Cuba






    • Cuba's formal name is La República de Cuba.

    • The capital of Cuba is La Habana.

    • Cuba's nickname is "Pearl of the Antilles."

    • People in Cuba are called Cubanos.



World Records:

    • Cuba is the largest Caribbean island both in terms of size and population. It is the 17th largest island in the world.

    • Diana Nyad, an American, is the first confirmed person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the aid of a shark cage. She completed her swim on her fifth attempt at the age of 64. 

    • Cuba is home to the smallest bird in the world, the bee hummingbird--in Spanish el zunzuncito or zunzun. The bee hummingbird weighs less than a dime and it can flap its wings up to 200 times per second!

    • The smallest frog in the Northern Hemisphere lives in Cuba. The Monte Iberia frog's body is only 1 centimeter long.  It's among the smallest frogs in the whole world.

    • Cuba is the only country in the world that has a double currency system. That means they have 2 different types of money.

    • Cuba has 9 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Two of them are natural and the other seven are cultural. Old Havana is one of the cultural world heritage sites.

    • Cuban cigars are famous for being the finest cigars in the world.



Other Interesting Facts:

    • From the air, the island of Cuba looks like a crocodile or alligator; therefore it is often referred to in Spanish as "El Cocodrilo" or "El Caimán."

    • Cuba is 90 miles south of Florida.

    • Cuba has more than 4,000 smaller islands and cays.

    • Christopher Columbus landed in Cuba in the year 1492 and claimed it as Spanish territory.

    • Sugar from sugar cane is the main crop grown in Cuba, followed by tobacco which is used in the making of hand-crafted cigars.  

    • Snow is a very rare occurrence in Cuba. It is so rare in fact, that according to documentation, it has only ever snowed once. This happened in the year 1857.

    • The most popular sport in Cuba is baseball.

    • Celia Cruz is a famous singer from Cuba. Celia Cruz is known as the "Queen of Salsa"

    • Carmen Deedy is an author and storyteller from Cuba. She has written 11 children's books, including Martina the Beautiful Cockroach. She emigrated with her family to the US in 1963.

    • Desi Arnaz is an actor from Cuba. He is best known for playing Ricky Ricardo on the television show "I Love Lucy."

    • Ernest Hemingway was living in Cuba at the time he wrote some of his most famous books, For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea.

    • Cuba is known for its unique music style. Both Spanish and African music greatly influenced Cuban music. Some of the popular traditional music styles of Cuba include mambo, cha-cha-cha, charanga, danzón, rumba, and others. Salsa evolved from a blend of these rhythms.

    • Dances such as the rumba, mambo, and cha-cha-cha have their origin in Cuba.

    • The game of dominoes is very popular in Cuba.

    • Fidel Castro, the Cuban dictator, ruled Cuba by force for over 40 years.

    • Vintage American cars from the 1940s and 1950s are the kind of cars you will find people driving around Cuba.

    • A Cuban sandwich, known as a Cubano, is similar to a grilled ham-and-cheese sandwich original to Florida. This delicious sandwich is grilled and made with ham, pork, Swiss cheese, pickles, mustard, Cuban bread, and sometimes salami.

    • Cuban cuisine is like a melting pot rich in delicious food under great foreign influences.

    • Despite its American origin, baseball is strongly associated with Cuban nationalism. It became the most played sport in the 1870s.

    • Cuba has many species of snakes. It is extremely rare to see a poisonous snake-- rumor is that they do not exist on the island.






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