Cuba

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The Republic of Cuba (Spanish: República de Cuba, IPA: IPA|[re'puβlika ðe ˈkuβa]) consists of the island of Cuba (the largest of the Greater Antilles), the Isle of Youth and very numerous adjacent small islands. The name Cuba is said to be derived from the Taíno word cubanacán, meaning "a central place." At least as early as colonial times Cuba was the name given to areas near Santiago de Cuba. It is located in the northern Caribbean at the confluence of the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Cuba is south of the eastern United States, and the Bahamas, west of the Turks and Caicos Islands and Haiti, and east of Mexico. The Cayman Islands and Jamaica are south of eastern Cuba.

Contents

[edit] Geography

Geologically Cuba was once in the Pacific, and crossing between North and South America before they were joined, "crashed" into what is now Florida [1]. Cuba, 65 million years ago, also received part of the impact of Chicxulub Crater with tsunami kilometers high reaching at least 500 kilometres (300 mi) away to the middle provinces [2], [3] and beyond. The elongated island (aprox. 760 miles or 1,220 km long) of Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean and is bounded to the north by the Straits of Florida and the greater North Atlantic Ocean, to the northwest by the Gulf of Mexico, to the west by the Yucatan Channel, to the south by the Caribbean Sea, and to the east by the Windward Passage. The Republic comprises the entire island, including many outlying islands such as the (Isle of Youth), previously known as the Isla de los Pinos (Isle of Pines). The Cayman Islands mainly coral reefs covering submerged ice age peaks of the Sierra Maestra range [4]) and Jamaica which is geologically related to Central America are south of eastern Cuba. Guantánamo Bay, is a naval base that has been leased by the United States since 1903, a lease that has been contested since 1960 by Castro.

The main island is the world's 16th largest. The island consists mostly of flat to rolling plains, with more rugged hills and mountains primarily in the southeast and the highest point is the Pico Real del Turquino at 2,005 metres (6,578 ft). The local climate is tropical, though moderated by trade winds. In general (with local variations), there is a drier season from November to April, and a rainier season from May to October.

Havana is the largest city and capital; other major cities include Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey. Some of the well-known smaller towns are Baracoa which was the first Spanish settlement on Cuba, as well as Trinidad and Bayamo.

[edit] In the News

[edit] Further Reading

Books

  • Aguilar, Luis E. Cuba 1933: Prologue to Revolution, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1970.
  • Beals, Carleton. The Crime of Cuba, Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1933.
  • Benjamin, Jules R. The United States and Cuba: Hegemony and Dependent Development, 1880-1934, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1978.
  • Blasier, Cole and Carmelo Mesa-Lago, eds. Cuba in the World, Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1979.
  • Bonsal, Philip W. Cuba, Castro and the United States, Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1971.
  • Bonachea, Rolando E. and Nelson P. Valdes, eds. Cuba in Revolution, Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1972.
  • Brunner, Heinrich. Cuban Sugar Policy From 1963 to 1970, Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1977.
  • Collins, Joseph et. al. No Free Lunch Food and Revolution in Cuba Today, San Francisco: Institute for Food and Development Policy, 1984.
  • Corwin, Arthur F. Spain and the Abolition of Slavery in Cuba, 1817-1886, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967.
  • Diaz-Briquets, Sergio. The Health Revolution in Cuba, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1983.
  • Dinerstein, Herbert S. The Making of a Missile Crisis: October, 1962, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976.
  • Dolgoff, Sam. The Cuban Revolution, Montreal: Black Rose, 1996.
  • Dominguez. Jorge I. ed. Cuba: Internal and International Affairs, Beverley Hills: Sage Publications, 1982.
  • Dominguez. Jorge I. Cuba: Order and Revolution, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978.
  • Draper, Theodore. Castro's Revolution: Myths and Realities, New York: Praeger, 1962.
  • Fagen, Richard R. The Transformation of Political Culture in Cuba, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1969.
  • Fernandez, Frank. Cuban Anarchism: The History of a Movement, Tuscon: See Sharp Press, 1999.
  • Gellman, Irwin F. Roosevelt and Batista: Good Neighbor Policy in Cuba, 1933-45, Alburquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1973.
  • Gonzalez, Edward. Cuba Under Castro: The Limits of Charisma, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974.
  • Guevara, Ernesto Che. Reminiscences Of The Cuban Revolutionary War, New York: Monthly Review Press, 2006.
  • Halebsky, Sandor and John M. Kirk, eds. Cuba: Twenty-five Years of Revolution, 1959-1984, New York: Praeger, 1985.
  • Horowitz, Irving L., ed. Cuban Communism, 5th ed. New Brunswick: Transaction Books, 1984.
  • Johnson, Haynes. The Bay of Pigs, New York: W.W. Norton, 1964.
  • Kiple, Kenneth F. Blacks in Colonial Cuba, Gainesville: University Presses of Florida, 1976.
  • Kirk, John M. Jose Marti, Mentor of the Cuban Nation, Tampa: University Presses of Florida, 1983.
  • Knight, Franklin W. Slave Society in Cuba During the Nineteenth Century, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1970.
  • Kuethe, Allan J. Cuba, 1753-1815: Crown, Military, and Society, Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1986.
  • Lamrani, Salim, ed. Superpower Principles: U.S. Terrorism Against Cuba, Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 2005.
  • Langley, Lester D. The Cuban Policy of the United States: A Brief History, New York: John Wiley, 1968.
  • Levine, Barry B., ed. The New Cuban Presence in the Caribbean, Boulder: Westview Press, 1983.
  • Marti, Jose. The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics, Duke University Press, 2004.
  • Nieto, Clara. Masters Of War: Latin America And US Agression - From The Cuban Revolution Through The Clinton Years, New York: Seven Stories, 2003.
  • Rius. Cuba For Beginners, Pathfinder, 1998.

[edit] External links

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