Timeline of Cuban history

The history of Cuba could be divided into four general time periods. The first period being the "pre-colonial" era, when Cuba was inhabited by Amerindian peoples known as the Taíno and Ciboney. The second period," colonial Cuba", begins in 1492, when Christopher Columbus sighted the island during his first voyage of discovery. Cuba subsequently became a Spanish colony, and remained so until the Spanish-American War of 1898. The third period, "republican Cuba", follows Cuba's formal independence in 1902, and is characterised by the island's close association with the United States. The fourth period follows the Cuban revolution of 1959 led by Fidel Castro and the transformation of Cuba into a declared "socialist republic."

Pre-colonial Cuba

* 5300 BC or earlier. Initial colonization of the Antilles by archaic hunter gatherers. [ [http://muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/data/art/KEEGAN04.ART Creating the Guanahatabey (Ciboney): the modern genesis of an extinct culture] William F. Keegan (Volume 63, Number 239, June 1989)]

1400s

*1492 "October 28" Christopher Columbus lands in east Cuba.
*1494 Columbus returns to Cuba and sails along the south coast.

1500s

*1508 Sebastián de Ocampo circumnavigates Cuba, confirming that it is an island.
*1510 Spanish set out from Hispaniola. The conquest of Cuba begins.
*1511 Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar leads a group of settlers in Baracoa.
*1512 Indigenous Cuban resistance leader Hatuey is burned at the stake.
*1514 Havana founded.
*1523 Emperor Charles V authorises 4,000 gold pesos for the construction of cotton mills.
*1527 First African Slaves arrive in Cuba.
*1532 First Slave rebellion is crushed.
*1537 French fleet briefly occupy Havana.
*1538 Governor of Cuba relocates to Havana.
*1538 Slave rebellion comprising of African and indigenous slaves is crushed.
*1538 French corsairs blockade Santiago de Cuba
*1542 Spanish crown abandons the encomienda colonial land settlement system.
*1546 French corsairs plunder Baracoa
*1555 French campaign against the Spanish in the Caribbean leads to the sack of Havana
*1586 English privateer Francis Drake lands at Cape San Antonio but doesn't attack
*1597 The Castillo del Morro "Morro Castle (fortress)," is completed above the eastern entrance to the Havana harbor.

1600s

*1603 Authorities decree that the sale of tobacco to foreigners is punishable by death.
*1607 Havana is officially named capital of Cuba.
*1628 Dutch fleet led by Piet Heyn plunders the Spanish fleet in Havana harbor
*1649 Epidemic kills a third of the island's population.
*1662 English fleet captained by Christopher Myngs captures Santiago de Cuba to open up trade with neighbouring Jamaica
*1670 English retreat after Spain recognises England's ownership of Jamaica.
*1670 Francisco Rodríguez de Ledesma becomes Governor of Cuba. He serves for ten years.

1700s

*1728 The University of Havana is founded.
*1741 British Admiral Edward Vernon captures Guantánamo Bay, renaming it Cumberland Bay, during the War of Jenkins' Ear. His troops are decimated by fevers and are resisted by local guerrilla forces and withdraw.
*1734 Francisco de Güemes y Horcasitas Gordón de Saenz de Villamolinedo begins a 12 year tenure as Governor of Cuba.
*1747 Francisco Antonio Cagigal de la Vega begins a 13 year tenure as Governor of Cuba.
*1748 "October 12" Battle of Havana. Skirmishes between the British and Spanish fleets in Havana harbor.
*1748 Construction of Havana cathedral completed.
*1762 "March 5" English expedition secretly leaves Portsmouth to capture Havana.
*1762 "July 30 " British troops occupy Havana during Seven Years' War.
*1763 British troops suffer atrocious losses to fever, and reach agreement with the Spanish to trade Cuba in return for Florida.
*1793 Slave rebellion in Saint-Domingue (which was to become the Haitian revolution) brings the first of 30,000 white refugees to Cuba.
*1799 Salvador de Muro y Salazar becomes Governor of Cuba 1799-1812

