-98-2
- Wyden, Peter. 1979. Bay of Pigs - The Untold Story. Simon and Schuster. New York. ISBN 0-671-24006-4 ISBN 0224017543 ISBN 978-0-671-24006-6
External links [edit]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bay of Pigs |
