List of the countries

Cuba • a little history

Cuba is the largest of the Caribbean islands by area. The island has a little over 11 million inhabitants. Cuba had been occupied for 4000 BCE before Christopher Columbus arrived in Cuba on his first voyage in 1492.

Colonization of Cuba

The colonial past was very painful as it was generally the case. The Spanish crown which appropriated the island during the 16th century was not kind to the indigenous population which was largely decimated in a few years. The gold mines sought by the conquistadors did not exist or offered only a low yield on the island, the Spaniards decided to make it a commercial hub between the American continent and Spain. Cuba thus became a stopover for ships loaded with the riches of the "New World" to the mother country.

Slavery in Cuba

The settlers developed the profitable crops of the time such as tobacco, coffee and sugar cane. These activities being labor intensive, and as always at that time, Africa was going to pay a heavy human price for the development of the colonies. More than a million and a half slaves were imported until the abolition of slavery in 1886.

Colonial wars

England and Spain were at war during the 18th century, and Cuba was conquered by the English, but after a few months the island was exchanged for Florida.

the United States and Cuba

Cuba experienced a very deadly war of independence in the middle of the 19th century (the Spanish-American war) and the United States came to fight the Spaniards and occupied the island of Cuba as well as other Hispanic colonies.

In 1902 Cuba became independent, but in reality it had become a protectorate of the United States. The marked interference by the United States would last until 1934. In the meantime, a very authoritarian regime ruled Cuba at this time. At the same time, Cuba became a popular tourist destination for the American elite.

Under the regime of which Batista was one of the presidents (between 1940 and 1959), cosa nostra (Italian maffia) gained enormous importance on the island and built many casinos and money laundering became a very important activity. The corruption of the local authorities made Cuba a good place to live for all the mobsters and the big American companies established on the island knew how to profit from it too.

the cuban revolution

It was then that Fidel Castro, at the head of an army of 82 men overthrew Batista and established a socialist republic in Cuba.

This was not to the taste of the United States, which viewed with a very negative light an ally of the USSR settling at its gates.

Following this seizure of power, a severe embargo was imposed on the island, forcing it to withdraw into itself and making it dependent on Soviet Russia for its primary needs. The fall of the USSR had serious economic consequences for Cuba. It is also to this embargo that Cuba owes one of its main tourist attractions, the American cars that they have not been able to replace since the 1960s.