Baracoa is a municipality and city located in Guantánamo Province near the eastern tip of Cuba. Its full original name is Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Baracoa. The city holds significant historical importance as Cuba's oldest Spanish settlement and its first capital.
Baracoa was founded on August 15, 1511, by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, the first governor of Cuba. The area had been visited earlier by Admiral Christopher Columbus on November 27, 1492, during his voyages to the Americas. As the first permanent Spanish settlement established on the island, Baracoa served as the initial seat of colonial administration before the capital was relocated elsewhere.