settlements, livestock was mostly limited to a few animals. Still standing at some places are remains of the stone fences that were used to confine the animal. Living conditions here were in general very difficult, due mostly to the remoteness of the area and the lack of proper means of transportation. Transportation consisted usually of a small sailboat that traveled back and forth once a month, and whose journey took many hours, Reaching the mainland from Cayo Coco, for example, took around 10 hours, in addition to the risks that had to be run at sea. During Cuba's 1st War of Independence in 1869, the town of Morón became the northern end of the line of forts, the Trocha from Júcaro to Morón built by the Spanish to contain Cuban rebels on the eastern end of the island. The Trocha also included a railroad line to move troops and supplies, the first government railroad line in Cuba. Recent history The town of Morón began to grow in 1915 when the Trocha rail line was bought by Colonel Jose M. Tarafa as he began to assemble the Ferrocarriles del Norte railway line. Morón was chosen as the line's headquarters. The railway's maintenance shops and a large central station became the central feature of the town. Morón became the junction of a network of several branchlines and sugar lines which stimulated the expansions of sugar plantations and centralized sugar mills which previously were located mainly in the south and central part of Cuba. In the 1960s a road was built through the marshland to the coast, and in the 1990s this was extended on a man-made causeway to Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo, where a number of hotels were built. Many of the hotel workers live in Morón and commute to work in specially provided buses. Economy The main economic activities are agriculture and tourism. Demographics In 2004, the municipality of Morón had a population of 60,612. With a total area of , it has a population density of . Transport Morón railway station is an important junction point between the lines Santa Clara-Nuevitas, and Júcaro-Ciego de Ávila-Morón. The northern state highway, "Circuito Norte" (CN), passes through the city; and the main road from Ciego de Ávila to Cayo Coco also skirts it. Jardines del Rey Airport, located in Cayo Coco, serves the municipality. It replaces the former Cayo Coco Airport, demolished