Ha·van·a 1  (hə-vān'ə)  The capital and largest city of Cuba, in the northwest part of the island country on the Gulf of Mexico. Founded on its present site in 1519, it became the capital of Spanish Cuba in 1552. The demolition of the U.S. battleship Maine in Havana's harbor in February 1898 was the immediate cause of the Spanish-American War. Population: 2,200,000. Ha·van'an adj. & n. |