Cuba, the most westerly and largest island of the West Indies, till 1898 the principal colony left to Spain, stretches in the form of a long narrow crescent, convex on the north side, at the entrance of the Gulf of Mexico, which it divides into two channels—the north-west, 124 miles wide, and the south-west, 97½ miles at its narrowest part. Cuba is 759 miles long from Cape Maysi on the east to Cape Antonio on the west, with a breadth varying from 27 miles to 90 miles, a coast-line of 1976 miles, and an area of about 45,000 sq. mi., or, including adjacent islands (of which the Isle of Pines is the largest) and bays, 46,419 sq. mi. Only about one-third of the coast-line is accessible to vessels, the remainder being beset by reefs and banks. The shores, low and flat, are liable to inundations, but there are numerous excellent havens. A watershed running lengthwise through the island, rises into mountainous heights only in the south-east, where are the Sierra de Maestra shooting up in the Pico de Tarquino to 8400 feet, and the Sierra del Cobre (copper). The mountains, composed of granite overlaid with calcareous rocks, and containing minerals, especially copper and iron, are clothed in almost perennial verdure, wooded to the summits. Carboniferous strata appear in the west, schistose rocks on the north coast. The limestone rocks abound in caverns, with magnificent stalactites. Mineral waters are plentiful. The rivers, running north and south, are navigable for only a few miles by small boats, but are very serviceable for irrigation of the plantations, and supply excellent drinking water. The climate, more temperate than in the other West Indian Islands, is salubrious in the elevated interior, but the coasts are the haunt of fever and ague. No month of the year is free from rain, the greatest rainfall being in May, June, and July. Earthquakes are frequent in the east. Hurricanes, less frequent than in Jamaica, sometimes cause widespread desolation. A hurricane in 1846 demolished 1872 houses, and sank 216 vessels.
The soil of Cuba is eminently fertile, a large part still covered with virgin forest containing magnificent mahogany, cedar, ebony, ironwood, dyewoods, and pine. The vegetation of Cuba also includes lignum-vitæ, tamarind, palms, ferns, lianas, &c. Among the cultivated products are sugar, tobacco, coffee, cacao, rice, maize, cotton, esculent roots, and tropical fruits. Among the animals are a species of tail-less rat peculiar to Cuba, great abundance of birds, including the mocking-bird, a species of vulture (valuable as a scavenger), woodpecker, partridge, flamingo, albatross. Of noxious animals there are the crocodile, scorpion, and mosquitoes. The rivers and seas are well stocked with fish, the turtle abounding in the shallows and sandy places of the beach.
Sugar, for which soil and climate are peculiarly favourable, has long been the chief product of Cuba, though it had suffered much from the low prices even before the insurrection ruined trade. The total production of sugar in the year 1894-95 was 1,004,264 tons. About nine-tenths of the sugar and nearly all the molasses are exported to the United States. Of tobacco, of excellent quality, the yield is about 300,000 bales annually. In 1893 the export of tobacco was 227,865 bales, besides 147,365,000 cigars; in 1895, 156,513,000. The mining industry of Cuba has as yet received little attention; but one iron company has exported to the United States in some years 200,000 tons of iron ore. Manganese and copper are also found. There are some 1600 sugar plantations in Cuba, 8500 tobacco plantations, and 700 coffee plantations. The total imports into Cuba in 1892 are stated at 57,000,000 pesos or dollars, and the exports at 90,000,000. But for war, the revenue should be about 25,000,000 pesos. The debt is now much over 40,000,000.
In 1895 the population was 1,650,000; in 1879 it was, according to De Las Penas, about 1,500,000, of whom 975,000 were Spaniards and Creoles, 9300 foreigners, 40,000 coolies and other Asiatics, while there were 445,000 negroes and mulattoes, of whom 269,000 were free. The principal towns, Havana (q.v.), Puerto Principe, Santiago, Nuevitas, and Cienfuegos, are united by railway. Under Spanish rule the captain-general was highest military and civil commander; and all state offices were held by Spaniards from Spain—one of the great grievances of the Cubans.
After the war (see below) and the conclusion of peace (1899) between the United States and Spain, Cuba became practically a dependency—in the first instance a military protectorate—of the United States; and though it was intended that the island was to be governed in the interests of the Cubans, and as soon as possible by Cubans, the formal status of Cuba was not definitely settled. Many American statesmen regarded with serious misgivings a colonial expansion that absorbed Puerto Rico, annexed Cuba, and took over the Philippines at once. But the Americans proceeded to reorganise the administration on a provisional footing, to make roads and railways, to improve docks and harbours, and to impose hitherto unheard-of sanitary precautions. Many burdensome taxes were abolished and a fair customs tariff was established.
Cuba, spoken of as the 'Queen of the Antilles,' was first discovered by Columbus in 1492, the discoverer calling it 'the most beautiful land that eyes ever beheld.' It was first settled by Spaniards at Baracoa in 1511. Havana, first settled in 1519, was reduced to ashes by the French in 1538, and again in 1554. For about one and a half centuries Cuba was in constant danger from French, English, Dutch, and West Indian filibusters. In 1762 the English under Lord Albemarle (q.v.) took Havana, which, however, was by the Treaty of Paris next year restored to Spain. Hitherto the whole Spanish trade with the colonies had been in the hands of a single privileged company. During the ten months' English occupation, Havana, open to free trade, showed in its port, instead of ten to twelve ships yearly as formerly, more than one thousand, and agriculture made rapid progress. In 1818 Cuba was opened to the world's trade, and soon reached unexampled prosperity. The civil war in the United States ruined its sugar industry and so benefited Cuba; but the suppression of slavery by the Spanish government (1880-86) without compensation created discontent not abated by the constitution of 1884. A serious insurrection took shape in 1895. Absolute freedom from Spanish rule was demanded, a Cuban Republic was proclaimed, and soon a bloody guerilla war was in progress. In their efforts to crush the rebellion the Spanish government sent to Cuba upwards of 200,000 soldiers, of whom a very large proportion died in hospital. The savage and destructive character of the war, and the cruelties believed to have been shown by the Spaniards even towards non-combatants, provoked very pronounced sympathy with the insurgents on the part of the United States, and American intervention was repeatedly threatened. The destruction of an American war-ship by an explosion in Havana harbour embittered American feeling, and in April 1898 the United States and Spain were at war. The harbour of Havana was blockaded; but the centre of military operations was Santiago, where there was some sharp fighting, and the Americans suffered from fever as well as in the lines. The brief war was concluded by the total destruction of the Spanish fleet in August; the Spanish troops were deported from the island; and Cuba was lost to Spain, but its relations to the United States were not finally settled by the peace negotiations at Paris at the end of the year.
See Gallenga, The Pearl of the Antilles (1873); other books on Cuba by Hazard (New York, 1871) and Ballou (Boston, 1885), Larrinaga (1881), Piron (Paris, new ed. (1889), R. H. Davies (1897), Richard Davey (1898), R. P. Porter (1899); and works cited at WEST INDIES.