Cuba
Overview
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation
Island nation
An island country is a state whose primary territory consists of one or more islands or parts of islands. As of 2011, 47 of the 193 UN member states are island countries.-Politics:...

 in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

 is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city of Cuba and capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province in the south-eastern area of the island, some south-east of the Cuban capital of Havana....

 is the second largest city. To the north of Cuba lies the United States and the Bahamas, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 is to the west, the Cayman Islands
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...

 and Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

 are to the south, and Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

 and the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

 are to the southeast.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...

 landed on and claimed the island now occupied by Cuba, for the Kingdom of Spain.
Timeline

1539    Spain annexes Cuba.

1715    A Spanish treasure fleet of 10 ships under Admiral Ubilla leaves Havana, Cuba for Spain. Seven days later, 9 of them sink in a storm off the coast of Florida. A few centuries later, treasure is salvaged from these wrecks.

1829    {{HMS|Pickle}} captures the armed slave ship ''Voladora'' off the coast of Cuba.

1839    Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by Joseph Cinqué take over the slave ship ''Amistad''.

1868    Carlos Céspedes issues the Grito de Yara from his plantation, La Demajagua, proclaiming Cuba's independence

1869    José Martí founds the Cuban Revolutionary Party.

1875    Notorious New York City politician Boss Tweed escapes from prison and flees to Cuba, then Spain.

1898    Spanish-American War: The {{USS|Maine|ACR-1|6}} explodes and sinks in Havana harbor in Cuba, killing more than 260. This event leads the United States to declare war on Spain.

1898    Spanish-American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports and the {{USS|Nashville|PG-7|6}} captures a Spanish merchant ship.

1898    Spanish-American War: U.S. Marines land on the island of Cuba.

Quotations

Warfare is a means and not an end. Warfare is a tool of revolutionaries. The important thing is the revolution. The important thing is the revolutionary cause, revolutionary ideas, revolutionary objectives, revolutionary sentiments, revolutionary virtues!

Speech made by Castro at Ernesto Guevara|Ernesto "Che" Guevara's memorial service on October 18, 1967

 
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