Cuba Facts

• The official name of Cuba is the Republic of Cuba.
  
• Cuba is the largest of all islands in the Caribbean. The country also includes more than 4000 other much smaller islands and cays.
  
• From the air, the island of Cuba resembles a crocodile or alligator and so Cuba is often referred to in Spanish as "El Cocodrilo" or "El Caimá".
  
• The capital and largest city of Cuba is Havana or "La Habana" in Spanish.
  
• Cuba has a population of 11 million people (11,061,886) as of July 2013.
  
• Original indigenous inhabitants of Cuba were the Guanajatabey people followed by the Ciboney and Taíno tribes. In 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived on the island and claimed it as a Spanish territory.
  
• Cuba remained a Spanish colony until the Spanish-American War of 1898 when the country became part of the United States. This was only brief though, the country was given independence in 1902.
  
• The United States had a strong influence over the island until 1959, when communist revolutionaries, led by Fidel Castro, took over. The country remains one of the world's four self-declared communist states today, although Castro himself stepped aside in 2008 due to health complications.
  
• Cuba is renown for its music, bands play everywhere in the capital Havana. The main musical form is called son, which is a combination of upbeat rhythms with classical guitar.
  
• Sugar from sugar cane is the main crop grown in Cuba, followed by tobacco which is used in the making of hand-crafted cigars that are famous for being the finest cigars in the world.
  
• Nickel is Cuba's most important mineral resource at 21% of total exports in 2011 nearly 4% of the world's production.
  
• In a traditional Cuban meal the food is not served in courses, instead all the food is served at the same time.
  
• Baseball is the most popular sport in Cuba by far. The country is also dominant in boxing and has produced a number of Olympic boxing champions. Other sports of interest include basketball, volleyball, cricket, football (soccer) and athletics.
  
• The game of dominoes is extremely popular in Cuba.
  
• As of 2013 Cuba has 9 sites on the UNESCO World Heritage list, 7 of these cultural sites and 2 of them natural.
  
  
• For more information, check out maps of Cuba or take a closer look at the Cuban flag.