Cuba

No island in the Caribbean is larger than Cuba, a long, narrow sweep of land ringed by thousands of cays and coral reefs. In the Viñales valley, sheer limestone hills called mogotes rise out of red tobacco fields. Pico Turquino tops the Sierra Maestra in the south-east, and the Zapata swamp on the southern shore shelters the Cuban crocodile and the bee hummingbird, the smallest bird on earth. Hurricanes are most frequent in September and October.

Columbus reached Cuba in October 1492, and within decades conquest and disease had almost destroyed the Taíno. Havana’s harbour gathered the Spanish treasure fleets, and sugar cane cut by enslaved Africans later made the island Spain’s most valuable colony. José Martí died fighting in the war of independence that began in 1895; American intervention in 1898 ended Spanish rule. Fidel Castro’s guerrillas took power in January 1959, and the missile crisis of October 1962 brought the superpowers close to nuclear war.

Santería, which pairs Yoruba orishas with Catholic saints, lives alongside the Church, and its drums run through Cuban music. Son, born in the east, became the root of salsa, and rumba, mambo and the cha-cha-chá came from the island too. Alicia Alonso built the national ballet, and boxers such as Teófilo Stevenson won Olympic gold. Black beans and rice come with ropa vieja, shredded beef. Cigars from Vuelta Abajo leaf, rum, sugar, nickel from Moa and resorts at Varadero sustain the economy.