The Name

This name is not due to any planned baptism; it emerged spontaneously on account of its elongated shape. It is located to the extreme east of Los Canarreos archipelago and is the largest of the Los Jardines and Jardinillos group. This name began to be used from the 17th century onward.

Early inhabitants

The first human beings to arrive in Cayo Largo del Sur, according to remains discovered there during archaeological excavations, were the so-called "Guayabo Blanco" belonging to the Siboney culture. Gouges, scrapers, picks, hammers, etc. were found on three sites in Cayo Largo del Sur. All of these tools were made from the Strombus Gigas, more widely known as the Queen conch.

These human beings were constantly on the move throughout the Canarreos archipelago. They were good navigators and lived from wild root vegetables and fruits, as well as fishing and hunting. It is also known that they used fire and lived in the open. To date, all information available indicates that these people were the authors of the complex system of cave drawings discovered in Punta del Este, on the Isle of Youth, over a thousand years ago.

Visit by Cristopher Columbus
The records indicate that on his second voyage to Cuba in 1494 he traveled around Cayo Largo with three of his ships, La Caldera, La San Juan and La Niña, after spending twelve days on the island of San Juan La Evangelista (today, the Isle of Youth) on his return journey to the east, and before docking in the port of Jagua (today the Bay of Cienfuegos) to have mass said.

Corsair and Pirate Cay

It is not an exaggeration to say that all corsairs and pirates, and navigators of the Caribbean Sea, set foot on Cayo Largo del Sur. To mention just a few of them, there was the English man John Hawkins in 1565, accompanied by the renowned terror of the seas Francis Drake, or the French men Jean Laffite and Latrobe in 1819. And how often have the hills and beaches of this place not been witness to the presence of Pepe El Mallorquín, the famous "Pinero" pirate or corsair of 1822
                  
            
Without a doubt, the coast of this beautiful place was witness to naval combat, ship wrecks and the passage of many ships heading off to attack Spanish vessels or Cuban towns. The memory of Henry Morgan is ingrained in local history, he headed for Puerto Principe to pillage it in 1666 or hide its treasures on the coast.
If Cayo Largo could speak, it would talk of the battle of the Dutch man Lorenzo de Craff against the Spanish galleons off its coasts.

Many years passed by before anyone showed interest in this piece of Cuban territory, for a long time it was completely abandoned. The tranquillity of being forgotten was only broken when fishermen camped there for short periods to satisfy their hunger and when natives from the Caiman islands arrived there to establish a small settlement to the south of the Isle of Pines.

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