Spanish; Cuba facts

This article provides basic facts about Cuba, including its geography, culture, typical food, important people, economy, and monetary unit. It also covers the national holidays and festivals, as well as the most popular music genre and sport in the country.

Running head: SPANISH
Spanish; Cuba facts
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Basic Facts
Cuba is officially known as the Republic of Cuba, a country consisting of an Island of
Cuba. Below is a sample of the map of Cuba:
Figure 1 (from Google Maps).
It is located in the Caribbean Sea, and it is in North America. Its capital is Havana, and it
also has a population size of 101 people per square kilometers (Gebelein, 2011). Other major
cities in Cuba are Santiago de Cuba, Santa Clara, Holguín, Camagüey and Guantánamo
including others.
Geography
Cuba is an island located between the Gulf of Mexico and North Atlantic Ocean as
shown from the above map. Moderated by Trade Winds, it experiences tropical climate
(Gebelein, 2011). It has River Cauto which is the largest followed by Rivers Toa, Guama and
Yumuri. River Cauto has three main tributaries, namely Salado, Bayamo and Contranaetre while
River Toa has 72 tributaries, and has also been termed to be the mightiest river in Cuba.
(Gebelein, 2011) Cuba’s lakes are Lakes Laguna de Leche and Hanabanilla. It also has El Nicho

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Waterfalls, Salto Del Caburni Waterfalls, Parque el Cubano Waterfalls, Guayabo Falls and
Vegas Grande Waterfall.
The mountains in Cuba include Mountains Sierra Maestra, Escambray, Pan de Guajaibón
and Cuchillas del Toa. The rainforest is tropical rainforest like Lush rainforest in Vegas Grande
Waterfall and Montane forest in Pico Turquino (Gebelein, 2011). The country has never
experienced any form of volcanoes with no desert places available.
Culture
Apart from Spanish, the other languages spoken in Cuba are Haitian Creole, Lucimi,
Galician, and Corsican. The national holidays in the country includes the following:
 On July 26- National Revolution Day,
 On July 27- Revolution Anniversary Holiday,
 On October 10- Independence Day,
 On May 1- Labor Day.
The major festivals in the country include Santiago de Cuba Carnival, 26 July Celebrations,
Festival Internacional de Rap, Matamoros Son Festival, Havana Ballet Festival, Havana Theatre
Festival, CDR Anniversary and many other minor festivals (Gebelein, 2011). The most popular
national sport in Cuba is baseball with other sports like boxing, volleyball and trekking.
Cuban typical dress
Cuban typical dress today consist of casual jeans or slacks, skirts, short for women while
mean typical wear loose fitting tops and T- shirts. Though, the most common Cuban traditional
clothing are the Havana shirt, guayabera shirt, cigar shirt and the Mexican wedding shirt (Elliot,
2016).

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Source: google images
The music genre in Cuba
Salsa is the most common genre of music practiced in Cuba, but heavily borrows its style
from the American jazz (Rodriguez, 2016). The salsa dance have been greatly influenced by
rumba music which is an afro – Cuban form.
Typical food
Cuban national popular cuisine is the ropa vieja, a flank steak cut into shreds in a tomato
sauce, pepper, garlic to create a mouthwatering meal. The dish is accompanied by yellow rice,
black beans, fried yuca served with beer, and sweet plantains (Cortina, 2011). Other traditional
Cuban favorites include: Empanadas and Pastelitos, Arroz con pollo, Boliche, Boniato con mojo,

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Cocido de garbanzos (Cortina, 2011).
Source: google images
Important person in Cuba
Fidel Castro
Source: (White, 2019)
Fidel Castro, a military commander, is a politician and a Cuban revolutionist who formed
rebellion movements to oust the despots out of power. He served as the Cuban prime minister
from 1959-1976, and in the same year become the country’s president until 2008 (White, 2019).
Economy
The natural resources available in Cuba include nickel, cobalt, silica, iron core,
chromium, petroleum, and copper (EDT, 2019). The country is considered to be one of the
largest producers of nickel across the world.

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Monetary unit and exchange rate with U.S dollar
The Cuban Peso is the basic unit of money used in Cuba, and it is equated to 100
centavos. Cuban currency is pegged to the United States Dollar at a ratio of 1:1 (Lane, 2010).
This means that a stronger dollar translates to a stronger Cuban currency. At the moment, the
exchange rates stands at 1 Cuban Peso is equal to 1.00 US Dollar.

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References
Cortina, M. A. (2011). Authentic Cuban Cuisine. Pacific city: Pelican Pub. Company.
EDT. (2019, May 16). Ccuba Natural Reaources. Retrieved from Economywatch:
http://www.economywatch.com/economic-statistics/Cuba/Natural_Resources/
Elliot, S. (2016, July 5). How Cuban Traditions Work; Traditional Cuban Clothing. Retrieved
from howstufworks: https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/national-
traditions/cuban-tradition.htm
Gebelein, J. (2011). A Geographic Perspective of Cuban Landscapes (3rd ed.). Berlin, Germany:
Springer Science & Business Media.
Lane, R. D. (2010). Encyclopedia Small Silver Coins (2nd ed.). Tientsin: Roger deWardt Lane.
Rodriguez, O. A. (2016). Musical Genres of Cuba. Argentina: Salsa Blanca Publishing.
White, M. (2019, February 15). How should history remember Fidel Castro? Retrieved from
Historyextra: https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/how-should-history-
remember-fidel-castro/