Cubans

Cuban people · Cubanos

Total population
Cuba 11,167,325 (2012 Census) Total population of Cuba [1]
Regions with significant populations
United States (2012)	1,113,901[2]
Spain (2012)	120,296
Canada	21,440[3]
Venezuela (2011)	20,991
Italy (2011)	17,947
Puerto Rico (2012)	14,255
Mexico (2010)	12,108[4]
Chile (2002)	3,163
Argentina (2001)	2,457
Sweden (2008)	2,905
Colombia (2011)	3,689
Brazil (2000)	1,343
Ecuador (2001)	1,242
Switzerland (2000)	1,168
Netherlands (2008)	1,123
France (2001)	5,083
Ukraine (2001)	262
U.S. Virgin Islands (2000)	141
Languages
Cuban Spanish
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholicism Judaism, Protestantism, Santería, Irreligion

Cubans or Cuban people (Spanish: Cubanos) are the inhabitants or citizens of Cuba. Cuba is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds. As a result, some Cubans do not treat their nationality as an ethnicity but as a citizenship with various ethnicities and national origins comprising the "Cuban people." Nearly all Cubans or their ancestors immigrated within the past five centuries.

Despite its multi-ethnic composition, the culture held in common by most Cubans is referred to as mainstream Cuban culture, a Western culture largely derived from the traditions of Western European migrants, beginning with the early Spanish settlers, along with other Europeans arriving later such as the Portuguese and French, along with West African culture which has somewhat influential despite the fact that most minority Afro-Cubans are of Haitian origin.

Demographics

The population of Cuba was 11,167,325 inhabitants in 2012. The largest urban populations of Cubans in Cuba (2010) are to be found in Havana (2,135,498), Santiago de Cuba ( 425,851), Camagüey (305,845), Holguín (277,050), Guantanamo ( 207,857), and Santa Clara ( 205,812). According to Cuba's Oficina Nacional de Estadisticas ONE 2002 Census, the population was 11,177,743,^[5] including:

• 5,597,233 men and
• 5,580,510 women.

The racial make-up was 7,271,926 whites, 1,126,894 blacks and 2,659,675 mulattoes.^[6] The Chinese population in Cuba is descended mostly from indentured laborers who arrived in the 19th century to build railroads and work in mines. After the Industrial Revolution, many of these laborers stayed in Cuba because they could not afford return passage to China.

Ancestry

The majority of the ancestry of White Cubans comes from Spain. During the 18th, 19th and early part of the 20th century especially, large waves of Canary Islanders, Galicians, Asturians, and Catalans emigrated from Spain to Cuba. Other European nationalities which immigrated include: English, Scots, Russians, Poles, Portuguese, Romanians, Italians, Greeks, French, Germans and Irish. Eastern European Influence was mostly during the Cold War years and immigration from the British Isles was mostly in Pinar del Rio Province and Havana. There is a small remnant of a Jewish community.^{[citation needed]} There is also significant ethnic influx from diverse Levantine peoples, especially Lebanese, Palestinians, Turks, and Syrians.

Afro-Cubans compose 10.08% of the population. Their origins are mainly Haitian or Congo, a Central African people. (However, the dominant tradition in the Afro-Cuban syncretic religion of Santería is Yoruba; further, the greeting in Santería of 'salaam aleikum' points to Arabic influence from North Africa.)

Cubans of East Asian/Oriental origins make up 1.02% of the population. They are mostly of Chinese (especially Cantonese), Japanese or Korean origins.

Of the Taínos few remain. Some American Indians from the United States settled in Cuba in the 19th century (notably Cherokee, Choctaw and Seminole). There are no exact figures on their current descendants.^{[citation needed]}

The total population in the official 1953 Census was 5,829,029 people. Intermarriage between diverse groups is so general as to be the rule.^[7]

Cuba's birth rate (9.88 births per thousand population in 2006)^[10] is one of the lowest in the Western Hemisphere. Its overall population has increased continuously from around 7 million in 1961 to over 11 million now, but the rate of increase has stopped in the last few decades, and has recently turned to a decrease, with the Cuban government in 2006 reporting the first drop in the population since the Mariel boatlift. Immigration and emigration have had noticeable effects on the demographic profile of Cuba during the 20th century. Between 1900 and 1930, close to a million Spaniards arrived from Spain.

