Location: Caribbean
Status: UN Country
Capital City: Havana (La Habana)
Main Cities: Santiago de Cuba, Camagüey
Population: 11,000,000
Area: 110,860 km2
Currency: 1 Cuban peso = 100 centavos
Languages: Spanish
Religions: Roman Catholic
More about Cuba: a republic and the largest island in the Caribbean, at the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico: became a Spanish colony after its discovery by Columbus in 1492; gained independence after the Spanish-American War of 1898 but remained subject to US influence until declared a people's republic under Castro in 1960; subject of an international crisis in 1962, when the US blockaded the island in order to compel the Soviet Union to dismantle its nuclear missile base. Sugar comprises about 80 per cent of total exports; the economy was badly affected by loss of trade following the collapse of the Soviet Union and by the continuing US trade embargo. Language: Spanish. Religion: nonreligious majority. Currency: peso. Capital: Havana. Pop.: 11 328 000 (2004 est.). Area: 110 922 sq. km (42 827 sq. miles)