A Brief Cuban History

1492

• Christopher Columbus landed in Cuba and claimed the island for Spain.

1511

• Cuba is settled by Diego Columbus and Spain appoints him Governor ofCuba.
• Cuba will stay under Spanish rule for the next 400 years.

1514

• The city of Havana is established.

1607

• Havana is officially named the capital of Cuba.

1748

• The University of San Jerónimo opens in Havana.

1763

• The English and Spanish government make a trade: Florida (which had been captured by the Spanish) for Havana.

1821-1831

• Between 1821 and 1831 more than three-hundred expeditions bring an estimated sixty thousand slaves to Cuba.

1868

• The "Ten Years War" begins between Cuba and Spain.

1892

• The Cuban Revolutionary Party is founded.

1959

• The Revolution

1961

• April 17. Cuban exiles, under direction of the CIA,invade Cuba at Bay of Pigs and are defeated by the Cuban army.
• The Cuban Missile Crisis begins.

1976

• Cuba gets a new constitution and becomes a socialist state.