The original settlement was done by Catalan families from the Ampurdan region of north-eastern Catalunya, Spain in 1764. British forces had occupied the area for over 40 years and Scot-Irish settlers were a constant preoccupation to the Spanish auhorities. In 1805, when the French were forced out of St. Domingue (Haiti) 35,000 French settlers were given lands in Cuba, many French families settled in the Guantanamo area becoming coffee and cacao planters meaning that many buildings are comparable to those of the French Quarter of New Orleans in the U.S. state of Louisiana.