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Table of Contents
Cuba is a country of the West Indies, the largest single island of the archipelago, and one of the more-influential states of the Caribbean region. Cuba is also the westernmost—just west of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and 90 miles or 145 kilometer south of Key West, Florida, at the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico.
See the fact file below for more information on the Cuba or alternatively, you can download our 20-page Cuba worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.
Key Facts & Information
DESCRIPTION
- Cuba is situated in the northern Caribbean where the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean meet.
- It is east of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), south of both the U.S. state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Haiti and north of both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Havana is the largest city and capital; other major cities include Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey.
- Cuba also includes numerous smaller islands, islets, and cays.
- The island of Cuba is the largest island in Cuba and in the Caribbean, with an area of 105,006 square kilometers (40,543 sq mi), and the second-most populous after Hispaniola, with over 11 million inhabitants.
ETYMOLOGY
- Cuba, from the perspective of Historians, came from the Taíno language, however “its exact derivation [is] unknown” but it may be translated either as ‘where fertile land is abundant’ (cubao),or ‘great place’ (coabana).
- Fringe theory writers who believe that Christopher Columbus was Portuguese state that Cuba was named by Columbus for the town of Cuba in the district of Beja in Portugal.
HISTORY
- Arawak (or Taino) Indians were the dominating inhabitants in Cuba when Columbus landed on the island in 1492 but eventually died from diseases brought by sailors and settlers. By 1511, Spaniards under Diego Velásquez had established settlements. Havana’s superb harbor made it a common transit point to and from Spain.
- In the early 1800s, Cuba’s sugarcane industry boomed, requiring massive numbers of black slaves. A simmering independence movement turned into open warfare from 1867 to 1878. Slavery was abolished in 1886. In 1895, the poet José Marti led the struggle that finally ended Spanish rule, great thanks to U.S. intervention in 1898 after the sinking of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor.
- In 1899, a treaty made Cuba an independent republic under U.S. protection. The U.S. occupation, which ended in 1902, suppressed yellow fever and brought large American investments. The 1901 Platt Amendment allowed the U.S. to intervene in Cuba’s affairs, which it did four times from 1906 to 1920. Cuba terminated the amendment in 1934.
- In 1933, a group of army officers, including army sergeant Fulgencio Batista, overthrew President Gerardo Machado.
- Batista became president in 1940, running a corrupt police state.
- In 1956, Fidel Castro Ruz started a revolution from his camp in the Sierra Maestra mountains. Castro’s brother Raul and Ernesto (Ché) Guevara, an Argentine physician, were his top lieutenants. Many anti-Batista landowners supported the rebels. The U.S. ended military aid to Cuba in 1958, and on New Year’s Day 1959, Batista fled into exile and Castro took over the government.
- The U.S. initially welcomed what looked like a democratic Cuba, but within a few months, Castro established the Marxist-Leninist nature of the revolution. Castro disavowed Cuba’s 1952 military pact with the U.S., confiscated U.S. assets, and established Soviet-style collective farms. The U.S. broke relations with Cuba on Jan. 3, 1961, and Castro formalized his alliance with the Soviet Union. Thousands of Cubans fled the country.
- By the early 21st century, Cuba had loosened some of its more-restrictive economic and social policies, but the United States continued its decades-long economic embargo against the Castro regime, though the December 2014 announcement of the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries held promise of the embargo’s removal.
ECONOMY
- Most of the means of production are owned and run by the government and most of the labor force is employed by the state as the Cuban state claims to adhere to socialist principles in organizing its largely state-controlled planned economy.
- The economy of Cuba is generally based on the activity of the services, the tourist activity, the agricultural activity, the mining and the industry; The main productions of the country are: nickel, raw sugar, branch tobacco, tourist services, alcoholic beverages, tobacco (cigars) and cigarettes, coffee, citrus, perfumery and fishery products.
- The country’s gross domestic product is approximately 53,333 million pesos per year with an average of 4,662 pesos per inhabitant. Due to its weight in the creation of GDP, industry is the most important economic activity with 29%, social services with 23%, commerce and tourism with 22% and agriculture with 8%.
POPULATION
- The estimated total population of Cuba is 11,221,060 inhabitants at the end of 2017, with a population density of 102.3 inhabitants per km². 76.9% of the population resides in urban areas, with a small 23.1% in rural areas.
- The Cuban population is basically formed by descendants of Spaniards and Africans and by the mixture of both racial groups, the presence of descendants of Chinese and other European immigrants such as French, Polish and others, is also measurable.
CLIMATE
- The climate of Cuba is humid subtropical, with two clearly defined seasons, the dry (winter) from November to April, and the rainy (summer) from May to October. The average annual temperature is 25 ° C, the average in winter is 20 ° C and the summer is 26-27 ° C.
- During the winter season, cold fronts are frequent with minimum temperatures sometimes below 10 ° C. The minimum temperatures vary between 1 ° C and 8.5 ° C in the west of the country and between 3 ° C and 12.5 ° C in the eastern part; The maximum temperatures recorded are between 36 ° C and 38 ° C.
RELIGION
- Roman Catholic is the predominant religion. The Protestant religions are also practiced such as Baptist, Seventh-day Adventist, evangelists, etc. which have had some growth in recent years, and also Afro-Cuban religions and cults originated in syncretism of the Catholic religion and African religions brought to Cuba by black slaves in the era of slavery.
POLITICAL-ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION
- Cuba is divided into 15 provinces and the special municipality Isla de la Juventud (Isla de Pinos).
Cuba Worksheets
This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Cuba across 20 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Cuba worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the Cuba which is a country of the West Indies, the largest single island of the archipelago, and one of the more-influential states of the Caribbean region. Cuba is also the westernmost—just west of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and 90 miles or 145 kilometer south of Key West, Florida, at the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico.
Complete List Of Included Worksheets
- Cuba Facts
- Cuba Profile Page
- Significant Events
- Provinces of Cuba
- Cuba’s Eco Info
- People in the History
- Latest News
- Jumbled Cuba
- Caribbean Spots
- Only in Cuba
- Attracting Tourists
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Link will appear as Cuba Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, February 14, 2020
Use With Any Curriculum
These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.