Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba (Isla de Cuba) as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean and is part of the Greater Antilles.
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 (known as the Spanish West Indies or Spanish Antilles) 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.
The Republic of Cuba from 1902 to 1959 encompasses the period after Cuba’s independence from the Spanish Empire and end of first U.S military occupation in 1902. The era includes various changing governments and US military occupations, and ends with the success of the Cuban Revolution in 1959. This period of Cuban political history was greatly affected by United States influence, notably through the Platt Amendment.
The governments of Cuba have been regarded as client states of the United States. From 1902 to 1932 Cuban and United States law included the Platt Amendment, which guaranteed the US right to intervene in Cuba and placed restrictions on Cuban foreign relations.In 1934, Cuba and the United States signed the Treaty of Relations in which Cuba was obligated to give preferential treatment of its economy to the United States, in exchange the United States gave Cuba a guaranteed 22 percent share of the US sugar market that later was amended to a 49 percent share in 1949.
In 1940, as a fragile republic, Cuba attempted to strengthen its democratic system, but mounting political radicalization and social strife culminated in a coup and subsequent dictatorship under Fulgencio Batista in 1952. Open corruption and oppression under Batista’s rule led to his ousting in January 1959 by the 26th of July Movement, which afterwards established communist rule under the leadership of Fidel Castro.
Since 1965, the state has been governed by the Communist Party of Cuba. The country was a point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, and a nuclear war nearly broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
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- Cuban Philatelic Society of America
- International Cuban Philatelic Society
- United States Possessions Philatelic Society
- U.S. Philatelic Classics Society
