70 Fun Facts About Cuba

Old Havana was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in which year?

The city was founded in 1519 and became the capital in the 16th century.

Cuba is the largest country in the Caribbean by area; which two countries have larger populations?

Both share the island of Hispaniola, Cuba's neighbour to the east.

On which date did Christopher Columbus first arrive at Cuba?

He claimed the island for Spain and named it Isla Juana after a Spanish prince.

Columbus named Cuba 'Isla Juana' after which person?

The prince was the heir of Ferdinand and Isabella; the name did not stick.

Where was the first Spanish settlement in Cuba founded in 1511?

Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar founded it on the far eastern tip; it remained the capital only briefly.

Who led the 1868 rebellion that began the Ten Years' War against Spain?

The planter freed his own slaves and issued the call to arms known as the Grito de Yara.

In which year was slavery finally abolished in Cuba?

Abolition was decreed in 1875 but only completed 11 years later, decades after most of the Americas.

José Martí founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party in 1892 while exiled where?

Martí spent much of his adult life in exile in the United States before returning to die in battle in 1895.

At which 1895 battle was José Martí killed?

He was killed weeks after landing to join the war he had organised, and is revered as the Apostle of Cuban Independence.

Spain relinquished sovereignty over Cuba in an 1898 agreement signed in which city?

It ended the Spanish-American War, and Cuba passed to US military rule until 1902.

On what date did Cuba gain formal independence as the Republic of Cuba?

The date was later chosen for the official adoption of the flag as well.

The US lease of Guantánamo Bay was set up under a 1901 provision named after which senator?

The base is the oldest overseas US naval station, and Cuba has refused to cash the annual rent cheques since the revolution.

Since 1974 the US has paid Cuba an annual sum for Guantánamo Bay equivalent to how much in 1934 dollars?

Only one cheque has been cashed since 1959, which Fidel Castro blamed on confusion in the early days of his government.

Fulgencio Batista first came to power in September 1933 through what event?

He was elected president in 1940, retired to Florida, then seized power again in a 1952 coup.

What was the name of the yacht that carried Fidel Castro and about 80 supporters to Cuba in 1956?

The name now belongs to a province, the Communist Party newspaper and the rebels' first stronghold.

Castro's 26th of July Movement took its name from the date of a 1953 assault on which target?

The failed 26 July assault on the Santiago barracks gave the movement its name and Castro his 'History Will Absolve Me' speech.

From which mountain range did Castro's rebels wage their guerrilla war before breaking out in late 1958?

The range also holds Pico Turquino, the highest point in Cuba.

Batista fled Cuba on 1 January 1959 after the rebels captured which city?

Che Guevara led the battle there, derailing an armoured train that has become a monument.

Che Guevara was born in 1928 in which Argentine city?

He trained as a doctor before meeting Fidel Castro in Mexico and joining the 26th of July Movement.

Who took the 1960 photograph of Che Guevara known as 'Guerrillero Heroico'?

It has been called the most famous photograph in the world and appears on countless T-shirts.

In which country was Che Guevara executed in October 1967?

He was 39, captured while trying to spark a new guerrilla war in the Andes.

The Bay of Pigs invasion of April 1961 was carried out by a force known by what name?

The exiles flew from Nicaragua and were defeated by 19 April, handing John F. Kennedy an early humiliation.

How long did the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 last?

It ran from 16 to 28 October, and one American U-2 pilot, Rudolf Anderson, was killed when he was shot down.

What word did Kennedy use instead of 'blockade' for the naval cordon around Cuba in 1962?

A blockade is legally an act of war, so the wording mattered.

For Soviet withdrawal from Cuba in 1962, the US secretly agreed to remove Jupiter missiles from which country?

The near-miss led directly to the Moscow-Washington hotline.

The 1980 exodus of around 125,000 Cubans to the US is named after which port?

It began after 10,000 people crowded into the Peruvian embassy grounds seeking asylum.

Fidel Castro was Cuba's prime minister from 1959 until which year, when he became president?

He then held the presidency until 2008 and remained party first secretary until 2011.

Fidel Castro was born in 1926 in which small eastern Cuban village, the son of a wealthy Spanish farmer?

He studied law at the University of Havana, where he picked up the anti-imperialist ideas that shaped his life.

At what age did Fidel Castro die in November 2016?

He had handed power to his brother Raúl a decade earlier.

Who was the last sitting US president to visit Cuba before Barack Obama went in March 2016?

Coolidge's trip was in 1928; the 88-year gap ended after the December 2014 thaw brokered partly by Pope Francis.

Miguel Díaz-Canel, who became president in 2018, is the first Cuban leader since 1976 who is not what?

He is also the first president born after the 1959 revolution.

What is the highest point in Cuba?

It rises 1,974 metres in the Sierra Maestra.

Cuba is divided into how many provinces (plus one special municipality)?

The special municipality is Isla de la Juventud, the Isle of Youth, off the southwest coast.

Roughly how far is Cuba from Key West, Florida?

That is about 93 miles, close enough that Havana's radio stations reach south Florida.

What is the largest wetland in Cuba, home to its endemic crocodile?

It covers more than 4,520 square kilometres near the Bay of Pigs.

Which bird, endemic to Cuba, is the smallest in the world?

Males average under two grams, and the eggs are about the size of a coffee bean.

