Chapter 01 · Pre-1492 - c. 1550
The Taino and the Spanish Conquest
The Arawakan Taino, the island's most numerous people, met Columbus in 1492; within two generations conquest, forced labour, and disease had all but destroyed them.
Before European contact Cuba was home to the Taino, an Arawakan-speaking people who had settled the Greater Antilles and were the most numerous indigenous group of the Caribbean. They lived in agricultural villages, cultivating cassava and other crops, and organised under chiefs called caciques. Estimates of their pre-contact numbers across the islands range widely, but they may have totalled one or two million; in Cuba they were the dominant population when the first Europeans arrived.
Christopher Columbus anchored off the northern coast of Cuba on 27 October 1492, during his first voyage, claiming the island for the Spanish crown. Sustained colonisation began two decades later: in 1511 Diego Velazquez led the conquest, founding Baracoa as the first Spanish settlement, and within a few years further towns including Santiago de Cuba and, soon after, Havana were established. Spanish presence was resisted by the Taino, whose leaders were suppressed by force.
Under Spanish rule the Taino were subjected to forced labour through the encomienda system and exposed to Old World epidemic diseases against which they had no immunity. Enslavement, starvation, and disease reduced the indigenous population catastrophically within a generation; by the mid-sixteenth century the Taino had been all but extinguished as a distinct society, though elements of their language, food, and material culture survived. To replace the lost labour, the colonists began importing enslaved Africans.
“The Taino were once the most numerous people of the Caribbean.”
— Encyclopaedia Britannica
Turning points
- 27 Oct 1492Colonisation
Columbus reaches Cuba
On his first voyage Christopher Columbus anchors off the northern coast of Cuba and claims the island for Spain, his first encounter with the Taino there.
See the data - 1511 CEColonisation
Spanish conquest begins
Diego Velazquez leads the conquest of Cuba, founding Baracoa as the first Spanish settlement; further towns follow within a few years.
See the data - by c. 1520-1550Catastrophe
Collapse of the Taino
Forced labour, starvation, and Old World disease all but extinguish the indigenous Taino, prompting the import of enslaved Africans.
See the data
Chapter sources: Taino, Cuba: A Country Study, Cuba
Chapter 02 · 1519 - 1868
Spanish Colony: Havana, Sugar, and Slavery
Havana, founded in 1519 and ringed with stone fortresses, became the fortified key to the Indies, while in the nineteenth century Cuba grew into the world's foremost sugar colony, worked by hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans.
Havana was founded by the Spanish in 1519, and the exceptional value of its deep bay as an obligatory stop on the maritime route to the New World made it a place that had to be defended. Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries the Spanish built an extensive network of fortifications, among the oldest and largest stone defences in the Americas, including the Castillo de la Real Fuerza, the Morro castle, and the great Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabana. Havana became the assembly point for the treasure fleets and a principal shipbuilding centre of the Caribbean, earning its description as the key to the Indies.
For much of the colonial era Cuba was a relatively modest possession of cattle, tobacco, and small ports. This changed dramatically from the late eighteenth century, when the collapse of sugar production in revolutionary Saint-Domingue and the spread of plantation agriculture transformed the island. Planters poured capital into sugar mills and, from the 1830s, into the most mechanised sugar industry in the world, served by steam power and early railways. By 1860 Cuba produced nearly a third of the world's sugar, and the crop dominated its exports.
This wealth rested on slavery. In the nineteenth century Cuba imported more than six hundred thousand enslaved Africans, the great majority after 1820, even as Britain pressed Spain to end the trade. The enslaved population rose from tens of thousands in the 1770s to roughly four hundred thousand by the 1840s, about a third of the island's people. Cuban society was thus shaped by a vast forced-labour economy whose injustices, alongside the exclusion of Cuban-born creoles from power, fed the discontent that would erupt into the wars of independence.
“Some of the oldest and largest stone fortifications in the Americas, built to defend the obligatory stop on the route to the New World.”
