Composition 5 (Cuba)

In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on and claimed the island now occupied by Cuba, for the Kingdom of Spain. Cuba is an Island in the Caribbean, the nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, as well as the Isla de la Juventud. Recent population estimates 11.6 Million to 11.17 Million Cubans occupy the Island, the population of Cuba has very complex with intermarriage between diverse groups. Cuba has faced many challenges since being discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492.
Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Cuba remained a territory of Spain until the Spanish–American War ended in 1898. Cuba gained formal independence from the U.S. in 1902. Within a century the indigenous people were virtually wiped out due to multiple factors, including infectious diseases caused due to a lack of natural resistance. In 1529, a measles outbreak in Cuba killed two-thirds of the natives who had previously survived smallpox. Cuba remained a Spanish possession for almost 400 years, with an economy based on plantation agriculture, mining, and the export of sugar, coffee, and. The work was done primarily by African slaves brought to the island (Wikipedia). In the 1820s, when the rest of Spain's empire rebelled and formed independent states, Cuba remained loyal. Independence from Spain was the motive for a rebellion in 1868 led by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes; he freed his slaves to fight with him for a free Cuba. On 27 December 1868, he issued a decree condemning slavery in theory but accepting it in practice and declaring