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General Background
Cuba
is the largest island, the
most varied and is
considered by many as the
most beautiful of the Greater
Antilles.
Its geographic position
between Florida located at
about 144 kilometers to
the North, The Bahamas 140
kilometers to the North
West , Hispagnola at
140 kilometers to the
South west, Jamaica at 146
to the South and Cancun
Mexico at 210 kilometers
to the West makes it
the geographic center of
the Caribbean Basin.
This geographic position
also makes Cuba a cross
road of the upper
Caribbean which has a
tremendous cultural,
economic and
strategic value.
From the cultural point of
view, it is a place
where different people
from other nations meet
and contribute to the
richness of the local
culture. When this
rich local culture is
viewed as an asset capable
of being translated into
commercial capital,
Cuba can be seen as a
potentially enormous
transnational economy
where the local markets of
the Caribbean, of
Central and South America
meet the United States
through a vital link with
Florida.
The strategic value of the
island as a geographic
point for the projection
of power in the Caribbean,
in Central and South
America was recognized by
Spain who used it as a
stepping stone for the
conquest of Mexico and
took all the necessary
steps to keep it as a
colony. The United
States understood also
very early in its
existence, as an
independent nation, the
strategic value of Cuba as
a point of control
on the Caribbean basin.
It offered on three
occasion to buy the Island
but Spain refused.
Blessed with a subtropical
trade wind climate,
adequate rainfall, mineral
resources and fertile
lands, Cuba has been
called by many the jewel
of the Antilles. The moist
northeast trade winds
reach most of the island
except the deep isolated
valleys and parts of the
southeast coast, making
the summers bearable and
the winters usually warm
and pleasant. The
temperature decreases
slightly with elevation
and exposure to open
waters, but the mean
annual temperature at
Havana (the capital) is
25o C.
It
is a beautiful country
inhabited by a people
which has been struggling
for centuries to maintain
its identity as a nation
while trying to
incorporate its Tainos,
Iberian and African roots
in a vibrant creole
complex that is
contextually Caribbean and
typically Cuban .
Cuba
was discovered by
Christopher Columbus
during his first voyage in
1492. He was very
impressed by the beauty of
the island. His log
contains a description of
what he saw. After
landing in the Bahamas he
took a south west course
that led him to Cuba. He
was led to Cuba by
Lucayens Indians of the
Bahamas who told him it
was land full of gold and
pearls. Not knowing that
he had discovered a new
continent, Columbus was
expecting to land in Japan
and meet the Great Kahn
when he landed in Cuba on
Sunday October 28 1492.
Lets read what he wrote in
his log book:
Columbus
Log Book (excerpt)
Friday,
October 26 1492(in the
Bahamas, 1 day before
leaving)
I
have been anchored about
15 to 18 miles south of
those islands that I
called Islas de Arena,
(Sands Islands now called
Ragged Island) and
it is all shallow between
them and me. The Indians
indicated that it is
journey of a day
and-a-half from there to
Cuba in their dugouts , (canoa)
little boats made of a
single log, with no sail.
Saturday,
October 27 1492(leaving
the Bahamas to go to Cuba)
I
hauled up the anchor at
sunrise and departed for
Cuba, which I am told is
magnificent, with gold and
pearls. I am now certain
that Cuba is the Indian
name of Japan. I made 6
knots from sunrise until 1
o' clock in the afternoon,
to the SSW. I added
another 21 miles before
nightfall on the same
course, for total of 51
miles. Just before sunset
I saw land. but it rained
so hard that we had to
beat about all this night.
The
discovery of Cuba Sunday
October 28 1492
At
sunrise, I approached the
coast and entered a very
beautiful river, which was
free from dangerous shoals
and other obstructions.
The water all along this
coast is very deep and
clear right to the shore.
The mouth of the river I
entered is 12 fathoms deep
and quite wide enough to
beat about in. I anchored
inside, at about the
distance of one lombard
shot.
I have never seen anything
so beautiful. The country
around the river is full
of trees, beautiful and
green and different from
ours, each with flowers
and its own kind of fruit.
There are many birds of
all sizes that sing very
sweetly, and there are
many palms different from
those of Guinea or Spain.
Some are medium height
without any bark at the
base, and the leaves are
very large. The Indians
cover their houses with
these leaves. The
land is very level........
The island is the most
beautiful i have seen,
full of good harbors and
deep rivers, and it
appears that there is no
tide because the grass on
the beach reaches almost
to the water, which does
not usually happen when
there are high tides or
rough seas......
The
Island is filled with very
beautiful mountains ,
although they are not very
long, only high. All the
other land is high like
Sicily. According to
what I can understand from
the Indians of Guananini
that are with me, this
land is full of rivers.
They told me by sign that
there are 10 large rivers
and that the island is so
large that they cannot
circumnavigate it with
their canoes in 20 days.
Tuesday,
October 30, 1492
.........I
took a reading with the
quadrant and Rio de Mares
is 21 degrees (43 degrees
in Columbus book, he was
grossly misreading his
quadrant) north of the
Equator.
I must try to go to the
Great Khan, for he is in
the vicinity or at the
city of cathay, which is
the city of the Great
Khan. This is a very great
city according to what I
was told before leaving
Spain.
Wednesday,
December 5 1492 (Columbus
left Cuba and went to
Hispagnola
-Haiti-Dominican
Republic-)
I
found that I could not go
to the island of
Babeque to the north east
because the prevailing
wind was from the north
east. While going along
more or less toward the
east, I looked to the
South East and saw land.
It was a very large
island, which I have been
already informed of by the
Indians with me.
They called it Bohio and
say that it was inhabited.
The people of Cuba which I
have named Juana and those
of all other island which
I have visited are very
much afraid of the people
of Bohio. They
believed that those of
Bohio eat people........
As the win was North east
and running north, I
decided to leave Cuba or
Juana, which up until now
I have thought to be
mainland on account of its
extent, because I have
sailled along its coast
for at least 360
miles" (end
of excerpt.)
After
leaving the shores of
Cuba, Columbus discovered,
on December 6 1492, the
island of Hispagnola which
was named Bohio, Kyskeya,
Haiti by its Tainos
inhabitants.
Hispagnola is presently
the territory of Haiti and
the Dominican Republic.
(see Columbus
log book
see also Haiti
and the Dominican
Republic
)
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