Cuba

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Cuba (; Spanish pronunciation: ), officially the Republic of Cuba (:  ), is a country comprising the island of Cuba as well as and several minor . Cuba is located in the northern where the , and meet. It is east of the (), south of both the state of and , west of and north of both and the . is the largest city and capital; other major cities include and . The area of the Republic of Cuba is 110,860 square kilometers (42,800 sq mi) (109,884 square kilometers (42,426 sq mi) without the territorial waters). The island of Cuba is the largest island in Cuba and in the Caribbean, with an area of 105,006 square kilometers (40,543 sq mi), and the second-most populous after , with over 11 million inhabitants.[12]

The territory that is now Cuba was inhabited by the people from the until in the 15th century. of until the of 1898, when Cuba was and gained as a de facto in 1902. As a fragile republic, in 1940 Cuba attempted to , but mounting political radicalization and social strife culminated in a and subsequent dictatorship under in 1952. by the , which afterwards established communist rule under the leadership of .. The country was a point of contention during the between the and the United States, and a nearly broke out during the of 1962. Cuba is one of a few extant , where the role of the is enshrined in the . Independent observers have accused the Cuban government of numerous abuses, including short-term .[18]

, Cuba was involved in a broad range of military and humanitarian activities in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and . (1975–1991) and defeated 's armed forces in involving tanks, planes, and artillery.[20]

Culturally, Cuba is considered part of . whose , and customs derive from diverse origins, including the aboriginal and peoples, the of , the introduction of and a close in the . The majority of the population of Cuba is 51% mulatto (mixed-race Spanish/African), 37% white, 11% black and 1% Chinese.[22]

Cuba is a and a founding member of the , the , the , and . It has currently one of the world's only , and is dominated by the tourism industry and the exports of skilled labor, sugar, tobacco, and coffee. According to the , Cuba has high human development and is ranked the eighth highest in North America, though 72th in the world in 2019. and . It is the only country in the world to meet the conditions of sustainable development put forth by the

Historians believe the name Cuba comes from the , however "its exact derivation [is] unknown". or 'great place' (coabana).[29]

writers who believe that state that Cuba was named by Columbus for the in the district of in .

Pre-Columbian era

Before the arrival of the Spanish, Cuba was inhabited by three distinct tribes of . The (an people), the and the .

The ancestors of the Ciboney migrated from the mainland of South America, with the earliest sites dated to 5,000 .[32]

The Taíno arrived from sometime in the 3rd century A.D. When Columbus arrived they were the dominant culture in Cuba, having an estimated population of 150,000.[32]

The Taíno were farmers, while the Ciboney were farmers as well as fishers and .

Spanish colonization and rule (1492–1898)

After first landing on an island then called , , on 12 October 1492, commanded his three ships: , and the , to land on Cuba's northeastern coast on 28 October 1492..) Columbus claimed the island for the new Kingdom of .[36]

In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by at . Other towns soon followed, including , founded in 1515, which later became the capital. The native Taíno were forced to work under the system, in Medieval Europe., to which they had no natural resistance (immunity), aggravated by harsh conditions of the repressive colonial subjugation. outbreak in Cuba killed two-thirds of those few natives who had previously survived .

On 18 May 1539, Conquistador departed from Havana at the head of some 600 followers into a vast expedition through the Southeastern United States, starting at La , in search of gold, treasure, fame and power. He became Cuba's first permanent governor to reside in Havana instead of Santiago, and he built Havana's first church made of masonry.

Cuba developed slowly and, unlike the plantation islands of the Caribbean, had a diversified agriculture. But what was most important was that the colony developed as an urbanized society that primarily supported the Spanish colonial empire. By the mid-18th century, its colonists held 50,000 slaves, compared to 60,000 in ; 300,000 in , both British colonies; and 450,000 in French , which had large-scale sugar cane plantations.[46]

The , which erupted in 1754 across three continents, eventually arrived in the Spanish Caribbean. Spain's alliance with the French pitched them into direct conflict with the British, and in 1762 of five warships and 4,000 troops set out from to capture Cuba. The British arrived on 6 June, and by August had Havana under . and the Commander of the Land Forces , the 3rd , entered the city as a conquering new governor and took control of the whole western part of the island. The British immediately opened up trade with their North American and Caribbean colonies, causing a rapid transformation of Cuban society. They imported food, horses and other goods into the city, as well as thousands of slaves from West Africa to work on the underdeveloped sugar plantations.[47]

Though Havana, which had become the third-largest city in the Americas, was to enter an era of sustained development and increasing ties with North America during this period, the British occupation of the city proved short-lived. Pressure from London sugar merchants, fearing a decline in sugar prices, forced negotiations with the Spanish over colonial territories. Less than a year after Britain seized Havana, it signed the together with France and Spain, ending the Seven Years' War. The treaty gave Britain in exchange for Cuba. The French had recommended this to Spain, advising that declining to give up Florida could result in Spain instead losing Mexico and much of the South American mainland to the British..

