History

Little trace remains of the original Indian people, of which there were three main groups: the Siboneys (or Ciboneys) in the East, the Tainos in the central region and the Guanahatabey in the west. All of these migrated from South America. They were fishermen, farmers or hunters and lived relatively peacefully together.

The first European to arrive was Christopher Columbus, who landed on the north coast on October 27, 1492. The Spanish then conquered Cuba in the 16th century. After the death of their leader, Hatuey, the Indians crumbled and were decimated. The Europeans first settled on the South coast but moved to Havana later on.

The new city became a flourishing trading post. Tobacco and sugar were grown in increasing quantities and slaves were brought to Cuba from West Africa.

Considerable anti-Spanish feeling built up over the years against the colonisng power. Jose Marti was one of the revolutionaries of the time but the struggle against Spain was long. Finally the U.S.A. helped defeat the Spaniards at the end of the 19th century. However, they retained a degree of influence over Cuba until General Batista was overthrown in the revolution led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.

The revolution was primarily nationalistic rather than socialist but after the strong support offered by the Soviet Union, Castro proclaimed Cuba a socialist republic in April 1961 and by November it was deemed a communist one.

Relations with the United States were severed and the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 was a first attempt to overthrow the government. The Missile Crisis in 1962 was another example of the tension between the two countries. The American blockade has now been going on for almost forty years but has not brought the political liberalization the White House had envisaged.

With help from the Soviet bloc, Cuba made great social advances after the revolution. Education and health care became available to all, housing was improved, and wealth was diverted from the capital to rural areas. However, these gains are being eroded now since the Soviet bloc has withdrawn its support and the Cuban economy has just begun to recover from a long crisis.