The 19th century saw the birth of the Fernandina colony of Jagua, on April 22, 1819. This town is characterized by being the only one in Cuba that, under the Spanish crown, came to the world with parents from other countries, mostly French. The colony Fernandina de Jagua, with an initial population of 46 people, was growing in the same year of its foundation, spaniards and cubans also joined the economic and social life of the colony, which, due to its prosperity, reached in 1829 the title of Villa de Cienfuegos, in honor of José Cienfuegos, Captain General of the Island at the time of its foundation. It acquired the title of city in 1880, due to the accelerated economic development reached in that stage.
During the Wars of Independence there were several patriots who participated, among them Federico Fernández Cavada known as the "General Candela" because his main weapon was the incendiary torch. In 1875 Henry Reeve ¨El Inglesito¨ was in charge of the troops, due to the successes achieved, he was persecuted by numerous spanish troops and died on August 4, 1876 in Yaguaramas, which meant a hard blow for the insurgent troops.
In the War of 1895 the participation of the Cienfuegueros was highlighted, very close to here the Heroic Battle of Maltiempo was fought, in which Antonio Maceo and Máximo Gómez at the head of the mambises defeated the spanish forces.
After the government of the United States managed to frustrate the independence of Cuba, with the imposition of the Platt Amendment (Enmienda Platt) and the Guantánamo Naval Base, in Cienfuegos the struggle for true liberation was maintained, since the neocolonial stage was characterized in Cienfuegos by exploitation, misery and other social problems, as well as the repression of workers and students, who showed their discontent with strikes and protests.
On November 12, 1950, this city was the scene of student actions in protest against the government of Carlos Prío and his Minister of Education Aureliano Sánchez Arango, who issued measures that harmed the students who went on strike and called an event in the city. Meadow in front of the old building of the Secondary Education Institute. To support the Cienfuegueros, the leaders of the Federation of University Students, Fidel Castro Ruz and Enrique Benavides, traveled here, who shortly after their arrival were arrested by the police under the accusation of inciting the disorder and were tried by the Court of Emergency. of Santa Clara. In that trial, Fidel assumed his own defense and they were acquitted. There the young lawyer Fidel Castro denounced the abuses of the government and the public force against the people and turned from accused to accuser.
At the end of November 1955, the 26th of July Movement was formed in Cienfuegos, whose cells carried out numerous actions, including the Popular Uprising of September 5 in Cienfuegos in 1957, in which the militias on July 26, the marines and the people held a fierce encounter with the forces of tyranny and kept the city in their hands throughout the day.
With the Triumph of the Revolution a new stage in the economic, political and social development began in the city, and from 1976 with the new administrative political division Cienfuegos became the capital of the new province.
The Cienfuegueros wrote glorious pages in defense of the Revolution, outstanding was the 339th Battalion in the defeat of the mercenary invaders in Playa Girón, the militiamen in the fight against bandits in the Escambray, the internationalist combatants who gave their lives for the freedom of others peoples of the world, and today thousands of workers in health, education and sports lend their help to others countries in solidarity gesture of the Cuban Revolution.