The trogon known as the tocororo is Cuba's emblematic bird because its plumage matches what?

Its name imitates its call, 'toco-toco-tocoro'.

The Cuban crocodile is unusual among crocodiles for what ability?

It is also the most terrestrial crocodile and survives only in the Zapata Swamp.

How many blue stripes are on the Cuban flag?

They represent the three departments Cuba was divided into in 1849, when the flag was designed.

What shape on the Cuban flag is said to reflect Masonic influence?

The flag was designed in 1849 and adopted on independence day, 20 May 1902.

What is the ISO code of Cuba's official currency, the peso?

The convertible peso (CUC) was abolished on 1 January 2021, the so-called Day Zero of unification.

The Cuban peso circulated at parity with which currency from 1915 until 1959-60?

Since 2021 it has been the island's only legal tender again.

Ernest Hemingway's Cuban home, 15 miles from Havana, was called what?

He left Cuba for the last time in July 1960 and the house is now a museum with his boat Pilar in the garden.

Which Hemingway novel, begun in Cuba, follows an old fisherman battling a giant marlin off Cuba?

It won the 1953 Pulitzer, and the Nobel followed the next year.

Bacardi rum was founded in 1862 in which eastern Cuban city?

The bat logo came from fruit bats roosting in the rafters of the first distillery; the company fled to Bermuda after its assets were seized in 1960.

Which cocktail was born in Havana and combines white rum, sugar, lime, soda water and mint?

The name may derive from mojo, a Cuban lime-based seasoning.

The daiquiri is named after a beach and iron mine near which eastern city?

An American mining engineer named Jennings Cox is usually credited with inventing it around 1898.

Cohiba cigars were created in 1966 as a private brand for whom?

They were rolled at the El Laguito mansion outside Havana and only went on public sale in 1982.

Which American guitarist produced the Buena Vista Social Club album recorded in Havana in 1996?

The record sold more than a million copies and won a Grammy in 1998, followed by a Wim Wenders documentary.

The lyrics of 'Guantanamera' are taken from the poetry collection Versos Sencillos by which Cuban?

The Sandpipers' 1966 version was the biggest English-language hit, and the melody now powers football chants worldwide.

How many Olympic gold medals has Cuba won in baseball?

Cuba medalled in five of the six Games where baseball was played and won 25 Baseball World Cup titles.

Alicia Alonso, founder of Cuba's national ballet, danced for decades despite what?

Her Giselle was legendary; she died in Havana in 2019 at 98.

Trinidad, Cuba, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with which nearby valley of old sugar mills?

Founded in 1514, the town grew rich on 18th- and 19th-century sugar.

Havana's famous seafront esplanade, the Malecón, stretches for roughly how far?

Construction began in 1901 during the period of US military rule.

In which Florida city is salami added to the Cuban sandwich?

The city council made it Tampa's official signature sandwich in 2012.

Around 2019 the UN estimated how many Cuban doctors were working abroad?

They were active in some 67 countries, one of Cuba's biggest sources of foreign income.

Which people's tobacco-smoking habit did the Spanish carry from Cuba to Europe?

The Guanahatabey were the older hunter-gatherer population who survived only in the west of the island until Columbus arrived.

Cuba is an archipelago of roughly how many islands, cays and islets?

The main island alone is 1,250 km long and ranks as the 17th-largest island in the world.

What is Cuba's second-largest island?

It sits in the Canarreos Archipelago off the southwest coast and covers about 2,204 square kilometres.

In November 1975 Cuba rushed more than 65,000 troops and 400 tanks to which African country?

Cuban forces later fought South African troops at Cuito Cuanavale in 1988 and only withdrew fully in 1989-91.

Which world chess champion, who reigned from 1921 to 1927, was Cuban?

Baseball, not chess, is the island's most popular sport, a legacy of Cuba's long ties with the United States.

Cuba's most important mineral export, mined at Moa by Canada's Sherritt International, is what?

Refined cobalt is a by-product of the same mines, and Cuba's reserves are estimated at over 7% of the world total.

Which second currency did Cuba formally scrap on 1 January 2021?

Citizens had until June 2021 to exchange their CUCs, and the change hit tourism workers who had been paid in them.

What is the ration book that entitles every Cuban household to monthly staples called?

Rationing has been the norm for decades; in May 2019 chicken, eggs, rice, beans and soap were all added to the rationed list.

Which West African language survives in Cuba as the liturgical tongue of Santería?

Haitian Creole is actually the island's second most spoken language, thanks to Haitian immigrants and their descendants.

Cuba's Catholic patroness, the Virgin of Cobre, is syncretised in Santería with which goddess?

Cuba was officially atheist until a 1992 constitutional amendment, and prisoners were pardoned before each of three papal visits.

In which year was the University of Havana founded?

Cuba's literacy rate is now 99.8 percent, largely because education is free at every level.

In 2015 Cuba became the first country to end mother-to-child transmission of which diseases?

The WHO called it one of the greatest public health achievements possible; Cuba also developed the Cimavax lung-cancer vaccine.

Which Cuban stringed instrument fuses elements of the Spanish guitar and lute?

Son, played on the tres, underpins mambo, cha-cha-chá and salsa; the maracas and güiro have African or Taíno roots.

What are black beans and rice, a Cuban staple, popularly called?

Ropa vieja is shredded beef; a typical meal arrives all at once rather than in courses.