什麼是古巴

正式名稱古巴共和國（Republic of Cuba）

西印度羣島社會主義共和國。位於美國佛羅里達南方145公里，由古巴島及其周圍小島組成。面積110,861平方公里。人口約11,190,000（2001）。首都：哈瓦那。人口中約3/1爲穆拉託人（mulatto，黑人與西班牙人混血的後裔）或黑人，約3/2爲白人（大部分是西班牙人後裔）。語言︰西班牙語（官方語）。宗教︰天主教、桑特利亞教（Santeria），兩者以前都是被禁止的。貨幣：古巴披索（peso）、美元。古巴本島長1,200公里、寬40～200公里，約1/4爲山地。圖爾基諾峯（Pico Turquino）高1,974公尺，是全國最高峯。其餘地區爲廣闊的平原和盆地。屬亞熱帶氣候。其中央計畫經濟主要依靠蔗糖出口，其次爲菸草和鎳，所生產的雪茄世界聞名。古巴是西半球第一個共產主義共和國，採一院制，國家元首暨政府首腦爲總統。

首批西班牙人到達這裏時，古巴只有西沃內人（Ciboney）和阿拉瓦克人等幾個印第安人部落。1492年哥倫布宣佈該島爲西班牙所有，1511年爲西班牙征服，在巴拉科阿（Baracoa）建立第一個永久居民點。此後幾個世紀，印第安原住民幾近根絕。自18世紀起，由於甘蔗種植的發展，開始自非洲輸入大批奴隸，直到1886年才廢除奴隸制度。由於西班牙不準古巴在政治上獨立，加上日益增長的稅收，導致第一次古巴獨立戰爭--十年戰爭（1868～1878），形成軍事僵局。1895年爆發第二次獨立戰爭，1898年美國也捲入其中（參閱Spanish-American War），迫使西班牙終於放棄古巴。此後古巴被美國佔領了三年，直到1902年才真正獨立。20世紀上半葉，美國大量投資古巴的製糖業，加上觀光業和賭博興起，使古巴的經濟走向繁榮。然而，就像政治腐敗一樣，古巴的經濟中也存在着財富分配的不平等。1958～1959年共產主義革命者卡斯楚推翻長期的獨裁者巴蒂斯塔，建立一個與蘇聯結盟的社會主義國家，廢除了資本主義，將所有外國企業收歸國有。古巴與美國的關係迅速惡化，在1961年美國支持的豬玀灣入侵和1962年的古巴飛彈危機之後，古、美關係降至低點。1980年約125,000名古巴人，包括許多被正式冠上「不受歡迎」標誌的人物，被船運至美國。蘇聯解體後，古巴失去最重要的財政後援，經濟大受影響，幾乎停滯。至1990年代，由於鼓勵發展觀光業，經濟有所改善；與美國的關係仍不明朗。

Cuba

Socialist republic, West Indies. Located 90 mi (145 km) south of Florida, it comprises the island of Cuba and surrounding small islands. Area: 42,804 sq mi (110,861 sq km). Population (1997): 11,190,000. Capital: Havana. The population is about one-third mulatto (black-Spanish) or black and about two-thirds white, mostly of Spanish descent. Language: Spanish (official). Religions: Roman Catholicism, Santería (both formerly discouraged). Currency: Cuban peso, U.S. dollar. The main island of Cuba is 746 mi (1,200 km) long and 25-125 mi (40-200 km) wide. About one-quarter is mountainous, with Pico Turquino at 6,476 ft (1,974 m) the highest peak; the remainder is extensive plains and basins. The climate is semitropical. Cuba was the first communist republic in the Western Hemisphere. It has a centrally planned economy that depends on the export of sugar and, to a much lesser extent, tobacco and nickel. Its cigars are considered the world's best. It is a republic with one legislative house, its head of state and government is the president. Several Indian groups, including the Ciboney and the Arawak, inhabited Cuba at the time of the first Spanish contact. Christopher Columbus claimed the island for Spain in 1492, and the Spanish conquest began in 1511, when the settlement of Baracoa was founded. The native Indians were eradicated over the succeeding centuries, and African slaves, from the 18th century until slavery was abolished in 1886, were imported to work the sugar plantations. Cuba revolted unsuccessfully against Spain in the Ten Years' War (1868-78); a second war of independence began in 1895. In 1898 the U.S. entered the war (see Spanish-American War); Spain relinquished its claim to Cuba, which was occupied by the U.S. for three years before gaining its independence in 1902. The U.S. invested heavily in the Cuban sugar industry in the first half of the 20th century, and this, combined with tourism and gambling, caused the economy to prosper. Inequalities in the distribution of wealth persisted, however, as did political corruption. In 1958-59 the communist revolutionary Fidel Castro overthrew its longtime dictator Fulgencio Batista and established a socialist state aligned with the Soviet Union, abolishing capitalism and nationalizing foreign-owned enterprises. Relations with the U.S. deteriorated, reaching a low point with the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion and the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. In 1980 about 125,000 Cubans, including many officially labeled “undesirables,” were shipped to the U.S. in the so-called Mariel Boat Lift. When communism collapsed in the U.S.S.R., Cuba lost important financial backing and its economy suffered greatly. The latter gradually improved in the 1990s with the encouragement of tourism, though diplomatic relations with the U.S. were not resumed.