CUBA

CUBA. -

I. GEOGRAPHY

The "pearl" and the largest of the Antilles (115,000 sq. km. including nearby islands). Of elongated and narrow shape, it extends entirely south of the tropic; its coasts are partly encircled by coral reefs. Barely one-fifth of its surface is mountainous (the Sierra Maestra, in the southern part, reaches 2,600 m.); the rest consists of flat or hilly terrain. The climate is tropical with abundant rainfall. The forests (now reduced to one-sixth of the island) have given way to crops: sugar cane plantations (of which Cuba is the world's leading producer) and tobacco, coffee, and fruit (especially pineapples, bananas, and grapefruits). Livestock farming (pigs, horses, sheep) is by no means negligible. Among the many mineral resources, chromite, manganese, and to a lesser extent copper are significant. Industry is poorly developed, except for those connected with agricultural production; trade is almost entirely in the hands of the United States.

Of the population (5.1 million inhabitants in 1948; 45 per sq. km.), about two-thirds are white, one-seventh mulatto, and one-eighth black; of the 1,500 Italians, half are concentrated in the capital, Havana (833,000 inhabitants including suburbs in 1943), the largest city in the

**Provinces** | **Area in sq. km.** | **Population (1943 census)** | **Capitals (population in thousands) (1943 census)** |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Caramagüey** | **26,346** | **488** | **Caramagüey (156)** |
| **La Habana** | **8,221** | **1,236** | **Havana (673)** |
| **Matanzas** | **8,444** | **361** | **Matanzas (74)** |
| **Oriente** | **36,602** | **1,356** | **Santiago (121)** |
| **Pinar del Río** | **13,500** | **399** | **Pinar del Río (77)** |
| **Santa Clara** | **21,411** | **939** | **Santa Clara (122)** |

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**II. EVANGELIZATION.** - The island of Cuba, discovered in 1492 by Columbus, who named it Juana, was subjected and colonized by the Spanish from 1512 onward. The first Spanish colony, Baracoa, was erected as a diocese in 1518, but by 1522 the see was transferred to Santiago de Cuba.

Among the peaceful Indians, enslaved by the Spanish and soon extinct, Bartolomé de las Casas carried out his early missionary activity. From 1524 began the importation of black slaves, which lasted until the early 19th century, so that a quarter of the population was of African descent. In 1787 the second diocese of San Cristóbal de La Habana was erected. Following the Treaty of Basel in 1795, Santo Domingo was ceded to France, and to prevent Cuba from continuing to depend on a metropolitan see located in non-Spanish territory, Charles IV in 1803 obtained that Santiago de Cuba be elevated to an archdiocese with the suffragans of San Cristóbal de La Habana and Puerto Rico. During the emancipation from the Spanish-American Empire, Cuba remained largely tranquil, and the island served as the military base for the various expeditions organized by the Madrid government in an attempt to recover the rebellious territories. However, the Cuban spirit was not favorable toward Spain.

In 1868, the first attempt to free itself from Madrid’s sovereignty took place. Indeed, that year saw the outbreak of a civil war, which lasted a decade and was ended in 1878 by the Treaty of Zanjón, which granted the Cubans amnesty and the beginning of political reforms. Spiritually, however, Cuba considered itself already independent from Spanish sovereignty: when a new revolt broke out in 1895, it, after the U.S. intervention against Spain, marked the end of Spanish rule. The island became an independent republic but had to grant guarantees that subjected it to U.S. influence.

The Constitution of 1901 sanctioned the separation of Church and State. In 1903 the dioceses of Cienfuegos and Pinar del Río were erected; in 1912 those of Matanzas and Camagüey, and in 1925 San Cristóbal de La Habana was elevated to an archdiocese with the suffragans of Matanzas and Pinar del Río, while the sees of Camagüey and Cienfuegos remained under the metropolitan of Santiago de Cuba. Since 1935 the Holy See has been represented in Havana by an apostolic nuncio. At the consistory of February 18, 1946, Manuel Arteaga y Betancourt, archbishop of San Cristóbal de La Habana, was elevated to the cardinalate, a dignity then conferred for the first time on a native of the island. Recently, the representation at the Holy See has been elevated to the rank of an embassy.

The ecclesiastical jurisdiction comprises two metropolitan sees, each with two suffragan dioceses; for the map: V. ANTILLE.

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**III. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CUBA.** - The Cuban Constitution guarantees freedom of education, the right of parents to oversee their children’s education, and freedom of conscience, making religious courses optional; it also guarantees the right of private individuals to establish schools, including those of the Catholic Church. Primary education is compulsory and free and lasts eight years. The state school system is based on the pedagogical doctrines of Cubans José de la Luz Caballero and Wilson L. Gill, successors of the "Sociedad Económica de Habana" (1790) association, whose spirit, integrated with the concepts of the English associational school, led to the foundation of the "Ciudad Escolar."

Private schools include those of the Catholic Church, which are linked to Cuba’s old cultural traditions and to the first Cuban school founded in 1790 under the name *Scholartia*. There are 180 such schools, including the colleges of San Agustín, San Antonio, and those of the Jesuits, the Brothers of the Christian Schools, the Marists, the Ursulines, and others.

Higher education is provided at the *Universidad de La Habana*, founded in 1728 by the Dominicans *Los padres de San Juan de Letrán*, authorized by Innocent XIII on September 12, 1721; it was secularized in 1842. There is also a Catholic University of Saint Thomas at Villanueva, with a well-organized Catholic University Center.

The education of the Catholic clergy takes place at the Seminario de los Santos Carlos y Ambrosio in Havana, where philosophical and theological studies are completed after preparatory studies that may also be undertaken at the minor seminaries in Santiago de Cuba (Seminario Conciliar) and Camagüey (Seminario de Santa María).

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