Since 1959, over a million Cubans have left the island, primarily to Miami, Florida, where a vocal, well-educated and economically successful exile community exists (Cuban-American lobby).^[11]

Genetics

A 1995 study done on the population of Pinar del Río, found that 50% of the Mt-DNA lineages (female lineages) could be traced back to Europeans, 46% to Africans and 4% to Native Americans. This figure is consistent with both the historical background of the region, and the current demographics of it. According to another study in 2008, the geographical origin attributed to each mtDNA haplogroup, 55% of the sequences found in Cubans are of West Eurasian origin (namely, Europe and the Middle East) and 45% of African origin ^[12] Regarding Y-chromosome haplogroups (male lineages), 78.8% of the sequences found in Cubans are of West Eurasian origin, 19.7% of African origin and 1.5% of East Asian origin. Among the West Eurasian fraction, the vast majority of individuals belong to West European haplogroup R1b. The African lineages found in Cubans have a Western (haplogroups E1, E2, E1b1a ) and Northern (E1b1b-M81 ) African origin. The "Berber" haplogroup E1b1b1b (E-M81), is found at a frequency of 6.1%.^[12]

According to Fregel et al. (2009), the fact that autochthonous male E-M81 and female U6 lineages from the Canaries have been detected in Cuba and Iberoamerica, demonstrates that Canary Islanders with indigenous Guanche ancestors actively participated in the American colonization.^[13]

Cubans abroad

The United States is home to the largest number of Cubans outside Cuba, particularly in Miami and other major cities in Florida as well as in New Jersey, California and New York. Smaller numbers of Cubans live in Italy, Puerto Rico and other countries around the world, especially in Latin America and Europe (especially in Spain, with 116,852; see Immigration to Spain; and the United Kingdom, with around 1,083; see Cuban British). There are about 12,108 in Mexico, 9,795 in Venezuela, and 1,343 in Brazil.^[14]

After the founding of the republic in 1902, a considerable migration arrived from the Iberian peninsula to the island, between them were more than a few former Spanish soldiers who participated in the wars, and yet it never created an obstacle for the respect and affection of Cubans, who have always been proud of their origins.^[15]

In December 2008, Spain began accepting citizenship applications from the descendants of people who went into exile after its brutal 1936-39 Civil War, part of a 2007 law meant to address the painful legacy of the conflict. This new Historical Memory Law may grant up to 500,000 passports to Cubans of Spanish ancestry. Under the law, the descendants have until December 2011 to present themselves at the Spanish embassy in their home country and turn in documentation that proves their parents or grandparents fled Spain between 1936 and 1955. They do not need to relinquish their current citizenship.^[16][17]

History

The first people known to have inhabited Cuba was the Siboney, an Amerindian people. They were followed by another Amerindian people, the Taíno who were the main population both of Cuba and other islands in The Antilles when Christopher Columbus first sighted the island in 1492. He claimed the islands for Spain and Cuba became a Spanish colony. It was to remain so until 1902 apart from a brief occupation by Britain in 1762, before being returned in exchange for Florida. Towards the end of the 19th century, Spain had lost most of its American possessions and a series of rebellions had shaken Cuba. This, in combined with calls for annexation of Cuba in the United States, led to the Spanish-American War, and in 1902 Cuba gained formal independence.

During the first decades of the 20th century, USA interests were dominant and in Cuba, leading to large influence over the island. This ended in 1959 when de facto leader Fulgencio Batista was ousted by revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro. Quickly deteriorating relations with the US led to Cuba's alliance with the Soviet Union and Castro's transformation of Cuba into a declared socialist republic. Castro has remained in power since 1959, first as Prime Minister then from 1976 as President of Cuba.

Culture and traditions

The culture of Cuba reflects the island's influences from various cultures, primarily European (Spanish) and African. This is evident in the direct and dynamic yet open and witty humorous idiosyncrasy of most Cubans. However, during the period of the republic (1901–1959) Cuban culture was also heavily influenced by USA. This was evident in music, sports, architecture, finances, among others. In some aspects many Cubans saw Cuban culture more closely related to American than Mexican or other neighboring Latin American nations. During the revolutionary period (1959-) as Cuba was surprisingly and abruptly declared a communist state; Cuba was internally isolated and exposed to a Russian presence. However, this presence only contributed to the dictatorial formation, nature, and structuring of the new Stalinist Cuban regime but left very little, if any, cultural contribution.

