island state of the West Indies. It comprises the Cuban archipelago, a formation of about 1,600 islands, islets, and cays with a combined area of 42,804 square miles (110,861 square kilometres). The archipelago is situated just south of the tropic of Cancer at the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico and forms an important segment of the Antilles island chain, which continues east and then south in a great arc enclosing the Caribbean Sea.

The island of Cuba itself--the "Pearl of the Antilles"--is by far the largest island in the chain, covering 40,519 square miles (104,945 square kilometres). In general the island runs from northwest to southeast and is long and narrow--777 miles (1,250 kilometres) long but only 119 miles (191 kilometres) across at its widest and 19 miles (31 kilometres) at its narrowest point. The capital is Havana, on the northwestern coast. Haiti, the nearest neighbouring country, is 48 miles away across the Windward Passage; Jamaica is 87 miles to the south; and the United States is about 90 miles to the north across the Straits of Florida.

The Isle of Juventud (Isle of Youth; formerly called Isla de Pinos [Isle of Pines]), is the second largest in the archipelago (849 square miles); it rises to the southwest of Cuba itself. Other archipelagoes are the Los Colorados, to the northwest; Sabana-Camagüey, off the north central coast; the Jardines de la Reina (Queen's Gardens), near the south central coast; and the Canarreos Archipelago (technically including the Isle of Juventud), along the southwest coast.

Because of its location and natural resources, Cuba was coveted by more than one foreign power over the centuries. A colony of Spain after its discovery by Columbus in 1492, it formally became a republic at the beginning of the 20th century, although with a high degree of political and economic dependence on the United States. On New Year's Day, 1959, revolutionary forces led by Fidel Castro won a civil war and took power. In 1961 the Marxist-Leninist nature of the revolution was proclaimed. Revolutionary Cuba developed close links to the Soviet Union, and the dissolution of the latter in 1991 brought economic strain and uncertainty to Cuba.

Cuba

Mountains cover about a quarter of the total area of the island of Cuba. They are often interrupted by the plains that cover some two-thirds of the surface. The coastal basins of Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo lie in the extreme east; a great central valley also begins in the east and then combines with a peneplain that continues westward across the island. These plains have been hospitable to sugarcane and livestock raising.

The alturas--regions of moderate elevation--are in some cases residues of formerly higher surfaces. More rugged relief includes the Guaniguanico range in the west, comprising the Sierra de los Órganos and the Sierra del Rosario, which attains 2,270 feet (692 metres) at El Pan de Guajaibón; the Sierra de Trinidad in the central region, with the 3,793-foot (1,156-metre) San Juan Peak; and the Sierra Maestra, on the southeast coast, approximately 150 miles long and containing the island's highest peaks, with Real del Turquino Peak at 6,476 feet (1,974 metres) preeminent.

Cuba possesses an irregular 3,570-mile coastline, made picturesque by many bays, sandy beaches, mangrove plantations, swamps, coral reefs, and rugged cliffs. There are also some spectacular caverns in the interior, notably the Cave of Santo Tomás of the Quemado ridge region, which has a linear extension of 16 miles. The island of Cuba is surrounded by a submerged platform that is an additional 30,000 square miles (75,000 square kilometres) in area.

Drainage and soils

Cuba's supply of groundwater is utilized throughout the island but especially in La Habana province. The rivers are generally short, with very meagre flow; of the nearly 600 watercourses classified as rivers, two-fifths discharge to the north, the remainder to the south.

The island's heaviest rainfall and therefore its largest rivers are in the southeast, where the Cauto (at 230 miles the country's longest) and its tributaries, notably the Salado, drain the Sierra Maestra and the uplands to the north. Other major rivers in this region include the Guantánamo, Sagua de Tánamo, Toa, and Mayarí. To the west the most important southward-flowing rivers are the Sevilla, Najasa, San Pedro, Jatibonico del Sur, Zaza, Agabama, Arimao, Hondo, and Cuyaguateje; northward-flowing rivers include the Saramaguacán, Caonao, Sagua la Grande, and La Palma.

Cuban lakes are small and more properly classified as freshwater or saltwater lagoons. The latter include the 26-square-mile Leche Lagoon (Milky Lagoon), which is technically a sound, being connected to the sea by several natural channels. Sea movements generate disturbances in the calcium carbonate bottom deposits to produce the milky appearance.

