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Traditional cultural landscape in Viñales, Cuba

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Abstract

The Viñales Valley has a wide range of biological and cultural values thanks to both its landscape diversity and the use of low-impact agricultural practices. The area was recognized as one of the key biodiversity hotspots on the planet where it is possible to find ammonite fossils, as well as remains of the land dinosaur Diplodocus. The Valley is also renowned for its hills such as alturas de pizarras formed by the oldest rocks in Cuba and the Sierra de los Órganos mogotes, which are extraordinarily unique geomorphological limestone formations on the planet. The flora of the region is characterized by its endemism and wealth where the cork palm (Microcycas calocoma) is the most popular, dating back to the carboniferous period of the Palaeozoic, it is the only variety declared as National Natural Monument in Cuba. The pictographs in several caves betray the presence of aboriginal inhabitants and the bohío, which outlived the first settlers and went on to become the typical tobacco-curing barn that spread throughout the Valley from the 17th century to the present day. It is precisely the tobacco-related works such as the art of cultivating the plant, rolling and smoking the cigar, learned by Spanish conquerors directly from the indigenous population, that today stand as a symbol of genuine cultural heritage. The Viñales landscape shows a high degree of diversity and cultural variety resulting from specific management systems and a strong social and environmental involvement. This study reviews the essential features of the globally important agricultural heritage system as a complex, adaptive system, to improve the existing set of criteria for sustainable agro-ecological management contributing to the preservation of biodiversity.

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Fig. 1

Photography by Liane Portuondo Farías visiting the Valley on 07/08/2019

Fig. 2

Map created with data from the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture in the QGIS System by the authors

Fig. 3

Photograph captured from a video by Liane Portuondo Farías visiting the Valley on 11/16/2018

Fig. 4

Photography A, B by Liane Portuondo Farías and C, D, E, F by a travel blog (www.cubatravelnetwork.com)

Fig. 5

From www.bgtagrotech.com

Fig. 6

Photography by Liane Portuondo Farías visiting the Valley on 07/08/2019

Fig. 7

Map created with data from the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture in the QGIS System by the authors

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Abbreviations

Ajiaco :

Cuban chicken soup with corn on the cob, shredded chicken breast, potatoes and onion

Alturas de pizarras :

Hills formed by a variety of rocks representing the oldest formation in the Caribbean Sea

Barrigona palm :

Colpothrinax wrightii (literally: big-bellied palm tree) the wide trunk of the barrigona palm is used by the peasants to collect water, which is then transported by oxen to its final destination

Bohío :

huts built with palm tree boards or planks, wooden posts and palm-leaf thatching

Congrí :

red kidney beans cooked with rice, a typical Cuban dish

Décima :

a ten-line stanza of poetry, which is usually sung, its song form generally consists of forty-four lines. In Cuba, a singer of improvised décimas is known as a repentista

Encino :

the species Quercus cubana A. Rich is the only true oak of the Cuban flora. Its fruits are used as animal food due to its high fat content and its wood is used to make charcoal

Guajiro :

a peasant, farmer, rural person

Guaniquiqui :

a vegetable fibre used to make handicrafts

Guano :

generic name for palm trees with a tall, round trunk without branches and fan-shaped leaves; the leaves are used for thatching

Guateques :

traditional fetes for Cuban peasants

Palmiche :

the fruit or nut of the Royal palm (Roystonea regia). It is used as food for pigs and in crafts

Pilón :

a kind of large mortar (and pestle) made out of the hollowed-out trunk of a tree and used for milling rice and grinding coffee

Taburete :

a rustic chair with four large, stout legs and with the seat and backrest generally made of raw goatskin

Varaentierra :

a lean-to. A rustic yagua construction. It is generally used to store materials and as shelter from storms and hurricanes. Its most common feature is that its roof is also one of its sides, which lean onto the ground

Vegueros :

tobacco planters

Yagua :

the loose part of the Royal palm bark that is used to make bales (tercios) in which wrapper leaves are aged. It is also used to build rustic roofs

Yarey :

Copernicia baileyana, a plant of the Arecaceae family, with a thin, short trunk and folded, thornless leaves, whose fibres are used to weave hats

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Funding

The present research is part of the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) Building Capability project funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and the Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI) of the University of Florence.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environment Department, Institute of Technologies and Applied Sciences (InSTEC), University of Havana, Havana, Cuba

    Liane Portuondo Farías

  2. Management & Soil Conservation, Marine Research Center, University of Havana (CIM-UH), Havana, Cuba

    José Manuel Febles González & José Miguel Febles Díaz

  3. Faculty of Chemistry, University of Havana, Havana, Cuba

    Dariellys Martínez Balmori

Authors
  1. Liane Portuondo Farías
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  2. José Manuel Febles González
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  3. José Miguel Febles Díaz
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  4. Dariellys Martínez Balmori
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Liane Portuondo Farías.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Communicated by Mauro Agnoletti.

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Farías, L.P., González, J.M.F., Díaz, J.M.F. et al. Traditional cultural landscape in Viñales, Cuba. Biodivers Conserv 31, 2297–2314 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-021-02300-w

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