— UNESCO, Old Havana and its Fortification System
Turning points
- 1519 CEFormation
Founding of Havana
The Spanish found Havana, whose harbour becomes an obligatory stop on the route to the New World and the most heavily fortified port of the Caribbean.
- begun 1558Colonisation
The fortifications of Havana
Construction of the Castillo de la Real Fuerza and, later, the Morro and La Cabana fortresses makes Havana the fortified key to the Indies.
See the data - 19th c.Economy & Trade
Sugar-and-slavery boom
Cuba becomes the world's leading sugar producer, importing over 600,000 enslaved Africans; by 1860 it makes nearly a third of the world's sugar.
See the data
Chapter sources: Old Havana and its Fortification System, Cuba: Sugarcane and the growth of slavery, Cuba
Chapter 03 · 1868 - 1898
The Wars of Independence and 1898
From the Grito de Yara of 1868 to Jose Marti's rising of 1895, Cubans fought three wars to end Spanish rule; the last drew in the United States and ended Spanish dominion in the Spanish-American War of 1898.
On 10 October 1868, at his estate of La Demajagua near Bayamo, the planter Carlos Manuel de Cespedes freed his slaves and proclaimed Cuban independence in the call known as the Grito de Yara, opening the Ten Years' War. The insurrection, drawing thousands of volunteers and led by figures such as Maximo Gomez and Antonio Maceo, won notable successes but could not dislodge Spain; it ended inconclusively in 1878 with the Pact of Zanjon, which promised reforms that were only partly fulfilled. Cespedes, hailed as the father of the Cuban nation, had been deposed and was killed in 1874.
The cause was revived by Jose Marti, the poet, essayist, and organiser who from exile unified the independence movement and is honoured as the apostle of Cuban independence. In 1895 Marti gave the order to resume the war and landed in Cuba to join it, only to be killed in a skirmish at Dos Rios on 19 May 1895. The war of independence that he had organised continued under Gomez and Maceo, met by a harsh Spanish campaign of reconcentration that caused great civilian suffering and drew wide attention abroad.
The conflict became an international war in 1898. After the U.S. battleship Maine exploded in Havana harbour on 15 February 1898, the United States intervened; Congress acknowledged Cuban independence and, in the Teller Amendment, disclaimed any intention to annex the island. War was declared in April, Spanish forces were defeated, and the Treaty of Paris of 10 December 1898 ended Spanish rule. Cuba passed not to immediate independence but to a U.S. military occupation.
“Marti became the symbol of Cuba's struggle for independence from Spain.”
— Encyclopaedia Britannica
Turning points
- 10 Oct 1868Independence
Grito de Yara
Carlos Manuel de Cespedes frees his slaves and proclaims independence at La Demajagua, beginning the Ten Years' War against Spain.
See the data - 1895 CEIndependence
Marti's War of Independence
Jose Marti orders the resumption of war and lands in Cuba, dying at Dos Rios on 19 May; the rising continues under Gomez and Maceo.
See the data - 15 Feb 1898War & Rupture
Sinking of the USS Maine
The U.S. battleship Maine explodes in Havana harbour, propelling the United States toward war with Spain over Cuba.
See the data - 10 Dec 1898War & Rupture
Spanish-American War ends Spanish rule
After Spain's defeat, the Treaty of Paris ends Spanish dominion over Cuba; the Teller Amendment had disclaimed U.S. annexation.
See the data
Figures of the era
Carlos Manuel de Cespedes1819-1874
Planter and independence leader
Lawyer and sugar planter who freed his slaves and proclaimed Cuban independence in the Grito de Yara of 1868, launching the Ten Years' War. Deposed as president of the Republic in Arms and killed in 1874, he is revered as the father of the Cuban nation.
Chapter sources: Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, Jose Marti, Jose Marti — The World of 1898: The Spanish-American War, The Spanish-American War, 1898, Cuba
Chapter 04 · 1898 - 1958
The Republic: Occupation, Platt, Machado, and Batista
After four years of U.S. occupation the Republic of Cuba was proclaimed on 20 May 1902, its sovereignty constrained by the Platt Amendment; the decades that followed were marked by prosperity, dependence, and the dictatorships of Machado and Batista.
