Cuba

Cuba is an island republic in the northern Caribbean, south of Florida and the Bahamas and east of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. Havana is the capital, Spanish is the official language, and the country takes in more than 4,000 smaller islands and cays. With 109,884 km² (42,426 sq mi), it is the largest country of the Caribbean.

Guanahatabey and Taíno peoples lived on the island when Christopher Columbus landed on 28 October 1492 and claimed it for Spain. Havana grew up on its present site from 1519 and became the capital in 1607, and the Taíno custom of smoking tobacco reached Europe through Cuba. Carlos Manuel de Céspedes began the fight for independence in 1868, and the poet José Martí, founder of the Cuban Revolutionary Party in 1892, became the national hero. Spanish rule ended in 1898, and the Republic of Cuba was proclaimed on 20 May 1902.

The revolution of January 1959 brought Fidel Castro to power, and the constitution of 1976 defines Cuba as a socialist republic, guided by the ideas of Martí as well as Marx and Lenin. A national literacy campaign soon followed, and free education, ballet, music and sports programs were set up across the island. Tourism, sugar, nickel, tobacco, coffee and medical services lead the economy, and Cuba is a major producer of refined cobalt.

Havana, Trinidad, Camagüey and Cienfuegos have old town centers on the UNESCO World Heritage list, and Pico Turquino in the Sierra Maestra is the highest point at 1,974 m (6,476 ft). Son, the root of mambo, cha-cha-chá and salsa, grew up here, and the Ballet Nacional de Cuba performs around the world. José Raúl Capablanca was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927.