A Cuban Chronology

1492 – Columbus discovers Cuba. Jose Perez came with Columbus.

1512 – Diego Velazquez de Cuellar begins conquest of Cuba on behalf of the Spanish crown.

1848 – U.S. attempts to buy Cuba from the Spanish.

1868 – 10 Years’ War: the first war of Cuban Independence led by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. He freed the slaves.

1895 – Second war of Cuban Independence. Leaders include Jose Marti and Máximo Gomez. Jose Marti is killed in military action on May 19 at the Battle of Dos Rios, cementing his position as a national hero and a symbol of Cuban nationalism.

1898 – Spanish relinquish control of Cuba to the U.S. in the Treaty of Paris.

1901 – Platt Amendment. Defined the terms of U.S.-Cuban relations, including permission for the U.S. to intervene in Cuba’s foreign and domestic affairs.

1902 – Cuba is proclaimed an Independent Republic under official protection of the U.S. Cuban sugar has preference in the U.S. market, which makes sugar central to the Cuban economy and strengthens Cuba’s dependence on the U.S. Tomas Estrada Palma becomes Cuba’s fourth president.

1903 – Estrada Palma signs the Cuban-American Treaty, which agrees to the long-term lease of Guantanamo Bay to the U.S.

1906 – Estrada Palma’s election to a second term is violently disputed, prompting the U.S. to institute occupational rule.

1925 – With world sugar prices at an all-time low, Gerard Machado y Morales becomes Cuba’s fifth president. Corruption is rampant, with government forces enacting violent (allegedly lethal) retaliation against Machado’s rapidly growing opposition. Castro was born in 1926 to a rich family.

1933 – U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt sends an envoy to Cuba to diffuse the revolution against Machado. When attempts at mediation fail, Machado is removed from power. Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar essentially assumes control of government as chief of the armed forces, and is eventually elected president in 1940.  Batista’s family was poor but the Castros were good friends.

1944 – Rather than seek a second term, Batista leaves Cuba to live in the U.S.

1952 – Batista returns from the U.S. to run for president once again. Facing certain defeat, he seizes power in a military coup.

1953 – Fidel and Raul Castro lead a group of revolutionaries in an attack on Moncada Barracks, Cuba’s second largest military garrison, in hopes of bringing down the Batista regime. Fidel Castro is captured and jailed. The Cuban Revolution begins.

1955 – Fidel Castro released from prison; joins brother Raul in exile in Mexico.

1956 – Castro and 82 followers depart Mexico on Granma (a small boat) and land in Cuba on December 2, at a location chosen to mirror that of Jose Marti’s landing during the war of Cuban Independence. Within days, the majority of revolutionaries onboard are killed by Batista’s army. Fewer than 15 survivors – including Fidel Castro, Raul Castro, and Ernesto “Che” Guevara – flee to the mountains and regroup.

1959 – After a series of rebel victories, Batista flees to the Dominican Republic. Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries take control on January 2. Castro appoints Manuel Urrtia Lleo as president.

1960 – As Castro’s government begins taking control of U.S.-owned businesses, the U.S. stops buying Cuban sugar and refuses to supply Cuba with oil. In October, a U.S. embargo on Cuba begins, prohibiting all exports to Cuba. In response, Cuba strengthens trade relations with the Soviet Union.

1961 – The U.S. ends all diplomatic relations with Cuba and closes the embassy in Havana in January. In April, a group of Cuban exiles invade Playa Giron on the Bay of Pigs, with the support of the newly elected U.S. President Kennedy. The Cuban armed forces defeat the invasion within three days.

1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis – the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war. Soviet missiles are armed in Cuba, with Che Guevara playing a central role. President Kennedy vows that the U.S. will not invade Cuba if the missiles are returned to the Soviet Union. After tense negotiations, Soviet Premier Khrushchev agrees.

1965 – Che Guevara leaves Cuba to lead revolutionary efforts in the Congo and Bolivia.

1967 – Che Guevara is captured and executed in Bolivia.

1980 – With the approval of Fidel Castro, a mass exodus of Cubans depart Cuba’s Mariel Harbor for the U.S. Beginning on April 1, more than 125,000 Cubans flee before the Mariel Boatlift ends on October 31 by mutual agreement of the U.S. and Cuban government.

1991 – Soviet Union collapses, and the Special Period begins in Cuba. The era of economic crisis is precipitated by fuel and energy shortages, which necessitates a decrease in automobile usage and an increase in sustainable agriculture.

1993 – Dollars allowed in Cuba. Limited small private businesses become legal.

1996 – The Helms-Burton Act strengthens the U.S. embargo, prohibiting private groups from distributing humanitarian aid in Cuba.

1999 – Two fishermen pick up an inner tube carrying three Cuban refugees – one of whom is five-year-old Elian Gonzalez, whose mother drowned during the journey. The ensuing custody battle between Elian’s father and relatives in Miami dominates U.S. headlines until the boy is reunited with his father in 2000.

2002 – Jimmy Carter becomes first former U.S. president to visit Cuba since the Revolution. His talks focus on democracy, freedom of expression, and human rights.

2004 – President Bush eliminates Culture Exchange Licenses to Cuba, and restricts both high school and college groups from traveling.

2005 – Peso Convertible (CUC) introduced in Cuba. The U.S. dollar is no longer accepted as currency.

2006 – Cuba, Bolivia, and Venezuela sign far-reaching trade accord. Cuba receives cheap oil from Venezuela in exchange for teachers and doctors.

2008 – Raul Castro replaces Fidel as President. Fidel remains head of the Communist Party.

2011 – Obama eases travel restrictions to Cuba, allowing for more educational, religious, and cultural programs.

2014 - Secret negotiations between Cuban and American leaders, taking place in Ottawa, Canada, results in an agreement to lift sanctions, eventually.

2015 -  US reopens its embassy in Havana, Cuba does the same in Washington D.C.

2016 -  Obama becomes the first sitting president to visit Cuba since 1928 when Calvin Coolidge came to Havana. 

2016 -  Fidel Castro dies in November.