Cuba | Government, Flag, Capital, Population, & Language | Britannica

1. Domestic transactions only; the Cuban convertible peso (CUC) is used for international transactions—(September 1, 2015) 1 U.S.$ = CUC 1.00; 1 £ = CUC 1.53.
2. Areas of major landmasses are: island of Cuba 40,285 sq mi (104,339 sq km); Isla de la Juventud 934 sq mi (2,419 sq km); numerous adjacent cays (administratively a part of provinces or the Isla de la Juventud) 1,207 sq mi (3,126 sq km).

On New Year’s Day, 1959, revolutionary forces led by Fidel Castro overthrew the government of dictator Fulgencio Batista. Two years later Castro proclaimed the Marxist-Leninist nature of the revolution. Cuba became economically isolated from its northern neighbour as it developed close links to the Soviet Union. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s isolated Cuba still further, bringing on what Cubans euphemistically call the período especial (“special period”), a time of widespread shortages and financial uncertainty. By the early 21st century, Cuba had loosened some of its more-restrictive economic and social policies, but the United States continued its decades-long economic embargo against the Castro regime, though the December 2014 announcement of the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries held promise of the embargo’s removal.

Life in contemporary Cuba is thus challenging, given the limited access to food, transportation, electrical power, and other necessities. Even so, many Cubans show a fierce pride in their revolutionary society, the only one of its kind in Latin America. The protagonist of anthropologist Miguel Barnet’s novel Canción de Rachel (1969; Rachel’s Song, 1991) describes it thus:

This island is something special. The strangest, most tragic things have happened here. And it will always be that way. The earth, like humankind, has its destiny. And Cuba’s is a mysterious destiny.

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Cuba is a multicultural, largely urban nation, although it has only one major city: Havana (La Habana), the capital and commercial hub of the country, on the northwestern coast. Handsome if rather run-down, Havana has a scenic waterfront and is surrounded by fine beaches, an attraction for increasing numbers of visitors from abroad. Cuba’s other cities—including Santiago, Camagüey, Holguín, and, especially, Trinidad—offer a rich legacy of colonial Spanish architecture to complement contemporary buildings.