Physical-geographical characteristics
The municipality of Morón, Rooster City, is located in the north and center of the province of Ciego de Ávila, at 22º 06' north latitude and 78º 38' west longitude. It is bordered to the north by the Bahamas` Canal Viejo, to the east with the municipality of Bolivia, to the south with the municipalities of Ciro Redondo and Primero de Enero, and to the west with the municipality of Chambas.
This municipality has a territorial extension of 592.56 square km on the mainland and 654.32 square km of cays, which makes a total area of 1,246.88 square km. It is located in the Plain of Júcaro - Morón, where the flat plain predominates (0-200 m), since this corresponds to 84% of the territory, while 6% corresponds to small elevations (Turiguanó Island), and 10% are boggy areas.
The hydrographic network is poorly developed, it does not have continuous flowing rivers, it is only crossed by a series of streams and channels, among which El Roble, Cimarrones and La Yana stand out, which flow into Lagunas de la Leche and La Redonda. There are other streams and tributary channels for the most part and some such as the well-known Canal de Punta Novillo whose main function is drainage.
Most of the area of the municipality is located on a geological structure of the Quaternary where sedimentary rocks of formation predominate, characterized by their high storage capacity and transmissibility of groundwater. Morón has about 35.0 million m3 of exploitable groundwater resource between part of the hydrogeological sectors of the North Basin and outside of it.
The main mineral deposits that the municipality has are located to the north of Turiguanó with deposits of rock salt, gypsum and anhydrite and towards the center and the rest of the territory there are limestones widely used in construction.
The average annual air temperature ranges between 25 and 26 ·C. The average annual rainfall in the municipality reaches 1,105 mm, distinguishing, as in the rest of the country, a rainy period (May-October), where the historical average is 854 mm, and a dry period (November-April), with a historical average of 251 mm. The absence of significant natural obstacles (elevations), allows a normal circulation of the wind, predominating the incidence of the trade winds from the northeast to the east throughout the year.
In a large part of the cays and to the north of the municipality, hydromorphic soils of the swampy type of the peaty subtype predominate. Towards the center of Turiguanó Island and the north central part of Cayo Coco, humic carcimorphic soils of the typical black rendzina type prevail, and in the direction of the center and south of the municipality, we find hydromorphic soils of the typical humic gley type and dark Vertisols of the gleyed plastic type, belonging to the grayish-black and black subtype, dividing the municipality into four fundamental landscape units. The municipality also has about 50 km of beaches of excellent quality for national and international tourism.
It presents 36.02% of its areas covered by forests, mainly mangroves and associated vegetation in coastal areas and around lagoons and wetlands; semi-deciduous and microphyllous evergreen forests appear in the territory.
Social historical background
The name of the municipality of Morón corresponds to that of its head town. It appears in the Toponymic and Geographic Nomenclature of Cuba, it is believed that it obtained the Toponymic name when these lands were granted between 1520 and 1530 to a man named Ramón Morón by the Puerto Príncipe council. Later, in 1543, Morón demarcation was awarded again by the council of Sancti Spíritus to Mr. Don Luis de Almeida. From there, the promotion of the population and the growth of livestock as a fundamental economic activity began.
In the middle of the 16th century, the estates of Marroquín, Nauyú, Las Chambas, Los Perros, La Ciénaga and the Morón herd itself were lands of Moron. The local economy is based on the raising of cattle of all kinds and the cultivation of minor fruits, corn, yams and cassava. The original population that was forming the town known as El Hato (head of Morón), came from Sancti Spíritus, Puerto Príncipe and sailors who sailed along the north coast and settled in the town attracted by the natural riches of the territory.
In the 17th century, Morón is already the main town of the entire area that communicates and trades, or rather, exchanges its products by transporting them through paths and royal roads that extend to Remedios, Sancti Spíritus and Puerto Príncipe. Although it was an important road for the exchange, the maritime and fluvial transfer through the northern part of the region in small sailing boats that traveled through the estuaries and lagoons until reaching the sea or vice versa and that brought and carried products, even to Remedios and Havana was fundamental. Hides, tallow, salted meats and some fruits were traded.