1800s

*1812 Juan Ruíz de Apodaca becomes governor of Cuba 1812-16.
*1843 Leopoldo O'Donnell, Duke of Tetuan becomes governor of Cuba 1843-48.
*1844 So-called Year of the Lash when an uprising of black slaves, known as the Conspiración de La Escalera (Conspiracy of the Ladder), was brutally suppressed.
*1853 "January 28" José Julián Martí Pérez born in Havana.
*1866-78 First war of Cuban independence. Also known as the Ten Years' War.
*1868 "October 10 ", Revolutionaries under the leadership of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes proclaims Cuban independence.
*1878 "February 8", Pact of Zanjón ends Ten Years' War and ends uprising.
*1879 "August", A second uprising ("The Little War"), engineered by Antonio Maceo and Calixto García, begins but is quelled by superior Spanish forces in autumn 1880.
*1886 Slavery abolished
*1890 "February", José Sánchez Gómez becomes provisional Governor of Cuba.
*1895 "23 February" Mounting discontent culminated in a resumption of the Cuban revolution, under the leadership of the writer and patriot José Martí and General Máximo Gómez y Báez.
*1895 "May 19" José Martí killed in battle with Spanish troops at the Battle of Dos Ríos.
*1895 "September", Arsenio Martínez Campos is defeated at Peralejo and leaves Cuba in January next year,
*1896 Successful invasion campaign along the length of the Island by Cuban rebels lead by Antonio Maceo, and Maximo Gomez; Winston Churchill fights on Spanish side at battle of Iguara [http://www.spanamwar.com/timeline.htm] ; Maceo is killed on return east [http://www.spanamwar.com/maceodeath.htm]
*1897 Calixto Garcia takes a series of strategic fort complexes in the East and the Spanish are essentially confined to coastal cities there.
*1898 "June 6th–10th" Invasion of Guantánamo Bay American and Cuban forces invade the strategically and commercially important area of Guantanamo Bay during the Spanish-American war.
*1898 "March 17", U.S. Senator, and former War Secretary Redfield Proctor protests against Spanish controlled concentration camps
*1898 "December 10", Treaty of Peace in Paris ends the Spanish-American War by which Spain relinquished sovereignty over Cuba.
*1899 "January 1", The Spanish colonial government withdraw and the last captain General Alfonso Jimenez Castellano hands over power to the North American Military Governor, General John Ruller Brooke.
*1899 "December 23" Leonard Wood becomes US Provisional Governor of Cuba

1900s

*1901 "March 2", Platt Amendment passed in the U.S. stipulating the conditions for the withdrawal of United States troops, assuring U.S. control over Cuban affairs.
*1902 "May 20" The Cuban republic is instituted under the presidency of Tomás Estrada Palma.
*1906 "September 29" Revolt against Tomás Estrada Palma successful. Peace negotiated by Frederick N. Funston, U.S. troops reoccupy Cuba under William Howard Taft.
*1906 "October 13" Charles Magoon becomes U.S. governor of Cuba
*1909 "January 28" Cuba returns to homerule. José Miguel Gómez of the Liberal Party becomes president.
*1912 Separatist Black revolt is defeated in bloody campaign
*1913 "May 20" Mario García Menocal presidency begins.
*1917 "April 7" Cuba enters World War I on the side of the Allies. In Chambelona War Liberal Revolt is suppressed by Conservadores of Menocal
*1921 "May 20 " Alfredo Zayas becomes president.
*1925 "May 20 " Gerard Machado becomes president. At uncertain date Fabio Grobart stalinist communist leader enters Cuba
*1926 "August 13 " Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz born in the province of Holguín.
*1928 "June 14" Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (Che Guevara) born in Rosario, Argentina.
*1928 "January 10" Julio Antonio Mella a founder of Stalinist Communist Party in Cuba is murdered in Mexico. Details are murky Gerardo Machado agents blamed by some,Tina Modotti and Vittorio Vidale communist assassins blamed by others.
*1931 "August 10-14" Old Mambi warriors Carlos Mendieta and Mario García Menocal land forces at Rio Verde attempting to overthrow the now clearly dictatorial Gerardo Machado. They are defeated in actions that include first military aviation use in Cuba
*1933 "August 12" Gerardo Machado, despite last minute support from the Communist Party, is forced to leave Cuba, by ABC and Antonio Guiteras Holmes resistance actions, a general strike, pressure from senior officers of Cuban Armed Forces and U.S. Ambassador Sumner Welles. Communist activity high and extends through rest of summer with establishment of ephimeral Soviets in eastern provinces.
*1933 "September 4 " "Sergeants' Revolt" organized by a group including Fulgencio Batista topples provisional government.
*1933 "October 2" Batista loyal enlisted men and sergeants, plus radical elements, force Army Officers out of Hotel Nacional in heavy fighting. Some are murdered after surrender.
*1933 "November 9" Blas Hernández his followers and some ABC members make strong in old Atarés Castle they are defeated by Batista loyalists in bloody battle and Blas Hernández is murdered on surrender
*1934 "June 16, 17 1934" ABC demonstration Havana festival and march attacked by radical gunners including those of Antonio Guiteras with bombs and machine guns, numerous dead.
*1935 "May 8" Leading radical Antonio Guiteras is betrayed and dies fighting Batista forces.
*1938 "September" Communist party legalized again
*1939 "after August 23" Fabio Grobart publicly justifies Ribbentrop-Molotov pact
*1941 "May 8, 1941" Sandalio Junco a Communist labor leader who defected to Trotskyism is murdered by Stalin Loyalists
*1941 "December" Cuban government declare war on Germany, Japan, and Italy.
*1943 Soviet embassy opened in Havana.