The United States governed Cuba as an occupying power from 1899 until 1902. As the condition for withdrawal, Congress passed the Platt Amendment in 1901, which limited Cuba's treaty-making, reserved to the United States a right to intervene to preserve Cuban independence and order, and provided for a U.S. naval base, established at Guantanamo Bay. Cuba incorporated these terms into its constitution, and on 20 May 1902 the Republic of Cuba was formally installed under its first president, Tomas Estrada Palma. The new republic was sovereign but bound to its powerful neighbour.
The early republic combined real material progress with chronic instability and U.S. tutelage; American forces intervened more than once in the first decades. The Platt Amendment was finally abrogated in 1934, though the Guantanamo lease remained. The dictatorship of Gerardo Machado, in power from 1925, collapsed amid economic depression and unrest when the army forced him to flee in August 1933. Out of that turmoil rose Fulgencio Batista, who dominated Cuban politics for a generation, first from behind the scenes and then as elected president from 1940 to 1944.
Batista returned to power by force. A candidate for the 1952 election and anticipating defeat, he overthrew the constitutional government in a bloodless coup in March 1952 and ruled as dictator. His regime, associated with corruption, repression, and close ties to U.S. business and organised crime, provoked mounting opposition. Among those who turned to armed resistance was a young lawyer, Fidel Castro, whose movement would bring the republic to an end at the close of the decade.
“On 20 May 1902 the United States relinquished its occupation authority over Cuba.”
— U.S. Office of the Historian
Turning points
- 1901 CEPolitics & Power
- 20 May 1902Formation
- Aug 1933Politics & Power
- Mar 1952Politics & Power
Figures of the era
Tomas Estrada Palma1835-1908
First president of Cuba
Veteran of the independence struggle who became the Republic of Cuba's first president in 1902. His contested re-election in 1905 led to revolt and a renewed U.S. intervention.
Chapter sources: Platt Amendment (1903), Platt Amendment, A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations, by Country: Cuba, Tomas Estrada Palma, Republic of Cuba (1902-1959), Cuban Revolution, 26th of July Movement
Chapter 05 · 1959 - 1991
The Revolution and the Cold War
Fidel Castro's movement took power on 1 January 1959 and turned Cuba toward socialism and the Soviet Union, drawing the U.S. embargo, the Bay of Pigs, and the missile crisis that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.
The revolution grew from the 26th of July Movement, named for Castro's failed attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba on 26 July 1953. After exile and the formation of a guerrilla force, Castro and his companions, among them the Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara and his brother Raul Castro, landed in eastern Cuba in December 1956 and waged an insurgency from the Sierra Maestra. Batista, his position untenable, fled in the early hours of 1 January 1959, and the rebels took power, with Fidel Castro soon at the head of the government.
The new government rapidly radicalised. It carried out land reform and nationalisations that struck at U.S. and Cuban property, declared the revolution socialist, and aligned with the Soviet Union. Washington responded by breaking diplomatic relations in January 1961 and imposing a trade embargo, which President Kennedy made comprehensive and permanent in February 1962. In April 1961 a brigade of U.S.-backed Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs in an attempt to overthrow Castro; the invasion was defeated within days, hardening the confrontation.
In October 1962 the discovery of Soviet nuclear missile sites under construction in Cuba precipitated the Cuban Missile Crisis. President Kennedy announced a naval quarantine of the island, and for thirteen days the United States and the Soviet Union stood at the edge of nuclear war until Premier Khrushchev agreed on 28 October to withdraw the missiles. For the next three decades Cuba remained a one-party socialist state closely tied to the Soviet bloc, its economy underwritten by large Soviet subsidies and shaped by the continuing U.S. embargo.
“For thirteen days the world stepped back from the brink of nuclear war.”
— On the Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962
Turning points
- 1 Jan 1959Politics & Power
- Apr 1961War & Rupture
Bay of Pigs invasion
A brigade of U.S.-backed Cuban exiles lands at the Bay of Pigs in an attempt to overthrow Castro and is defeated within days.
