Havana

Havana, also spelled Habana, is the capital city, major port, and leading commercial center of Cuba. The city is also one of the 14 Cuban provinces. In terms of population, Havana in the largest city in the Caribbean. Founded in 1514, Havana became a territorial capital in 1607, and a national one in 1902.

Havana is home to several traditional tobacco brand headquarters which produce high-quality cigars, a fact referenced by characters in numerous Harry Turtledove timelines.

Havana in "Cayos in the Stream"

Havana, being a large port city, was a perfect breeding ground for rumor. It was here that Ernest Hemingway learned of suspicious submarine activity near Cayo Bernardo, which led to his direct involvement in World War II.

Following his sinking of a German submarine, Hemingway was feted in Havana.

Havana in "Manuscript Tradition"

Havana had a major league baseball team called the Cigarmakers. In 2219, they were preparing to play against the Boston Red Sox.

Havana in Southern Victory

Habana was the largest city and port of the Confederate state of Cuba. During the Great War, it was a popular destination for Confederate sailors on shore-leave.

While on a relaxed leave at Habana, Roger Kimball read in the paper the mistaken report of the sinking of his submersible the CSS Bonefish, and the deaths of himself and his entire crew. He was rather amused by it.

Havana in A World of Difference

When the cosmonauts of Tsiolkovsky arrived on Minerva's surface in 1989, Dr. Katerina Zakharova pointed out that most of their stay would be in very cold temperatures, cold even by Russian standards. While the weather at the time of their landing was bearable, it was early afternoon on a spring day and the latitude of Hogram's castle on the Minervan globe was roughly equivalent to that of Havana on Earth's globe. Shota Rustaveli, the Georgian member of the crew, privately doubted that Comrade Castro would find the weather very much like a Havana spring.