Cuba, officially
the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba as well as
Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located in the
northern Caribbean where the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the
Atlantic Ocean meet. It is south of both the U.S. state of Florida and the
Bahamas, west of Haiti, and north of Jamaica. Havana is the largest city and
capital; other major cities include Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey. Cuba is the
largest island in the Caribbean, with an area of 109,884 square kilometers
(42,426 sq mi), and the second-most populous after Hispaniola, with over
11 million inhabitants.
The territory of
Cuba was inhabited by the Ciboney tribes in the 4th millennium BC.
Until the 15th century, it was inhabited by Amerindian tribes which became a
colony of Spain until the Spanish–American War of 1898, when Cuba gained
nominal independence as a de facto United States protectorate in 1902. As a
fragile republic, Cuba attempted to strengthen its democratic system, but
mounting political radicalization and social strife culminated in the
dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1952. Further unrest and instability led
to Batista's ousting in January 1959 by the July 26 Movement, which afterwards
established communist rule under the leadership of Fidel Castro. Since 1965,
the state has been governed by the Communist Party of Cuba. A point of
contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States,
a nuclear war nearly broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Cuba is
one of the few remaining Marxist–Leninist socialist states, where the role of
the vanguard Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Independent
observers have accused the Cuban government of numerous human rights abuses,
including arbitrary imprisonment.
Culturally, Cuba
is considered part of Latin America. It is a multi ethnic country whose people,
culture and customs derive from diverse origins, including the aboriginal Taíno
and Ciboney peoples, the long period of Spanish colonialism, the introduction
of African slaves, and a close relationship with the Soviet Union in the Cold
War.
Cuba is a
founding member of the UN, G77, NAM, ACP, ALBA, and OAS. The country is one of
the world's last planned economies and its economy is dominated by the exports
of sugar, tobacco, coffee and skilled labor. According to the Human Development
Index, Cuba has high human development and is ranked the eighth highest in
North America, though 67th in the world. It also ranks highly in some metrics
of national performance, including health care and education, and is the only
country in the world to receive WWF's definition of sustainable development.
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