ABSTRACT
The island of Cuba - the largest in the Caribbean archipelago at 114,000 square kilometres (44,000 square miles) - first came to European attention in 1492 when Christopher Columbus stopped there on his first journey to the Americas. Subsequently conquered and settled by Spain in the sixteenth century, Cuba's strategic location helped it become the centre of military expeditions in the region and a crucial point of departure for all shipments sent back to Spain.
