Cuba

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THE CUBAN NATION, 1898-1959

The final years of the nineteenth century shaped the Cuba that entered the twentieth century as a United States economic dependent and political protectorate. The actions and events of these years and the resulting conditions contributed heavily to the political, social and economic disarray manifested as virulent Cuban nationalism and anti-Americanism throughout the new century. Before reviewing some factors that shaped Cuba after 1880, we will briefly examine some of the geographic, cultural, demographic, political, and economic factors that were important to Cuba's development.

Geographically, Cuba is an island nation in the northern Caribbean. At its northernmost point, Cuba is less than 100 miles from the southern tip of Florida. It stretches southeasterly 750 miles from the eastern Gulf of Mexico through the northern Caribbean and generally measures fifty to eighty miles wide. The highest elevations in Cuba exceed 6,000 feet in the Sierra Maestra mountain range of southeastern Oriente Province. Except for three small areas, the western lowlands range below 600 feet elevation and cover 60 percent of the island. [Carlson, p. 443]. Christopher Columbus discovered Cuba on his first voyage in 1492. Successive expeditions used Cuba as a staging area.

Culturally, Cuba's development followed closely that of other Latin American nations --Spanish conquerors claimed the lands for the crown, subordinated the indigenous population to European governors, exploited minerals and agricultural resources, and imported African slaves to support agriculture or mining. Cuban exceptions or variations included remaining a Spanish colony much longer into the nineteenth century, abolishing African slavery much later, failing to develop close ties to the Catholic Church, and developing a landless working class instead of a peasantry. Cuba also failed to develop the strong Indian culture common to many Latin countries ...