Given the development achieved by the town of Morón in 1750, urbanization began a little further to the northeast of the farm, for which three caballerías (39.6 ha) were dedicated, to be divided into plots of 30 x 40 yards (system of measures used at that time). The layout of the streets began, forming a town in the form of a triangle whose lines will meet at Casa Vieja to the East, La Plaza to the North and the Entrance to the West (end of Máximo Gómez Street, Agramonte Park and Castillo Street between Libertad and Agramonte, according to the current demarcation of the city).
By 1827, the town had 696 inhabitants, including 497 whites, 92 free blacks and 107 slaves. In 1856, Morón went from being a small village to the category of a town with 4,005 inhabitants.
From 1861 to 1900, the main function of the territory was the military, through the Júcaro-Morón Path, so due to the presence of this fortification and the concentration of the rural population, the town of Morón increased its population.
On September 20, 1897, the new construction of the railway was completed, where Morón was linked with Ciego de Ávila and later, when the Central Railway was completed, with the rest of the island. Years later, the lines from Santa Clara to Morón and from Morón to Puerto Tarafa were built.
On May 20, 1921, Morón Village (until that moment) was declared a City and on December 9 of that same year, under the mayoralty of Mr. Agustín López Morales, the Coat of Arms of the city was officially adopted. A Coat that, as officially stated in the Book of Acts of the Morón City Council, it was convenient to have "... a badge for the City, symbolizing its past, its future or its glories and ideals..."
Before, on January 24, 1919, Morón had obtained its category of first-class municipality, since it had achieved economic, technological, social and cultural development. Morón citizens already had the second bookstore in Cuba, The Modern Poetry, and the Apolo cinema-theater, both are today in the same place, as well as a Music Band, the Niza theater, the Spanish Colony and the first Public Library.
In 1924, the Railroad Station was inaugurated, with a huge stained glass window on the ceiling, with marble brought from Italy and also worked by an Italian marble worker, comparable to the Havana Railroad one.
From 1921 to 1959, there is a flourishing of the economic sphere, characterized by an increase in the commercial and cultural activity of the community. With the triumph of the Revolution and until 1970, a strong extensive growth of agriculture took place; in particular, the sugarcane branch increased more than 60% of cultivated land. In the industrial sector, there was a small diversification with the creation of small industries of local production (Leiva, 2002).
Morón belonged to the province of Camagüey until 1976, when with the new political-administrative division, it became a municipality in the province of Ciego de Ávila and experienced rapid growth in many economic and service activities, increasing and diversifying the possibilities of employment and more possibilities of development are opened up for its institutions and the population.
Population and people centers
Morón constitutes the municipality with the largest territorial extension in the province of Ciego de Ávila, occupying 17.9% of the territory and second place in terms of population, for a representation of 15.4%.
The total population of the municipality is 67,850 inhabitants (information prior to the 2012 Population and Housing Census, OMEI), residing in 19 concentrated settlements, of which two are urban and 17 rural. There is also a dispersed population that in recent years has had an initial process of decrease and then tends to increase in locations that have remained, that is, in the closest settlements.
18.1% of the city's population is 60 years old and over, placing the municipality in aging group III, as the whole country (according to the category established for the countries of the region by the Latin American and Caribbean Demographic Center of the ECLAC), and 18% are under 15 years old.
The rural population is located in settlements, located mainly on the sides of the main roads. This form of population concentration is related to land use, which is fundamentally based on sugarcane agriculture and livestock, requiring large extensions of land for its operation. Most of the population is concentrated to the south and a small part to the north on Turiguanó Island, this is because in the central part the ground is low and swampy, covered by mangroves, in addition to Las Lagunas de la Leche and The Redonda.
Its population has had a sustained growth trend in recent years. The urban population has also maintained a high growth rate, which has brought with it a significant increase in liquid waste discharged into the environment and greater complexity for the collection of urban solid waste. After the 2002 census, the rural population has experienced an increase due to the development of housing for tourism workers in Turiguanó. Moreover, the delivery of idle land in rural areas of the territory by Decree Law No. 259, currently modified by a new Decree-Law, which expands the benefits of this type of self-employment and directly affects the increase in food production for the population.
The municipality of Morón has been receiving immigrants since the political-administrative division of 1976, which is reflected in the fact that today it has a higher growth rate.