Matanzas province

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Statistics
Capital:	Matanzas
Area:	11,802.72km²
Inhabitants:	675,980 (2004)
Population Density:	57.27 per km²
Map
Isla de la Juventud Pinar del Río La Habana Ciudad de La Habana Matanzas Cienfuegos Villa Clara Sancti Spíritus Ciego de Ávila Camagüey Las Tunas Granma Holguín Santiago de Cuba Guantánamo

Matanzas is one of the provinces of Cuba. Major towns in the province include Cárdenas, Jovellanos and the capital of the same name, Matanzas. The resort town of Varadero is also located in this province.

The second largest in Cuba, Matanzas province is largely flat, with its highest point (Pan de Matanzas) at only 380m above sea level.

The north coast has numerous small cays of its coast, and scrubland and mangroves near the shoreline.

The southern coast has one of Cuba's most distinctive features: an enormous marsh, Ciénaga de Zapata that covers both the southern part of the province and the peninsula of the same name. East of the peninsula lies the Bay of Pigs, the site of the failed US backed invasion.

Of Cuba's provinces, Matanzas is one of the most industrialised, with petroleum wells, refineries, supertanker facilities, and 21 sugar mills to process the harvests of the fields of sugarcane in the province.