page_title: Cuba
section_title: Culture
hierarchical_section_title: Cuba / Culture
caption_attribution_description: English: Casa de la Trova, a local musical house at Santiago de Cuba.
context_page_description: Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean where the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean meet. It is east of the Yucatán Peninsula, south of both the U.S. state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Haiti and north of both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Havana is the largest city and capital; other major cities include Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey. The area of the Republic of Cuba is 110,860 square kilometers. The island of Cuba is the largest island in Cuba and in the Caribbean, with an area of 105,006 square kilometers, and the second-most populous after Hispaniola, with over 11 million inhabitants.
  The territory that is now Cuba was inhabited by the Ciboney Taíno people from the 4th millennium BC until Spanish colonization in the 15th century. From the 15th century, it was a colony of Spain until the Spanish–American War of 1898, when Cuba was occupied by the United States and gained nominal independence as a de facto United States protectorate in 1902.
context_section_description: Cuban culture is influenced by its melting pot of cultures, primarily those of Spain and Africa. After the 1959 revolution, the government started a national literacy campaign, offered free education to all and established rigorous sports, ballet, and music programs.
caption: A local musical house, Casa de la Trova in Santiago de Cuba
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