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Cuba is believed to have been inhabited for nearly 2,000 years, although the original natives of the island were wiped out by Spanish colonization in the 16th century. (Opposite) Tourists enjoy the beach at Varadero. (Right) A farmer in Pinar del Río Province’s agricultural Viñales Valley plows his field with oxen. 1

“ The Most Beautiful Land Ever Beheld ”

FOR CENTURIES VISITORS have been enchanted by Cuba’s beaches of fine white sand, crystal-clear waters, and luxuriant green countryside, graced by majestic palms that sway in the tropical breeze. “The most beautiful land ever beheld by human eyes,” Christopher Columbus is said to have exclaimed when he first arrived in Cuba. When most people think of the modern-day nation of Cuba, they picture a single island—the one Columbus so enthusiastically described in late October of 1492. In reality, the Republic of Cuba is made up of as many as 4,000 cays and islets surrounding the biggest island in the archipelago , which is also called Cuba. That island of Cuba is the largest in the Greater Antilles, and the largest in the entire Caribbean Sea. Cuba is located between the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, at the entrance of the Gulf of

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