The complicated Cuban topography and geology have produced soils of no fewer than 13 different major groups, the majority of which are fertile and amenable to year-round cultivation. Highly fertile red limestone soil extends from west of Havana to near Cienfuegos on the southern coast and lies in extensive patches in western Camagüey province, providing the basis for Cuba's main agricultural output. Another area of fertile soil is north of Cienfuegos between Sierra de Sancti Spiritus and the Caribbean coast. Camagüey province and the Guantánamo basin have some arable land, although of lower fertility. Areas of sandy soil in Pinar del Río, Villa Clara, and portions of Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey cannot hold moisture and are of low fertility, as are the soils of the mangrove-dotted coastal swamps and cays.

Climate

Cuba lies in the tropical zone, located on the southwestern periphery of the North Atlantic high atmospheric pressure zone and hence influenced by the northeast trade winds in winter and east-northeast winds in summer. The warm currents that form the Gulf Stream have a moderating influence along the coasts.

Annual mean temperature is 79 F (26 C), with little variation between January (at 73 F [23 C] the coolest month) and August (the warmest month, at 82 F [28 C]). The November-April dry season abruptly changes to the rainy May-October season. Annual rainfall averages 54 inches (1,380 millimetres). Between June and November, the country often is exposed to hurricanes, whose strong winds and heavy rains have occasioned great economic damage and human suffering.

Plant and animal life

Cuba's tropical plant life is very rich, with some 8,000 species represented, 7,000 of them flowering plants; half of these are endemic. Much of the original vegetation has been replaced by sugarcane, coffee, and rice plantations, made possible by enormous and indiscriminate destruction of forests. The revolutionary government introduced extensive reforestation for both economic and conservation reasons.

Cuban timber is of excellent quality, although the supply is limited. Pine is found in abundance, and the durable mahogany is of potential economic importance, while ebony (Diospyros) and granadilla (cocus, or West Indian ebony; Brya ebenus) are both beautiful and valuable. The abundant royal palm, reaching heights of 50 to 75 feet, is the national tree and a characteristic element of the rural landscape. The ceiba (kapok) tree plays a role in many legends, while the extremely rare cork palm (Microcycas calocoma) of the western regions is a "living fossil," thought to have survived for more than 100 million years.

Fruit trees include such citrus varieties as lemon, orange, and grapefruit; some species of the genus Annona, including the guanábana (soursop) and anón (sweetsop); and avocado and papaya. Banana plants are also common. The lower Cuban coasts and the shoals of the archipelago are given marked character by the mangrove, and the tobacco plant is commercially prized.

Cuban animal life is extraordinary in its abundance and variety, particularly the invertebrate species. The archipelago is the home of more than 7,000 insect species and 4,000 species of land, river, and sea mollusks. Commercially valuable sponges are found off the southwestern coast, and edible crustaceans abound. Similarly profuse, arachnids include the tarantula and scorpion. Fish, with more than 500 species (many edible), are economically the most important vertebrate group; there are about 35 species of shark. Freshwater fishes are considerably less abundant. Cuba is visited by many migratory birds. Only about a third of the 300 or so species found on the island are indigenous; these include the flamingo, royal thrush, and nightingale.

Reptiles are distributed equally among sea, river, and dry-land species. Marine species include the tortoise and hawkbill turtle; mud turtles inhabit the rivers; and the marshes contain two species of crocodile, once almost extinct but preserved through a repopulation program. Land reptiles include the iguana and the nonpoisonous majá de Santa María (Epicrates angulifer), Cuba's largest snake; none of the snake species are venomous. Amphibians are similarly varied, with 60 frog and toad species, the former including the plantain frog (Hyla septentrionalis) and bullfrog. The solenodon (Atopogale cubana), an almost extinct, ratlike insectivore, is found only in the remotest eastern regions. Other mammals include the hutia (an edible rodent) and the manatee, or sea cow, which inhabits river mouths. A variety of bat species destroy mosquitoes as well as insects harmful to agriculture and in their roosting caves produce accumulations of guano that is valuable as fertilizer.

At the time of the Spanish exploration of Cuba, the native population formed two groups totaling 50,000. The Ciboney and Guanahatabey occupied western Cuba. The more numerous Taino, who occupied the rest of the island, were highly developed agriculturalists and a peaceful people, related to the Arawakan peoples of South America who had migrated to the Greater Antilles. Their houses, called bohíos, formed villages ranging from single families to communities of 3,000 persons. They had pottery, polished stone implements, and religious spirits called zemis, which were represented by idols of wood, stones, and bones. The Taino diet included potatoes, manioc, fruits, and fish.