General Cuba Information
The Cuban
archipelago is in the eastern Caribbean, at the entrance to the Gulf of
Mexico, 87 miles (140 km) from the Bahamas, 91 miles (146 km) from Jamaica,
112 miles (180 km) from Florida and 130 miles (210 km) from Cancun.
- Land
area: 42,827 square miles (110,922 square km)
- Dimensions: Cuba, the largest island, is 744 miles (1200 km) long and between 130
and 22 miles (210 and 35 km) wide.
- Population: Over 11 million
- Capital: Havana, with over
2.1 million inhabitants. The country has 14 provinces, 169 municipalities
and a special municipality: The Isle of Youth (Isla
de Juventud)
- Language: Spanish
- Average
annual relative humidity: 78 percent
- Average
annual temperature: 77.9 F (25.5 C)
- Time
zone: Eastern Standard Time, with Daylight Saving Time from
March to October.
Some
Geographic Features: Most of Cuba is covered with plains, but
there are four important mountain groups: the Guaniguanico Range, in the
center of the country; and, in the east, the Sagua-Baracoa and Sierra Maestra
Mountains (17 of these peaks are more than 4265 feet (1300 meters)
above the sea level; Turquino Peak is the highest, at 6476 feet (1974)
above the sea level).
There are
over 300 protected areas in the country, either on its insular shelf or
on terra firma. They cover 22 persent of its total area.
UNESCO has
declared six areas in Cuba to be preserves of the biosphere (the Guanahacabibes
Peninsula, the Sierra del Rosario Mountains and the Zapata
Peninsula, in the western part of the country; Buenavista, in
the center; Alexander von Humboldt National Park and Baconao Park and
the Cuchillas del Toa Mountains, in eastern Cuba).
There is
a wealth of flora and fauna with a high degree of preservation: 6300 species
of flora (more than half of which are endemic) and 13,000 of fauna-96
percent of the land snails are endemic, as are 90 percent of the amphibians
and 40 percent of the mammals. There are no large predators, no animals
which constitute threats to man and no poisonous species of snakes.
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