Havana expanded greatly in the 17th century. New buildings were constructed from the most abundant materials of the island, mainly wood, combining various Iberian architectural styles, as well as borrowing profusely from Canarian characteristics. During this period the city also built civic monuments and religious constructions. The convent of St Augustin, El Morro Castle, the chapel of the Humilladero, the fountain of Dorotea de la Luna in La Chorrera, the church of the Holy Angel, the hospital of San Lazaro, the monastery of Santa Teresa and the convent of San Felipe Neri were all completed in this era.

In 1649 a fatal epidemic brought from Cartagena in Colombia, affected a third of the population of Havana. On November 30, 1665, Queen Mariana of Austria, widow of King Philip IV of Spain, ratified the heraldic shield of Cuba, which took as its symbolic motifs the first three castles of Havana: that of the Real Force, of Three Santos Reyes Magos del Morro and San Salvador de la Punta. The shield also displayed a symbolic golden key to represent the title of "Key of the Gulf". On 1674, the works for the City Walls were started, as part of the fortification efforts. They would be completed on 1740.

By the middle of the 18th century Havana had more than seventy thousand inhabitants, and was the third largest city in the Americas, ranking behind Lima and Mexico City but ahead of Boston and New York. The prosperity of Havana brought continued international attention, and the city was unexpectedly seized by the British navy. The episode began on June 6, 1762, when at dawn, an impressive British fleet, containing more than fifty ships and fourteen thousand men, drew into Cuban waters. The British seized the city as part of the Seven Years' War, opening it to free trade and bringing thousands of enslaved Africans to the island. The city was subsequently governed by Sir George Keppel on behalf of Great Britain. In the middle of 1763, only a year after the invasion, the British returned Havana to the Spanish in exchange for Florida.

After regaining the city, the Spanish transformed Havana into the most heavily fortified city in the Americas. Construction began on what was to become the Fortress of San Carlos de la Cabaña, the biggest Spanish fortification in the New World. The work extended for eleven years and was enormously costly, but on completion the fort was considered an unassailable bastion and essential to Havana's defence. It was provided with a large number of cannons forged in Barcelona. Other fortifications were constructed, as well: the castle of Atarés defended the Shipyard in the inner bay, while the castle of El Príncipe guarded the city from the west. Several cannon batteries located along the bay's canal (among which the San Nazario and Doce Apóstoles batteries) ensured no points of the harbor remained undefended.

The Havana cathedral was constructed in 1748 as a Jesuit church, and converted in 1777 into the Parroquial Mayor church, after the Suppression of the Jesuits from Spanish territory on 1767. On 1788, it formally became a Cathedral. Between 1789 and 1790 Cuba was apportioned into individual diocese by the Catholic Church. On January 15, 1796, the remains of Christopher Columbus were transported to the island from Santo Domingo. They rested here until 1898, when they were transferred to Seville's Cathedral, after Spain's loss of Cuba.

Havana's shipyards (named El Arsenal) were extremely active at the time, thanks to the wood resources available in the vicinity of the city. Several Havana-built ships served in the Spanish Armada, among them the Santísima Trinidad, Armada's largest warship. Launched in 1769, she was about 62 meters long, had three decks and 120 cannons (she was later upgraded to as much as 144 cannons and four decks). She was sunk during the Battle of Trafalgar, on 1805. This ship cost 40.000 pesos fuertes of the time, which gives an idea of the importance the Arsenal, by comparing its cost to the 26 million pesos fuertes and 109 ships produced during Arsenal's existence *.

As trade between Caribbean and North American states increased in the early 19th century, Havana became a flourishing and fashionable city. Havana's theatres received the most distinguished actors of the age, and prosperity amongst the burgeoning middle-class led to new expensive classical mansions being erected. During this period Havana became known as the Paris of the Antilles.

The 19th century opened with the arrival in Havana of Alexander von Humboldt, who was impressed by the vitality of the port. In 1837, the first stretch of railroad was constructed, of 51 km, between Havana and Bejucal, which was used for transporting sugar from the valley of Guines to the port of the city. With this, Cuba became the fifth country in the world to have a railroad, and the first Spanish-speaking country. Throughout the century, Havana was enriched by the construction of additional cultural facilities, such as the theater Tacon, one of the most luxurious in the world, the Artistic and Literary Liceo (Lyceum) and the theater Coliseo. In 1863, the city walls were knocked down so that the metropolis could be extended. At the end of the century, the well-off classes moved to the quarter of the Vedado. Later, they emigrated towards Miramar, and today, increasingly on the west, they have settled in Siboney. At the end of the 19th century Havana saw the last moments of the Spanish colonization in America, which ended definitively when the United States warship Maine was sunk in its port, giving that country the pretext to invade the island. The 20th century began with Havana, and therefore Cuba, under occupation by the USA.

The city is divided into 15 municipios - municipalities or boroughs.

Arroyo Naranjo

Boyeros

Centro Habana

Cerro

Cotorro

Diez de Octubre

Guanabacoa

La Habana del Este

La Habana Vieja (Old Havana)

La Lisa

Marianao

Playa (includes Miramar, and extends to Santa Fe in the west)

Plaza de la Revolucion (sometimes abbreviated to 'Plaza'; includes Vedado)

Regla

San Miguel del Padrón