1950s

*1951 "August 15" Eduardo Chibás, leader of the Ortodoxo party and mentor of Fidel Castro commits suicide on live radio.
*1952 "March" Former president Batista, supported by the army, seizes power.
*1953 "July 26" Some 160 revolutionaries under the command of Fidel Castro launch an attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba. Communists at meeting in Santioago arrested, Fabio Grobart said to have attended, but not listed in arrest records,
*1953 "October 16" Fidel Castro makes "History Will Absolve Me" speech in his own defense against the charges brought on him after the attack on the Moncada Barracks.
*1954 "September" Che Guevara arrives in Mexico City.
*1954 "November" Batista dissolves parliament and is elected constitutional president without opposition.
*1955 "May" Fidel and surviving members of his movement are released from prison under an amnesty from Batista.
*1955 "June" Brothers Fidel and Raúl Castro are introduced to Che Guevara in Mexico City.
*1956 "Abril 29" Autentico Assault on Goicuria Barracks, in Matanzas attackers betrayed and killed
*1956 "November 25" Fidel Castro, with some 80 insurgents including Raúl Castro, Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos, executes informers and sets sail from Mexico for Cuba on the yacht Granma.
*1956 "December 2" Granma lands in Oriente Province.
*1957 "January 17", Castro's guerrillas score their first success by sacking an army outpost on the south coast, and started gaining followers in both Cuba and abroad.
*1957 "March 13", University students mount attack on the Presidential Palace in Havana. Batista forewarned. Attackers mostly killed, others flee and are betrayed
*1957 "May 28" 1957, Castro's 26th July movement heavily reinforced by Frank Pais Militia overwhelm an army post in El Uvero.
*1957 "July 19" Autentico landing in the "Corynthia," led by Calixto Sánchez White in north Oriente, at Cabonico Batista is forewarned and then guided by agents, almost all 27 killed.
*1957 "July 30" Cuban revolutionary Frank País is killed in the streets of Santiago de Cuba by police while campaigning for the overthrow of Batista government.
*1957 "September 5" Naval revolt at Cienfuegos is crushed by forces loyal to Batista

1958

*1958 "February" Raúl Castro takes leadership of about 500 pre-existing Escopeteros guerrillas and opens a front in the Sierra de Cristal on Oriente's north coast.
*1958 "March 13" U.S. suspends shipments of arms to Batista's forces.
*1958 "March 17" Castro calls for a general revolt.
*1958 "April 9" A general strike, organized by the 26th of July movement, is partially observed.
*1958 "May" Batista sends an army of 10,000 into the Sierra Maestra to destroy Castro's 300 armed guerrillas (supported by uncounted escopeteros). By August, the rebels had defeated the army's advance and captured a huge amount of arms.
*1958 "November 1" A Cubana aircraft en route from Miami to Havana is hijacked by militants but crashes. The hijackers were trying to land at Sierra Cristal in Eastern Cuba to deliver weapons to Raúl Castro's rebels. It is the first of what was to become many Cuba-U.S. hijackings [ [http://www.planecrashinfo.com/1958/1958-41.htm Accident details] planecrashinfo.com ]
*1958 November 20 to November 30 Key position at Guisa is taken, and in the following month most cities in Oriente fall to Rebel Hands
*1958 "December" Guevara, William Alexander Morgan and non-communist Directorio Forces attack Santa Clara
*1958 "December 28" Rebels seize Santa Clara.
*1958 "December 31" Camilo Cienfuegos leads revolutionary guerrillas to victory in Yaguajay, Huber Matos Enters Santiago

