The island of Cuba was inhabited by various Native American cultures prior to the arrival of the explorer Christopher Columbus in 1492. After his arrival, Spain conquered Cuba and appointed Spanish governors to rule in Havana. The administrators in Cuba were subject to the Viceroy of New Spain and the local authorities in Hispaniola. In 1762–63, Havana was briefly occupied by Britain, before being returned to Spain in exchange for Florida. A series of rebellions between 1868 and 1898, led by General Máximo Gómez, failed to end Spanish rule and claimed the lives of 49,000 Cuban guerrillas and 126,000 Spanish soldiers. However, the Spanish–American War resulted in a Spanish withdrawal from the island in 1898, and following three and a half years of subsequent US military rule, Cuba gained formal independence in 1902.
The Spanish–American War was fought between Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the U.S. acquiring sovereignty over Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, and a protectorate of Cuba. It represented U.S. intervention in the Cuban War of Independence and Philippine Revolution, with the latter later leading to the Philippine–American War. The Spanish–American War brought an end to almost four centuries of Spanish presence in the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific; the United States meanwhile not only became a major world power, but also gained several island possessions spanning the globe, which provoked rancorous debate over the wisdom of expansionism.
Columbus Day is a national holiday in many countries of the Americas and elsewhere, and a federal holiday in the United States, which officially celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas. He went ashore at Guanahaní, an island in the Bahamas, on October 12, 1492 [OS]. On his return in 1493, he moved his coastal base of operations 70 miles east to the island of Hispaniola, what is now the Dominican Republic and established the settlement of La Isabela, the first permanent Spanish settlement in the Americas.
Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some 870 km (540 mi) southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana.
A Cuban sandwich is a variation of a ham and cheese sandwich that likely originated in cafes catering to Cuban workers in Tampa or Key West, two early Cuban immigrant communities in Florida centered on the cigar industry. Later on, Cuban exiles and expatriates brought it to Miami, where it is also very popular. The sandwich is made with ham, mojo, roasted pork, Swiss cheese, pickles, mustard, and sometimes salami on Cuban bread. Salami is included in Tampa, but is not usually included in South Florida.
Cubans are the citizens and nationals of Cuba. The Cuban people have varied origins with the most spoken language being Spanish. The larger Cuban diaspora includes individuals that trace ancestry to Cuba and self-identify as Cuban but are not necessarily Cuban by citizenship. The United States has the largest Cuban population in the world after Cuba.
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba, Isla de la Juventud, and 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean meet. Cuba is located east of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), south of both Florida and the Bahamas, west of Hispaniola, and north of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Havana is the largest city and capital. Cuba is the third-most populous country in the Caribbean after Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with about 10 million inhabitants. It is the largest country in the Caribbean by area.
Modern diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States are cold, stemming from historic conflict and divergent political ideologies. The two nations restored diplomatic relations on July 20, 2015, after relations had been severed in 1961 during the Cold War. The U.S. has maintained a comprehensive trade embargo against Cuba since 1958. The embargo includes restrictions on all commercial, economic, and financial activity, making it illegal for U.S. corporations to do business with Cuba.
The Cuban National Series is a domestic baseball competition in Cuba. Formed after the dissolution of the Cuban League in the wake of the Cuban Revolution, the National Series is a part of the Cuban baseball league system. Between 1961 and 2021, it was the top-level winter league in Cuba; it now operates as a summer league, with the top six National Series teams qualifying for the Cuban Elite League.
"Más Allá" is a song from Cuban-American singer-songwriter Gloria Estefan's sixth studio album, Abriendo Puertas (1995). The song was written by Kike Santander, who handled production alongside Gloria's husband Emilio Estefan. It was released as the second single from the album in December 1995. A Christmas bolero ballad, the song utilizes church bells and lyrically deals with selfless love. The song received positive reactions from music critics, who mostly praised the instruments. Commercially, it topped both the Billboard Hot Latin Songs and Latin Pop Airplay charts in the United States. Gloria Estefan performed the song live for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican and for then-US President Bill Clinton during a televised holiday special. Estefan re-recorded the song in 2020 for her fourteenth studio album Brazil305 and incorporated Brazilian music.
A polvorón is a type of heavy, soft, and very crumbly Spanish shortbread made of flour, sugar, milk, and nuts. They are mostly produced in Andalusia, where there are about 70 factories that are part of a syndicate that produces polvorones and mantecados. Under the name mantecados, these sweets are a traditional preparation of other areas of the Iberian Peninsula and other Spanish-speaking countries as well.
Ana Celia de Armas Caso is a Cuban and Spanish actress. She began her career in Cuba with a leading role in the romantic drama Una rosa de Francia (2006). At the age of 18, she moved to Madrid, Spain, and starred in the popular drama El Internado (2007–2010). After moving to Los Angeles, de Armas had English-speaking roles in the psychological thriller Knock Knock (2015) and the comedy-crime film War Dogs (2016).
Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez is a Cuban politician and engineer. He has served as the 8th First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba since 2021 and as the 17th President of Cuba since 2019. In his capacity as First Secretary he is the most powerful person in the Cuban government.
The following lists events in the year 2020 in Nicaragua.
The following lists events that happened during 2021 in the Caribbean.
Soberana 02 or Soberana 2, technical name FINLAY-FR-2, is a COVID-19 vaccine produced by the Finlay Institute, a Cuban epidemiological research institute. The vaccine is known as PastoCovac in Iran, where it has been developed in collaboration with the Pasteur Institute of Iran.
Abdala, technical name CIGB-66, is a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Cuba. This candidate, named after a patriotic drama by Cuban independence hero José Martí, is a protein subunit vaccine containing COVID-derived proteins that trigger an immune response. The full results of the clinical trial have not yet been published. This candidate followed a previous one called CIGB-669 (MAMBISA).
The following lists events that happened during 2022 in the Caribbean.