See the data - Feb 1962Economy & Trade
U.S. embargo made comprehensive
President Kennedy expands the trade embargo to cover nearly all commerce with Cuba and makes it permanent.
See the data - Oct 1962War & Rupture
Cuban Missile Crisis
Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba trigger a thirteen-day confrontation; a U.S. quarantine and a Soviet agreement to withdraw the missiles avert nuclear war.
See the data
Figures of the era
Fidel Castro1926-2016
Revolutionary and head of state
Leader of the 26th of July Movement who took power on 1 January 1959 and ruled Cuba for nearly half a century. He transformed the island into a one-party socialist state allied with the Soviet Union and defined Cuba's confrontation with the United States.
Che Guevara1928-1967
Argentine revolutionary
Argentine-born physician turned guerrilla who was a leading figure of the Cuban Revolution and held senior posts in its government. Killed in Bolivia in 1967 while seeking to spread revolution, he became an enduring icon of the radical left.
Chapter sources: Cuban Revolution, 26th of July Movement, Che Guevara, The Bay of Pigs Invasion and its Aftermath, April 1961-October 1962, Bay of Pigs invasion, The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962, Cuban missile crisis
Chapter 06 · 1991 - present
Special Period, Thaw, and the Present
The collapse of the Soviet Union plunged Cuba into the austere Special Period; later came cautious reform, a brief thaw with the United States in 2014-15, and the passing of leadership beyond the Castro family.
The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 abruptly ended the subsidies and trade on which Cuba depended, throwing the economy into deep crisis. Fidel Castro declared a special period in peacetime, marked by severe shortages of food, fuel, and medicine, blackouts, and rationing; gross domestic product contracted by roughly a third in the early 1990s. The government responded by legalising the U.S. dollar, opening to foreign tourism and limited private enterprise, and seeking new partners, while the political system remained a one-party state.
In 2008 an ailing Fidel Castro formally handed the presidency to his brother Raul Castro, who introduced gradual economic reforms. A historic shift came on 17 December 2014, when President Barack Obama and President Raul Castro announced agreement to begin normalising relations after more than half a century of estrangement. Diplomatic relations were re-established and embassies reopened in July and August 2015, though the U.S. trade embargo, which only Congress can lift, remained in force and much of the opening was later rolled back.
Leadership passed beyond the Castro family for the first time since the revolution when Miguel Diaz-Canel became president in April 2018 and assumed leadership of the Communist Party in April 2021, as Raul Castro stepped down; Fidel Castro had died in 2016. Cuba in the 2020s has faced renewed economic hardship, energy shortages, and emigration, alongside unusually large public protests in July 2021. It remains a one-party socialist republic, still shaped by the embargo and by the long arc of revolution that defined the twentieth century.
“Diaz-Canel was the first person since the 1959 revolution not named Castro to hold either of the country's leading posts.”
— Encyclopaedia Britannica
Turning points
- 1991 CEEconomy & Trade
The Special Period begins
The Soviet collapse ends Cuba's subsidies and trade; Castro declares a special period of rationing and austerity as GDP contracts sharply.
See the data - 2008 CEPolitics & Power
Raul Castro assumes the presidency
An ailing Fidel Castro hands power to his brother Raul, who introduces gradual economic reforms.
- 17 Dec 2014Politics & Power
- 2018-2021Politics & Power
Leadership beyond the Castros
Miguel Diaz-Canel becomes president in 2018 and Communist Party leader in 2021, the first non-Castro to hold the top posts since 1959.
Figures of the era
Raul Castroborn 1931
Revolutionary and head of state
Fidel Castro's brother and comrade from the revolution who served as president from 2008 and led the Communist Party until 2021. He oversaw cautious economic reform and the 2014-15 opening to the United States.
Miguel Diaz-Canelborn 1960
President of Cuba
Politician who became president in 2018 and first secretary of the Communist Party in 2021, the first person not named Castro to hold Cuba's leading posts since the 1959 revolution.
Chapter sources: Cuba since 1991, Re-Establishment of Diplomatic Relations With Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel, Cuban Revolution