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==History==
{{main|History of Cuba}}
History of Cuba: Before 1492 Cuba had been long settled by at least two distinct peoples: Taíno and Ciboney. Rumors of Atlantean civilizations, although much touted by the present government [http://www.andrewcollins.com/page/articles/lostcity.htm], are not considered well founded. The Taíno used some copper tools, copper alloys, and elaborately worked gold, but mostly used ceramic and woven containers, shell and stone tools; swords macanas were stone tipped wood. The Taíno and the Ciboney (pronounced with a soft C and also written Siboney) were settled agriculturalists; but also fished and hunted with inventive devices notably using harpoons (arpón is a Taíno word) and tethered remora sucker fish, and made adroit use of natural products. Taínos and Ciboney held compatible customs and beliefs, and in sacred ritual smoked tobacco mixed with mild hallucinogens (cohoba). Cuba was first visited by Europeans when Christopher Columbus arrived on October 28, 1492. In 1511 Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar conquered the Island and became the first Spaniard to govern Cuba.
The Taínos (Island Arawak) were part of a cultural group commonly called the Arawak, which extends far into South America. The wide diffusion of this culture is witnessed even today by names of places in the New World; for example localities or rivers called Guamá (the Taíno name for Lonchocarpus domingens a leguminous tree, the designation of a chief, a famous Taíno who fought the Spanish) are found in Cuba, Venezuela and Brazil. The Arawaks incorporated readily into the successive invading groups and are now acculturated almost to the point of disappearance. Residues of Taíno poetry, songs, sculpture, and art are found today throughout the
Approximately 16 to 60 thousand or more for some estimates are far higher, Taíno and Ciboney inhabited Cuba before colonization. The Native Cuban Indian population, were forced from their minor princedoms or Cazigazgos into reservations during the Spanish subjugation of the island of Cuba. Such were Guanabacoa, today a city near Havana, Jiguaní and Guisa in the east. Many Native Cubans died due to the brutality of Spanish conquistadores and the measles and smallpox etc that they brought with them, diseases previously unknown to Indians. On the other hand the introduction of smoking and most probably syphilis into Europe as a result of this contact caused uncounted deaths in Europe.
Shakespeare's character Caliban is taken by many to represent a Caribbean Shaman. Sir Walter Raleigh's execution is said witnessed by his Caribbean servant. A number of Taíno words, transliterated into Spanish, have found English usage; such words include canoe, savanna, and tobacco. By 1550, most indigenous civil organization had disappeared. Many Conquistadors intermarried with Indigenous women. Their children were called mestizo, but the Native Cubans called them Güajiro, which translates as "one of us". Yet today, some descendants maintain their heritage.
▲The Taínos (Island Arawak) were part of a cultural group commonly called the Arawak, which extends far into South America. Residues of Taíno poetry, songs, sculpture, and art are found today throughout the major Antilles. The Arawak and other such cultural groups are responsible for the development of perhaps 60% of crops in common use today and some major industrial materials such as rubber. Europeans were shown by the Native Cubans how to nurture tobacco and consume it in the form of cigars.
Cuba had first served as base for Spanish
Spanish
▲Cuba had first served as base for Spanish conquest of the mainland of the Americas, but the island was almost depopulated in this effort. The resulting treasure, mined gold and silver, chocolate and several then important plant products such as dyes and medicine was transported from the Americas and later from the Philippines to Spain using Cuban ports as safe harbors along the way. In this period there were further indigenous risings most especially that of [[Guamá]], one of the last Taino leaders to organize resistance to Spanish rule.
The colony's struggle for independence lasted throughout the second half of the 19th century with the first effort with any success
Antonio Maceo and Máximo Gómez led a brilliant campaign the length of the Island, defeating all attempts to stop them, in one battle they out maneuvered a Spanish force which included Winston Churchill [http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=370]. Antonio Maceo died in battle but Calixto García escaped Spain and with his train of artillery including dynamite cannon [http://afi.com/members/catalog/AbbrView.aspx?s=1&Movie=30410] began to systematically drive the Spanish from eastern Cuba and by 1898, these Mambí forces controlled most of the eastern countryside and some towns. After landing in eastern Cuba and taking Santiago de Cuba in the Spanish-American War in 1998 the US occupied the island, until its independence was granted in 1902, though limited by the Platt Amendment. The US continued to have a major influence in Cuban affairs, even occupying Cuba again between 1906 and 1909. The Platt Amendment was revoked in 1934, but the lease of Guantánamo Bay, leased for a now nominal sum, was extended.
▲[[Image:Cuba modis.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Cuba as seen from space]]
In the first half of the 20th Century the Cuban circumstance reflected the world troubles of WWI, WWII. Internal Cuban conflicts were roughly comparable to the “Troubles in Ireland.” While “La Passionaria” and Franco killed many in Spain; Bela Khun in Hungary; Rosa Luxemberg and Hitler in Germany; Mussolini in Italy, and Russia's Lenin and Stalin committed horrors, these struggles were reflected in only much attenuated form in Cuba. The brief Chambelona War of 1917 was believed by some to have German influence. Stalin sent agents, and so did Franco. The “Green Shirts” of the ABC fought with leftist radicals. By the cruel international standards of the time, only the sad 1912 Race War and the struggle to oust Gerardo Machado elected president in 1925 turned dictator 1927-1933 produced noticeable levels of bloodshed. And yet progress was made, vast amounts of sugar were exported, industry grew; public works and good highways were built. And although often faulty, elections were held with some regularity. In 1940, as German Admiral Canaris’s dwarf spy freely walked Havana troubling US observers, Fulgencio Batista was elected for president and started idealistic reforms, but was voted out in 1944. In 1952 he seized power in an almost bloodless coup three months before the planned election and set up an oppressive dictatorship. As a result many guerrilla groups started opposing him.
