About Cuba Topography
There are three outstanding large mountain ranges. In the West, the Sierra de los Órganos; in the central part, the Sierra del Escambray; and in the southern region of eastern Cuba, the Sierra Maestra, where the highest peak of the country is located, the Pico Real del Turquino, 1 974 meters above the sea level. Its longest river is the Cauto, with a length of 250 kilometers.
About Cuba Political geographical division
Cuba is currently divided into 14 provinces and 169 municipalities, one of them with special characteristics and status. Form west to east the provinces are named as follows Pinar del Río, La Habana, Ciudad de La Habana, Matanzas, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Avila, Camagüey, Las Tunas, Holguín, Granma, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo. The special municipality known as the Isle of Youth is located on the south coast of the Havana Provinces.
About Cuba Population
The total population of Cuba accounts for more than 11 million people, in a peculiar mixture of Spaniards, Africans and Asians. Due to the extermination of Indians due to the difficult conditions of labour to which they submitted, Spanish land owners introduced hundreds of Africans and Chinese to perform the most difficult works of the sugar industry. Afterwards, Europeans from Germany and France and people from other regions of the Caribbean like Haiti and Jamaica also came to Cuba. The mixture of these different races and cultures gave birth to the Cuban population.
About Cuba Government
The supreme body of power in the Cuba Government is the National Assembly, which has constitutional and legislatives authority. The Cuba Government is elected by free, direct and secret vote. The Cuba Government holds two ordinary sessions and meets extraordinarily when requested by more than 50 percent of deputies.
The National Assembly appoints the Council of State, which is the body that represents it between sessions and is the maximum representative of the State. The president of the Council of State is the president of the Republic.
The State's executive function is performed through the Council of Ministers, which is the maximum executive and administrative body, and makes up the Government of the Republic. Its members are appointed by the National Assembly at the proposal of the Council of State.
The Supreme Court and the other tribunals exercise the judicial functions. The tribunals make up a system of state body that are structured with functional independence from each other and are subordinated to the National Assembly and to the Council of State.
About Cuba Economy
Tourism is the main source of income for the Cuban economy. Other important industries are: sugar, tobacco, nickel, rum, coffee, and since a few years ago, the pharmaceutics and biotechnology.
About Cuba National symbols
Cuba National flower: The White Mariposa or Butterfly Jasmine(Hedychium Coronarium Koenig). An endemic jasmine species used by the Cuban women in the wars of independence to pass messages to the battlefields. It symbolizes purity, rebelliousness and independence. It grows in humid places as banks of rivers and lagoons, but it is also cultivated in yards and gardens of many Cuban houses.
Cuba National bird: The Tocororo or Cuban trogon (Priotelus temnurus). Autochthonous bird related to the quetzal. The Tocororo's feathers exhibit the colors of the Cuban flag: red, blue and white.
Cuba National tree: The Royal Palm. It is present in the country's whole landscape and symbolizes the character of the Cuban people, as it endures the most furious gales on foot, without falling.
Cuba Flag: It was first raised in the city of Cárdenas (Matanzas Province), when in 1850 a group rebelled against the Spanish colonial power. The three blue stripes in the Cuba Flag represent the departments that the Island was divided into at that time. The two white stripes evoke the purity of the intentions for independence of the people. The equilateral triangle in the Cuba Flag stands for freedom, equality and fraternity. The Cuba Flag red color is the announcement of the blood that would be necessary to shed in order to reach the independence. The white and lone star is the symbol of absolute freedom among the other people.
Cuba Shield: It is shaped like an ogival shield. Its upper section portrays a golden key that symbolizes Cuba's key position among the two Américas, therefore the name "The Key to the Gulf". The rising sun stands for the emergence of a new nation. The three blue stripes, separated by two white ones, represent the departments that Cuba was divided into, during the colonial period. The Royal Palm that appears in the third space or quarter, represents the noble and serene firmness of the Cuban people.
Cuba National Anthem: It was the patriot Perucho Figueredo who composed, in 1867, the music of the Anthem. Later, in 1868, when the independence forces seized the city of Bayamo (Granma Province), Figueredo himself wrote the words:
People of Bayamo, to arms in the battle
that the Homeland contemplates you proudly
Fear not a glorious death, for dying for the Homeland is like living.
To remain in chains is to live in dishonor and vile subjugation
O, hark to the call of your nation
take up arms, all ye brave sons.