1959

*1959 "January 1" President Batista resigns and flees the country. Fidel Castro's column enters Santiago de Cuba. Raul Castro starts mass executions of captured military. Diverse urban rebels, mainly Directorio, seize Havana
*1959 "January 2" Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos arrive in Havana.
*1959 "January 5" Manuel Urrutia named President of Cuba
*1959 "January 8" Fidel Castro arrives at Havana, speaks to crowds at Camp Columbia.
*1959 "February 16" Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba.
*1959 "March" Fabio Grobart is present at a series of meetings with Castro brothers, Guevara and Valdes at Cojimar
*1959 "April 20" Fidel Castro speaks at Princeton University, New Jersey. [ [http://www.princeton.edu/~plas/publications/Essays/castro.html Dr. Castro's Princeton Visit] , April 20-21, 1959 by Thomas E. Bogenschild ]
*1959 "May 17" The Cuban government enacts the Agrarian Reform Law which limits land convert|1000|acre|km2 ranches or less if other agricultural land, no payment is made.
*1959 "July 17" Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado becomes President of Cuba, replacing Manuel Urrutia forced to resign by Fidel Castro. Dorticós serves until 2 December 1976
*1959 "October 28" Plane carrying Camilo Cienfuegos disappears during a night flight from Camagüey to Havana. He is presumed dead.
*1959 "December 11", Trial of revolutionary Huber Matos begins. Matos is found guilty of "treason and sedition".

1960s

1960

*1960 "March 4", the freighter La Coubre a 4,310-ton French vessel carrying 76 tons of Belgian munitions explodes while it being unloaded in Havana harbor.
*1960 "March 17", U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower orders CIA director Allen Dulles to train Cuban-exiles for a covert invasion of Cuba.
*1960 "July 5" All U.S. businesses and commercial property in Cuba is nationalized at the direction of the Cuban government.
*1960 October 19, U.S. imposes embargo prohibiting all exports to Cuba except foodstuffs and medical supplies.
*1960 "October 31", nationalization of all U.S. property is completed.
*1960 "December 26", Operation Peter Pan ("Operación Pedro Pan") begins, an operation transporting 14,000 children of parents opposed to the new government. The scheme continues until U.S. airports are closed to Cuban flights during the in 1962.

1961

*1961 "January 1", Cuban government initiate national literacy scheme.
*1961 "March" former rebel comandante Humberto Sori Marin and catholic leaders shot
*1961 "April 15", Bay of Pigs invasion
*1961 US Trade embargo on Cuba.

1962

*1962 "January 31" Cuba expelled from the Organization of American States.
*1962 "August 17", Central Intelligence Agency Director John McCone suggests that the Soviet Union is constructing offensive missile installations in Cuba.
*1962 "August 29", At a news conference, U.S. President John F. Kennedy tells reporters: "I'm not for invading Cuba at this time... an action like that... could lead to very serious consequences for many people."
*1962 "August 31", President Kennedy is informed that the August 29 U-2 mission confirms the presence of surface-to-air missile batteries in Cuba.
*1962 "October 16", McGeorge Bundy informs President Kennedy that evidence shows Soviet medium-range ballistic missiles in Cuba. Kennedy immediately gathers a group that becomes known as "ExComm", the Executive Committee of the National Security Council.
*1962 "October 22", President Kennedy addresses the U.S.
*1962 "October 23", U.S. establishes air and sea blockade in response to photographs of Soviet missile bases under construction in Cuba. U.S. threatens to invade Cuba if the bases are not dismantled and warns that a nuclear attack launched from Cuba would be considered a Soviet attack requiring full retaliation.
*1962 "October 28", Khrushchev agrees to remove offensive weapons from Cuba and the U.S. agrees to remove missiles from Turkey and promises not to invade Cuba.
*1962 "November 21" U.S. ends Cuban blockade, satisfied that all bases are removed and Soviet jets will leave the island by December 20.

1963-69

*1963 "October" 2nd Agrarian reform.
*1963 "November" Compulsory military service introduced.
*1964 OAS enforce embargo against Cuba.
*1965 "October 3", the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations (ORI) become the governing Communist Party of Cuba.
*1967 "October 9" Che Guevara executed in La Higuera, Bolivia
*1968 "March" all private bars and restaurants are finally closed down.

1970s

*1972 Cuba becomes a member of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON).
*1975 "July" OAS lift the trade embargo and other sanctions.
*1974 Maternity leave bill introduced by the Cuban government.
*1975 The Soviet Union engages in a massive airlift of Cuban forces into Angola.
*1975 The Family Code bill establishes the official goal of equal participation in the home.
*1976 "March" South African forces backing the UNITA rebel force withdraw from Angola. It is regarded as a victory for Cuban forces.
*1976 "October 6" Two timebombs destroy Cubana Flight 455 departing from Barbados, via Trinidad, to Cuba. Evidence implicated several CIA-linked anti-Castro Cuban exiles and members of the Venezuelan secret police DISIP.
*1976 "December 2" Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba.
*1977 "January 1" Political and administrative division divides Cuba into fourteen provinces, 168 municipalities and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud.
*1977 "May" 50 Cuban military personnel sent to Ethiopia.
*1979 "October 21", Huber Matos is released from prison having served out his full term. He was reunited in Costa Rica with his wife and children, who had left Cuba in 1963, and moved to Miami.