▲Spanish [[mercantilism]] caused Spain to keep Cuba relatively isolated to external influences, but beginning with the year long occupation of Havana by the British in [[1762]] at the end of the [[Seven Years' War]], Cuba became more open economically to both the importation of slaves and advances in sugar cultivation and processing. The massive La Cabaña fortress, never taken by assault, which completely dominates Havana Bay was built soon after Havana, exchanged for Florida, was returned to Spain. Between 1791 to 1804, many French fled to Cuba from the [[Haitian revolution]], bringing with them slaves and expertise in [[sugar]] refining and [[coffee]] growing. As a result Cuba became the world's major sugar producer. By [[1884]], slavery was abolished.
In
▲The colony's struggle for independence lasted throughout the second half of the 19th century with the first effort with any success being the [[Ten Years' War]] beginning in [[1868]]. The intellectual [[José Martí]] landed in Cuba with rebel exiles in [[1895]], but little more than a month later was killed in battle. He remains the major hero in Cuba to this day, and his legacy is claimed by both the supporters and opponents of the current government. While he expressed a preference for the U.S. Constitution and enjoyed some popularity in the United States, he was concerned about U.S. expansionism.
The
The Cuban Missile Crisis started with the Soviet Union secretly installing nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962, saying it was to partly restore the nuclear balance. In response, the United States put up a blockade in international waters, not knowing that some Soviet submarines carried nuclear missiles. This is generally believed to be the closest the world ever came to a nuclear holocaust. The Soviet Union backed down, in return for a United States promise to remove nuclear missiles in Turkey and never to invade Cuba again. After this, the United States never openly threatened Cuba again, but did engage in covert activities to assassinate Castro, as well as sheltering and funding Castro opponents who carried out many violent attacks such as the 1976 bombing of Cubana Flight 455, killing 73;Cuban government web sources indicate these included the Cuban Armed Forces fencing team, senior Cuban Government officials; passengers of non-defined status from Guyana and a number of North Koreans, all apparently on the way to Africa, and beyond. Castro has often covertly purged those he considers threatening by such or similar incidents. Other activities were what the present Cuban government calls the "War Against the Bandits" generally believed have had some CIA support. This was a wide spread revolt among the country folk of the middle provinces from early in Castro’s time in power to about 1967. This revolt was eventually suppressed by massive force, executions, and internal deportations.
Castro cast a big shadow in the Cold War. In overt and covert operations, throughout much of the world, Cuban operatives and Cuban regulars did battle against US allies and US interests. In Angola there were tank battles. In Granada Cuban and US forces actually entered into combat. In Vietnam Cuban engineers help build the Ho Chi Min trail, and Cuban intelligence harshly interrogated US prisoners. When the Soviet Union stopped supplying funding much of this ceased for a while. However, more recently Cuban intelligence is once more active in the US as agents such as Ana Belen Montes and the Red Avispa Network are revealed to have penetrated US intelligence services. At present Castro and his ally Hugo Chavez have been busy through out Latin America.
In April
▲In [[1953]], [[Fidel Castro]] attacked the [[Moncada barracks]], was exiled to Mexico, but returned to Cuba on November [[1956]] with 82 fighters trained by Colonel Alberto Bayo (a former officer in the Spanish Republican Army), and with the help of popular discontent managed to overthrow Batista, who fled the country, on [[1 January]] [[1959]]. Castro established a Soviet-leaning one party [[Communist state]], the first in the Western Hemisphere, although Castro did not officially reveal his Marxist-Leninist leanings until [[1961]]. At the time when Batista was deposed, 75% of Cuba's farmable land was owned by foreign individuals or foreign (mostly U.S.) companies. The new revolutionary government adopted land reforms and confiscated all the private property owned by upper class Cubans and foreign companies. As a result, relations with the United States rapidly deteriorated, although the U.S. recognized the new government and refused to host a government in exile by anti-Castro Cubans. At first, Castro was reluctant to discuss his plans for the future, but eventually he declared himself a [[communism|communist]], explained that he was trying to build [[socialism]] in Cuba, focusing on free [[health care]] and [[education]] for all, and began close political and economic relations with the [[Soviet Union]].
▲The [[Bay of Pigs invasion]] of [[April]] [[1961]] by U.S. backed Cuban expatriates failed because the expected popular support failed to materialize when it became clear Brigade 2506 had been abandoned to its fate by a weak and vacillating president Kennedy. Also, the Soviet Union heard of the plans and warned Cuba, leading to arrests of those suspected of being liklely to support a counter-revolution. U.S. president [[John F. Kennedy]] left the invaders stranded for fear of getting officially involved.
▲In April [[1980]], over 10,000 Cubans stormed the Peruvian embassy in Havana seeking political asylum. In response to this, Castro allowed anyone who desired to leave the country to do so through the port of Mariel. Under the [[Mariel boatlift]], over 125,000 Cubans migrated to the United States. Eventually the United States stopped the flow of vessels and Cuba ended the exodus.
The
== Politics ==
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