Cuba

Cuba - Is officially known as the Republic of Cuba. Cuba is a North American island nation located in the Caribbean Sea, the southern portion of the Gulf of Mexico and the North Atlantic Ocean. 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. After the European discovery of the island by Christopher Columbus in 1492 and following its development as a Spanish colony during the next several centuries the native Amerindian population began to decline. Large numbers of African slaves were imported to work the coffee and sugar plantations, and Havana became the launching point for the annual treasure fleets bound for Spain from Mexico and Peru. Spanish rule, marked initially by neglect, became increasingly repressive, provoking an independence movement and occasional rebellions that were harshly suppressed. It was US intervention during the Spanish-American War in 1898 that finally overthrew Spanish rule. The subsequent Treaty of Paris established Cuban independence, which was granted in 1902 after a three-year transition period. Cuba's Communist revolution, with Soviet support, was exported throughout Latin America and Africa during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Cuba portrays its difficulties as the result of the US embargo in place since 1961. Recently, large reserves of oil have been found in the North Cuba Basin leading US Congress members Jeff Flake and Larry Craig to call for a repeal of the US embargo of Cuba (isn't that funny).
Cuba had been inhabited by Native American peoples known as the Taíno and Ciboney whose ancestors had come from South and possibly North and Central America at least several and perhaps 60 to 80 centuries before. The Taíno were farmers and the Ciboney were farmers and hunter-gatherers; some have suggested that copper trade was significant and mainland artifacts have been found.