Hotels in Cuba
Hotels in cuba are often needed by people who need accommodation in the nation of Cuba. Some may want to have a hotel that can offer a place to stay. Some may want to visit the nation to see entertainment, sports or cultural events in the nation. Some may want to see the culture of the nation or the architecture. Some may want to go to the city to have a diplomatic visit, or to have a visit to the industrial areas to do deals. Some may want a hotel with a good reputation and with good prices and access to entertainment and to the major tourist attractions of Cuba.
The main island consists mostly of flat to rolling plains. At the southeastern end is the Sierra Maestra, a range of steep mountains whose highest point is the Pico Real del Turquino at 1,975 meters.
Pico Turquino is the highest point in Cuba. It is located in the southeast part of the island, in the Sierra Maestra mountain range in Santiago de Cuba Province. During the late 1950s, Fidel Castro and members of his 26th of July Movement used the area as a base during the Cuban Revolution.
The name is believe to be a corruption of turqoise (Spanish: turquí) peak, named so for the blue hues taken by the heights in certain views. It was first mentioned (under the name Tarquino) on a map drawn by Gerardo Kramer in the late 1700s.
A bust of José Martí, sculpted by Jilma Madera, was placed on the peak to celebrate his centenary.
Cuba
consists of the island of Cuba, Isla de la Juventud and several adjacent small
islands. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean at the confluence of the Caribbean
Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Cuba is south of the eastern United
States and The Bahamas, west of the Turks and Caicos Islands and Haiti and east
of Mexico. The Cayman Islands and Jamaica are to the south. The national flower
is the flor de mariposa (Butterfly Flower) and the national bird is the Tocororo
or Cuban Trogon.
Cuba is the most populous insular nation in the Caribbean.
Its people, culture and customs draw from several sources including the aboriginal
Taíno and Ciboney peoples, the period of Spanish colonialism, the introduction
of African slaves, and its proximity to the United States. The name Cuba is from
the Taíno language the exact meaning of which is unclear, but may be translated
either where fertile land is abundant" (cubao) or great place (coabana).
The island has a tropical climate that is moderated by the surrounding waters;
however, the warm temperatures of the Caribbean Sea and the fact that the island
of Cuba sits across the access to the Gulf of Mexico combine to make Cuba prone
to frequent hurricanes. Cuba's main island, at 766 miles long, is the world's
17th largest.
Cuba was in Spanish possession for almost 400 years (circa 1511-1898). Its economy was based on plantation agriculture, mining and the export of sugar, coffee and tobacco to Europe and later to North America. Havana was seized by the British in 1762, but restored to Spain the following year. The Spanish population was boosted by settlers leaving Haiti when that territory was ceded to France. As in other parts of the Spanish Empire, the small land-owning elite of Spanish-descended settlers held social and economic power, supported by a population of Spaniards born on the island and called Criollos by the Iberian born Spaniards, other Europeans and African-descended slaves.
In the 1820s, when the other parts of Spain's empire in Latin America rebelled and formed independent states, Cuba remained loyal, although there was some agitation for independence. Due to Cuba's loyalty to the Spanish government, the Spanish Crown gave the following motto to the island government "La Siempre Fidelisima Isla" (The Always Most Faithful Island). This was partly because the prosperity of Cuban settlers depended on trade with Europe, partly through fears of a slave rebellion (as had happened in Haiti) if the Spanish withdrew, and partly because the Cubans feared the rising power of the United States more than they disliked Spanish rule.
An additional factor was the continuous migration of Spaniards to Cuba from all social strata, a trend that had ceased in other Spanish possessions decades earlier and which contributed to the slow development of a Cuban national identity. Pirates were also still a problem and defense against them depended heavily on the presence of Spanish troops.
Cuba's proximity to the USA has been a powerful influence on its history. Throughout the 19th century, Southern politicians in the USA plotted the island's annexation as a means of strengthening the pro-slavery forces in the USA, and there was usually a party in Cuba which supported such a policy. In 1848 a pro-annexation rebellion was defeated and there were several attempts by annexation forces to invade the island from Florida. There were also regular proposals in the USA to buy Cuba from Spain. During the summer of 1848 President James K. Polk quietly authorized his ambassador to Spain, Romulus Mitchell Saunders, to negotiate the purchase of Cuba and offer Spain up to $100 million. While an astonishing sum at the time for one territory, trade in sugar and molasses from Cuba exceeded $18,000,000 in 1838 alone. Spain, however, refused to consider ceding one of its last possessions in the Americas.
Theodore Roosevelt, who had fought in the Spanish-American War and had some sympathies with the independence movement, succeeded McKinley as President of the United States in 1901 and abandoned the 20 year treaty proposal. Instead, the Republic of Cuba gained formal independence on May 20, 1902, with the independence leader Tomás Estrada Palma becoming the country's first president. Under the new Cuban constitution, however, the USA retained the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise its finances and foreign relations. Under the Platt Amendment, Cuba also agreed to lease to the USA the naval base at Guantánamo Bay. Cuba today does not celebrate May 20 as their date of independence, but instead October 10, as the first declaration of independence, May 1 international (but not US) Labour day, and also July 26, the date of Castro's first attack on Moncada Barracks.
In 1906, following disputed elections, an armed revolt led by Independence War Veterans broke out that defeated the meager government forces loyal to Estrada Palma and the USA exercised its right of intervention. The country was placed under USA occupation and a USA governor, Charles Edward Magoon, took charge for three years. Magoon's governorship in Cuba was viewed in a negative light by many Cuban historians for years thereafter, believing that much political corruption was introduced during Magoon's years as governor. In 1908 self-government was restored when José Miguel Gómez was elected President, but the USA retained its supervision of Cuban affairs. Since then the country has become more independent. Notable leaders since have included Castro, Batista, and Manuel Urrutia Lleó. Cuban politics is controversial all over the USA and the rest of the west.
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