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History of Cuba

Historie KubyThe first European who set foot in Cuba ( in a nowadays town Baracoa) was Christopher Columbus on October 28, 1492. Sailing the Santa Maria, the Nina and the Pinta in Cuba and the neighbouring islands began the discovering and conquering of the New World. Columbus was supposedly fascinated by the beauty of the island and he signed it as the most beautiful, he has ever seen. Because of some contemporary, but wrong influences (the falsity of Marco Polo´s travels, smaller diameter of the earth) he thought he was nearby India, China and Japan....

Since landing of the Christopher´s flotillas, has the destiny of this paradise been sealed. At the beginning of the 16th century, Diego Velásques started to found the first Spanish cities- Trinidad, Havana, Santiagi de Cuba, Baracoa, Sancti Spiritus, and Cuba became the Spanish outpost for discovering and conquering of the New World. On the authority of Velaques, five ships put out from Havana toward to the Mexican coast, commanded by the cavalier Hernando Cortéz. In August 1521, after the Spanish dramatic and inhuman struggles against the Aztecs, was the whole Aztec imperium (today´s Mexico) conquered and the Spanish head acquired the source of fabulous richness. Later, in the track of Cortéz, followed Pizarro, Quesada and the other conquerors. After the conquest of the Atzec imperium was conquered also the Incan imperium ( today´s Peru) and Spanish ships streamed from the American continent to Europe, struffed with Aztec and Incaic gold, silver and another treasure. For the sake of the pirates attacks, there was established a special ship systen- before every voyage to Europe had all the ships to assemble in Havana, where formed a convoy and got an armed attendance. Than, they set forward the voyage over the Atlantic sea. But many of the ships shrank under in the struggle with the powerful ocean and they still have been waiting, inclusive of treasure, for their new conquerors.

Historie KubyIn the 18th century came the Haitian planters with their slaves to Cuba in order to avoid the Haitian insurrection. At that time began the big era of rum and sugar and soon Cuba bacame the biggest world producer of sugar. The owners of plantations and sugar houses made a fortune and many other cities and plantaions prospered- there were built the new buildings, colonial villas and deluxe boulevards as well. This prosperity is appreciable for example in the old town Trinidad, which was, thanks to the well-preserved architecture, proclaimed as the piece of cultural heriage by the UNESCO organization. With the progresive prosperity increased also an aspiration to extricate from the Spanish influences, which came to a head with the contemporary big power - Spain. But the small Caribbean country was to weak to win the first two Wars of Independence (1868-1878, 1895-1898). Final turn arised when the USA took up Cuban quarrel and Spain capitulated in the year1898. Therefore Cuba became an independent state. But the irony of the destiny is, that after the half-century Cuba acceded to the “free-for-all” struggle with the USA. From the beginning of 19th century became Cuba consequently the “Indenpendent Republic in the American zone of the influence”. This influence was anchored in the first Cuban Constitution from 1901, in the Platt Amendment which stipulated the conditions for the withdrawal of United States troops remaining in Cuba since the Spanish-American War, and defined the terms of Cuban-U.S. In 1903 Cuba signed the Cuban-American Treaty outlining American power in Cuba and the Caribbean, including the leasing of Guantanámo Bay to the U.S. It means that the United States could use this first Navy Base at their choice, and they have been used it till today ...

Historie 3After the success in the war Cuba officially became an independent nation, but in fact it belonged to the U.S.- sugar industry, coal mining and railways were owned by the American companies, and the Spanish colonialists were made up for the Americans. In the 30s, during the U.S. prohibitionism, the American royality began to go there to enjoy everything- hazard, drinking and frisky ladies.While in the province dominated the serfdom, the cities were in control of the American maffia headed by Al Capone, Lucky Luciano or Meyer Lanski. By the smuggling of the Cuban rum, they earned an enormous fortune.

Richness, luxury and dissipated ostensibility on the one hand- poverty and serfhood on the other hand (in the 60s of the 20th century). All of this was enacted in the presence of the corruption and the social animosity which flew into the owerthrow of general Batiste and the imperium was hold by the revolutionary regin. After the Cuban-American rupture, Cuba got into contact with a new allied- Khrushchev´s Soviet Union. From the “typical”revolution in the Latin America became the big Cuban Socialist revolution, and in 1965 was found the Communist Party of Cuba. Thanks to the support of the formar Soviet Union arised a short period of the prosperity, when the Cubans reached the highest living standards in the history of this country. But after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991collapsed also the Cuban Socialist “miracle” and the long-term economic problem has begun. In addition, the U.S. applied an embargo to Cuba on everything, excepting the food-staffs (paradoxically- today´s biggest source of the food-stuffs is- the number one enemy-the USA).

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