The real engine for the growth of Cuba's commerce in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century was the . When the enslaved peoples of what had been the Caribbean's richest colony freed themselves through violent revolt, Cuban planters perceived the region's changing circumstances with both a sense of fear and opportunity. They were afraid because of the prospect that slaves might revolt in Cuba, too, and numerous prohibitions during the 1790s on the sale of slaves in Cuba that had previously been slaves in French colonies underscored this anxiety. The planters saw opportunity, however, because they thought that they could exploit the situation by transforming Cuba into the slave society and sugar-producing "pearl of the Antilles" that Haiti had been before the revolution. Estimates suggest that between 1790 and 1820 some 325,000 Africans were imported to Cuba as slaves, which was four times the amount that had arrived between 1760 and 1790.[50]

Although a smaller proportion of the population of Cuba was enslaved, at times slaves arose in revolt. In 1812 the took place but it was suppressed.[51]

The population of Cuba in 1817 was 630,980, of which 291,021 were white, 115,691 (mixed-race), and 224,268 black slaves., for instance, or the other Caribbean islands. Historians such as Swedish Magnus Mõrner, who studied slavery in Latin America, found that increased when slave economies were in decline, as in 18th-century Cuba and early 19th-century Maryland of the United States.

In part due to Cuban slaves working primarily in urbanized settings, by the 19th century, there had developed the practice of coartacion, or "buying oneself out of slavery", a "uniquely Cuban development", according to historian Herbert S. Klein. A system of diversified agriculture, with small farms and fewer slaves, served to supply the cities with produce and other goods.[46]

In the 1820s, when the rest of Spain's empire in rebelled and formed independent states, Cuba remained loyal. Its economy was based on serving the empire.[] By 1860, Cuba had 213,167 free people of color, 39% of its non-white population of 550,000. In the years, after of 1831, Virginia discouraged manumissions and strengthened restrictions against free blacks, as did other Southern states. In addition, there was a high demand for slaves, and Virginia planters sold many in the internal domestic slave trade, who were shipped or taken overland to the , which had greatly expanded its cotton production.

Independence movements

Full independence from Spain was the goal of a rebellion in 1868 led by planter . De Céspedes, a sugar planter, freed his slaves to fight with him for an independent Cuba. On 27 December 1868, he issued a decree condemning slavery in theory but accepting it in practice and declaring free any slaves whose masters present them for military service. The 1868 rebellion resulted in a prolonged conflict known as the . A great number of the rebels were volunteers from , the , , and the United States, as well as numerous Chinese . in the 1874 battle of Las Guasimas.

A group of Dominican exiles, led by Máximo Gómez, , and Modesto Díaz, utilizing the experience they had gained in the (1863–1865), became instructors of military strategy and tactics. On 19 February 1874, Gómez and 700 other rebels marched westward from their eastern base and defeated 2,000 Spanish troops at El Naranjo. The Spaniards lost 100 killed and 200 wounded and the rebels a total of 150 killed and wounded.[56] The most significant rebel victory came at the battle of Las Guasimas in March 1874. The battle cost the Spanish 1,037 casualties and the rebels 174 casualties.

The United States declined to recognize the new Cuban government, although many European and Latin American nations did so. ended the conflict, with Spain promising greater autonomy to Cuba. Spain sustained 200,000 casualties, mostly from disease; the rebels sustained 100,000–150,000 dead. attempted to start another war known as the but did not receive enough support. was abolished in 1875 but the process was completed only in 1886.[64]

An exiled dissident named founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party in in 1892. The aim of the party was to achieve Cuban independence from Spain. and to join the efforts of Máximo Gómez.. Martí was killed in the battle of Dos Rios on 19 May 1895.