1980s

*1980 "April" Mariel Boat Lift. Cuban Government announces that anyone wishing to leave Cuba may depart by boat from Mariel port, prompting an exodus of up to 125,000 people to the U.S.
*1980 "June 7" U.S. President Jimmy Carter orders Justice department to expel Cubans who have committed "serious crimes" in Cuba.
*1983 "October 25" United States invade the island of Grenada and also clash with Cuban troops.
*1984 Cuba reduce its troop strength in Ethiopia to approximately 3,000 from 12,000.
*1987 Law #62 on the Penal Code introduced recognising discrimination based on any reason and the violation of the right of equality as a crime.
*1989 "12 July", Prominent general in the Cuban armed forces Arnaldo Ochoa is executed after allegations of involvement in drug smuggling.
*1989 "September 17" The last Cuban troops leave Ethiopia.

1990s

*1990 "March 23", U.S. launch TV Marti
*1991 "May" Cuba remove all troops from Angola.
*1992 "July" National Assembly of Cuba passes the Constitutional Reform Law allowing for direct elections to the assembly by the Cuban people every five years. [http://dodgson.ucsd.edu/las/cuba/1990-2001.htm Cuba : Elections and Events 1990-2001] ]
*1993" November 6", Cuban government announce it is opening state enterprises to private investment.
*1996 "February", Cuban authorities arrest or detain at least 150 dissidents, marking the most widespread crackdown on opposition groups in the country since the early 1960s.
*1996 "March 12". The Helms-Burton Act, which extends the U.S. embargo against Cuba to foreign companies is passed.
*1998 "January 21", Pope John Paul II becomes the first Pope to visit the island.
*1999 Christian anti-abortion activist Oscar Elías Biscet is detained by Cuban police for organizing meetings in Havana and Matanzas.
*1999 "November 5", 6 year old Elián González is found in the Straits of Florida clinging to an inner tube.

2000s

*2000 "December 14" Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Cuba and signs accords aimed at boosting bilateral ties.
*2001 "January 1" Cuba celebrates the beginning of the millennium a year later than the majority of the western world. Official government line asserts that: "the second millennium and the 20th century are considered to end on 31 December of the year 2000." [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/586718.stm Cuba ignores the party] . BBC News Saturday, 1 January, 2000. Accessed 3rd October 2006]
*2001 "June 23", Fidel Castro faints during a televised speech.
*2002 "January", Russia's last military base in Cuba, at Lourdes, closes down.
*2002 "May 6", US Under Secretary of State John Bolton accuses Cuba of trying to develop biological weapons, adding the country to Washington's list of "axis of evil" countries.
*2002 "May 12", Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter becomes the first U.S. president past or present to visit Cuba. He praises the Varela project and criticizes the U.S. embargo.
*2003 "April" Cuban government arrest 78 writers and dissidents blaming U.S. provocation and interference from James Cason, the chief of the United States Interests Section in Havana.
*2004 "November 8", Ban on transactions in US dollars, and imposition of 10% tax on dollar-peso conversions introduced.
*2005 "May 20", Around 200 dissidents hold a public meeting, said by organisers to be the first such gathering since the 1959 revolution. [ [http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/05/20/cuba.rally/ Cuban dissidents rally in Havana] CNN. May 20, 2005. Accessed 5th October 2006.]
*2005 "July 7" Hurricane Dennis causes widespread destruction and leaves 16 people dead.
*2006 "July 31", Raúl Castro assumes presidential duties as Fidel Castro recovers from an emergency operation.
*2008 "February 19" Fidel Castro announces he would not reprise his role as President of Cuba and refuses to be reelected again.

ee also

*History of Cuba
*Timeline of Guantánamo Bay
*Timeline of the Cuban RevolutionCuba had also had a recently hurricane

References

General references

* [http://www.turnerlearning.com/cnn/coldwar/cuba/cuba_tml.html Cuba timeline : Cold War Chronology] Educator guide. Accessed 5th October 2006.
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1203355.stm Timeline: Cuba. A chronology of key events] BBC online. 1 August 2006. Accessed 5th October 2006.
*Hugh Thomas Cuba or the Pursuit of Freedom (Paperback) Da Capo Press; Updated edition (April, 1998) ISBN 0-306-80827-7

pecific references