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Cuba is the largest and most populous island
in the Caribbean Sea. The Atlantic Ocean
is to the north and the Caribbean Sea to
the south. The island lies almost south
of the Tropic of Cancer at the mouth of
the Gulf of Mexico. The province of Pinar
del Río is about 120 miles northeast of
Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula while Havana
is around 100 miles south of Key West Florida,
48 miles west of Haiti and 87 miles north
of Jamaica. Santiago de Cuba is located
180 miles northeast of Jamaica.
The island's shape resembles that of an
alligator. It is about 775 miles long,-approximately
the same distance from New York to Chicago-
and ranges in width from 25 to 120 miles.
The area of the island is 44,218 square
miles (110,860 sq. km). About 60 percent
of the land is flat fertile plains, used
for cattle grazing and growing sugar cane.
Forested mountains make up a quarter of
Cuba's territory. There are three main mountain
areas, one at each end of the country and
a third in the south central region. The
Sierra Maestra, located at the eastern
end of Cuba, has the most rugged terrain
and is Cuba's most spectacular mountain
range. It has been the scene of several
guerilla uprisings. The highest peak in
the range is the Pico Turquino which
rises to 6,540 feet. The Trinidad Mountains
are part of the Sierra Escambry in
the center of the island and are only 3,000
feet at their highest point. The Sierra
de los Organos in western Cuba, where
unique knolls called mogotes, or
buttes, rise from the floor of the Viñales
Valley, got its name because it looked
like the pipes of an organ to the Spanish
conquerors. These mountains and the Sierra
del Rosario are both part of the Cordillera
de Guaniguanico mountain range.
Cuba's 2,200 miles of jagged coastline
has hundreds of alluring beaches and 200
bays. It also has around 4,195 keys and
islets. The island is divided into 14 geographically
different provinces plus the Island of the
Youth or Isla de Juventud, formerly
called the Island of the Pines or La
Isla de los Pinos. From east to west,
the population centers are Santiago de Cuba,
Guantánamo, Holguín, Granma, Las Tunas,
Camagüey, Ciego de Avila, Sancti Spíritus,
Cienfuegos, Villa Clara, Matanzas, the Province
of Havana, the City of Havana and Pinar
del Río-the tobacco growing region.
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