Couple on beach chairs and umbrellas at Sol Cayo Santa Maria Resort, Cayo Santa Maria, Cuba.
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. To the north of Cuba lies the United States (140 km or 90 mi away) and the Bahamas, Mexico is to the west, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica are to the south, and Haiti and the Dominican Republic are to the southeast. In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on and claimed the island now occupied by Cuba, for the Kingdom of Spain. Cuba remained a territory of Spain until the Spanish–American War ended in 1898, and gained formal independence from the in 1902. A fragile democracy, increasingly dominated by radical politics eventually evolved, solidified by the Cuban Constitution of 1940, but was quashed in 1952 by former president Fulgencio Batista, and an anti-imperialist socialist government was set up, intensifying and catalyzing already rampant corruption, political repression and crippling economic regulations. Batista was ousted in January 1959 by the July 26 movement, and a new administration under Fidel Castro established, which had by 1965 evolved into a single-party state under the revived Communist Party of Cuba, which holds power to date. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is the most populous island nation in the Caribbean, as well as the largest by area. However, the population density is lower than in most Caribbean countries. Its people, culture, and customs draw from diverse sources, such as the aboriginal Taíno and Ciboney peoples, the period of Spanish colonialism, the introduction of African slaves and its proximity to the United States. Cuba has a literacy rate, an infant death rate lower than some developed countries, and an average
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Location: cuba
Photo credit: © Michael DeFreitas Caribbean / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: america, beach, beaches, blue, caribbean, cayo, chair, chairs, clara, couple, cuba, cuban, emerald, honeymoon, hotel, island, landscape, latin, maria, ocean, people, resort, romantic, sand, santa, scenic, sea, seascape, sol, spanish, thatch, tropical, umbrella, umbrellas, vacation, villa, water, white
