Havana: Revolutionary spirit

Havana has so many old cars because the United States imposed a trade embargo on Cuba in the early 1960s, cutting off new vehicle imports and spare parts. Rather than scrap them, Cubans became skilled at rebuilding engines with salvaged or improvised parts, keeping decades-old cars running as daily transportation.

Many of Havana's buildings are collapsing because decades of state ownership left little private incentive or funding for upkeep. After the 1959 nationalization of property, routine maintenance stalled, and tropical storms and heavy rains have since worsened structural damage, leading to frequent partial collapses across the older parts of the city.

Havana earned the nickname in the early 1900s, when tourism and casino nightlife drew wealthy visitors from the United States and Europe. Its French-influenced boulevards and grand architecture reinforced the comparison, a reputation that faded after the 1959 revolution shut down the casinos and cut off much of that trade.

No one knows for certain where the name comes from. The most cited theory traces it to Habaguanex, a Taíno chief said to have ruled the area before Spanish colonization, while other accounts link it to an indigenous word for a sheltered harbor along the coast.