Around 200,000 Spanish troops outnumbered the much smaller rebel army, which relied mostly on and tactics. The Spaniards began a campaign of suppression. General , military governor of Cuba, herded the rural population into what he called reconcentrados, described by international observers as "fortified towns". These are often considered the prototype for 20th-century . and 400,000 Cuban civilians died from starvation and disease in the Spanish concentration camps, numbers verified by the and United States Senator , a former . American and European protests against Spanish conduct on the island followed.[70]

The U.S. battleship was sent to protect U.S. interests, but soon after arrival, it exploded in Havana harbor and sank quickly, killing nearly three quarters of the crew. The cause and responsibility for the sinking of the ship remained unclear after a board of inquiry. Popular opinion in the U.S., fueled by an active press, concluded that the Spanish were to blame and demanded action., , , , and —had tried to buy the island of Cuba from Spain.

The , on 3 July 1898, was the largest naval engagement during the , and resulted in the destruction of the Spanish Caribbean Squadron. Resistance in Santiago consolidated around Fort Canosa, while major battles between Spaniards and Americans took place at on 24 June, and at and on 1 July, after which the American advance ground to a halt. The Americans lost 81 killed and 360 wounded in taking El Caney, where the Spanish defenders lost 38 killed, 138 wounded and 160 captured. At San Juan, the Americans lost 216 killed and 1,024 wounded; Spanish losses were 58 killed, 170 wounded and 39 captured.[74] Spanish troops successfully defended Fort Canosa, allowing them to stabilize their line and bar the entry to Santiago. The Americans and Cubans began a brutal siege of the city, which surrendered on 16 July after the defeat of the Spanish Caribbean Squadron.

Republic (1902–1959)

First years (1902–1925)

After the , Spain and the United States signed the , by which Spain ceded , the , and to the United States for the sum of US$20 million Under Cuba's new constitution, the U.S. retained the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise its finances and foreign relations. Under the , the U.S. leased the from Cuba.

Following disputed elections in 1906, the first president, , faced an armed revolt by independence war veterans who defeated the meager government forces. as Governor for three years. Cuban historians have characterized Magoon's governorship as having introduced political and social corruption. was elected President, but the U.S. continued intervening in Cuban affairs. In 1912, the attempted to establish a separate black republic in Oriente Province,[79] but was suppressed by General Monteagudo with considerable bloodshed.

In 1924, was elected president. The tourist boom led to increases in gambling and . led to a collapse in the price of sugar, political unrest, and repression. A general strike (in which the Communist Party sided with Machado),.[81]

Revolution of 1933–1940

In September 1933, the Sergeants' Revolt, led by Sergeant , overthrew Cespedes.) was chosen to head a provisional government. was then appointed as provisional president. The period from 1933 to 1937 was a time of "virtually unremitting social and political warfare".[85] On balance, during the period 1933–1940 Cuba suffered from fragile politic structures, reflected in the fact that it saw three different presidents in two years (1935–1936), and in the militaristic and repressive policies of Batista as Head of the Army.

Constitution of 1940

A was adopted in 1940, which engineered radical progressive ideas, including the right to labor and health care. He is so far the only non-white Cuban to win the nation's highest political office. Cuban armed forces were not greatly involved in combat during World War II—though president Batista did suggest a joint U.S.-Latin American assault on to overthrow its regime..[93]

Batista adhered to the 1940 constitution's strictures preventing his re-election. Grau further corroded the base of the already teetering legitimacy of the Cuban political system, in particular by undermining the deeply flawed, though not entirely ineffectual, Congress and Supreme Court., a protégé of Grau, became president in 1948.

After finishing his term in 1944 Batista lived in Florida, returning to Cuba to run for president in 1952. Facing certain electoral defeat, he led a that preempted the election. Batista suspended the 1940 Constitution and revoked most political liberties, including the . He then aligned with the wealthiest landowners who owned the largest , and presided over a stagnating economy that widened the gap between rich and poor Cubans. After the coup, Cuba had Latin America's highest per capita consumption rates of meat, vegetables, cereals, automobiles, telephones and radios, though about one third of the population was considered poor and enjoyed relatively little of this consumption.[101]

In 1958, Cuba was a relatively well-advanced country by Latin American standards, and in some cases by world standards. Between 1933 and 1958, Cuba extended economic regulations enormously, causing economic problems. Unemployment became a problem as graduates entering the workforce could not find jobs.