Note 12 — Chapter VI · Havana and the Havanese.[12]
Reading edition
According to the best authorities, Diego Valasquez, the Conqueror of Cuba, founded the famous city of San Christobal de la Habana in 1519, and being immensely impressed by the width and depth of the harbour, and its generally favourable position for trade purposes, he called it la llave del Nuevo Mondo, the key to the New World.