Pinar del Rio

Pinar del Rio, city, Cuba

Pinar del Rio, city (1994 est. pop. 118,000), capital of Pinar del Rio prov., W Cuba. It is linked by rail and highway to Havana and is the center of a road network running through the province. The city, founded in 1699, is famous for the tobacco grown in the Vuelta Abajo district. Near the city is the picturesque valley of Viñales.

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Pinar del Rio, province, Cuba

Pinar del Rio (pēnär` dĕl rē`ō), province (1994 est. pop. 700,000), W Cuba, the westernmost province of Cuba. Pinar del Rio is the capital. The province, occupying a narrow area, has an irregular and swampy coast; it is mostly level, with one important mountain range, the Cordillera de Guaniguanico. The chief river is the Cuyaguateje. The traditional industry of Pinar del Rio, Cuba's poorest province, is the growing of tobacco, which is cultivated in the Vuelta Abajo region and is among the world's best. Other agricultural products are of limited importance; mines at Matahambre yield copper, and tourism is also important to the economy.

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Pinar del Río 

a province in Western Cuba. Area, 11,100 sq km; population, 542,400 (1970). Its capital is the city of Pinar del Río.

The province is Cuba’s principal tobacco-growing (about 60 percent of the total harvest) and lumbering region. Also cultivated are sugarcane, citrus fruits, coffee, pineapples, rice, and green vegetables. There is pastured livestock raising, fishing, and apiculture. Copper is mined in the northwest, and the province has nonferrous metallurgy. Pinar del Río has food-processing, chemical, and tobacco industries. Building materials are produced in the province.