Unarguably one of the most distinctive parts of Cuban culture is Cuban music and dancing, being well-known far outside the country. Well known Latin music styles such as mambo, salsa, rumba, cha,cha,cha, bolero, and son originated in Cuba. The origins of much of Cuban music can be found in the mix of Spanish and West African music, while American musical elements such as trombones and big band were also significant elements in the formation of Cuban music. Cuban literature includes some of the most well-known names of the islands, such as writer and independence hero José Martí in the late 19th century. More contemporary Cuban authors include Daína Chaviano, Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, Antonio Orlando Rodríguez, Zoé Valdés and Leonardo Padura.

The Spanish language is spoken by virtually all Cubans on the island itself. Cuban Spanish is characterized by the reduction of several consonants, a feature that it shares with other dialects of Caribbean Spanish as well as the Canary Islands. Many Cuban-Americans, while remaining fluent in Spanish, use American English as one of their daily languages.

The influence of the Canary Islands

The flag of the Canary Islands

Many words in traditional Cuban Spanish can be traced to those of the Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands. Many Canary Islanders emigrated to Cuba and had one of the largest parts in the formation of the Cuban dialect and accent. There are also many elements from other areas of Spain such as Andalucian, Galician, Asturian, Catalan, as well as some African influence. Cuban Spanish is very close to Canarian Spanish. Canarian emigration has been going on for centuries to Cuba, and were also very numerous in emigration of the 19th, and 20th centuries.

A woman smoking a cigar in Old Havana

Through cross emigration of Canarians and Cubans, many of the customs of Canarians have became Cuban traditions and vice versa. The music of Cuba has become part of the Canarian culture as well, such as mambo, salsa, son, and punto Cubano. Because of Cuban emigration to the Canary Islands, the dish "moros y cristianos", or simply known as "moros", can be found as one of the foods of the Canary Islands; especially the island of La Palma. Canary Islanders were the driving force in the cigar industry in Cuba, and were called "Vegueros." Many of the big cigar factories in Cuba were owned by Canary Islanders. After the Castro revolution, many Cubans and returning Canarians settled in the Canary islands, among them were many cigar factory owners such as the Garcia family. The cigar business made its way to the Canary Islands from Cuba, and now the Canary Islands are one of the places that are known for cigars alongside Cuba, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Honduras. The island of La Palma has the greatest Cuban influence out of all seven islands. Also, La Palma has the closest Canarian accent to the Cuban accent, due to the most Cuban emigration to that island.

Many of the typical Cuban replacements for standard Spanish vocabulary stem from Canarian lexicon. For example, guagua (bus) differs from standard Spanish autobús the former originated in the Canaries and is an onomatopoeia stemming from the sound of a Klaxon horn (wah-wah!). The term of endearment "socio" is from the Canary Islands. An example of Canarian usage for a Spanish word is the verb fajarse^[18] ("to fight"). In standard Spanish the verb would be pelearse, while fajar exists as a non-reflexive verb related to the hemming of a skirt. Cuban Spanish shows strong heritage to the Spanish of the Canary Islands.

Many names for food items come from the Canary Islands as well. The Cuban sauce mojo, is based on the mojos of the Canary Islands where the mojo was invented. Also, Canarian ropa vieja is the father to Cuban ropa vieja through Canarian emigration. Gofio is a Canarian food also known by Cubans, along with many other kinds.

Symbols

The flag of Cuba

The flag of Cuba is red, white and blue and was first adopted by Narciso López on a suggestion by the poet Miguel Teurbe Tolón. The design incorporates three blue stripes, representing the three provinces of the time (Oriente, La Habana, and Pinar del Río), and two white stripes symbolizing the purity of the patriotic cause. The red triangle stands for the blood shed to free the nation. The white star in the triangle stands for independence.^[19]

Narciso Lopez, Miguel Teurbe Tolón, José Aniceto Iznaga Borrell, his nephew José Maria Sánchez Iznaga, Cirilo Villaverde y Juan Manuel Macías, designed the flag of Cuba and swore to fight to the death for Cuban independence from Spain.

See also

• History of Cuban Nationality
• Latin Americans
• White Latin American
• White Hispanic
• Spanish American
• Cuban exile
• Cuban Americans
• Cuban British
• Cuba-United States relations
• List of Cubans
• List of Cuban Americans
• Afro Latin American
• Cuban Spanish
• Cuban French

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to People of Cuba.

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