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International Bicycle Fund |
| 1000 BC | Siboneys, indigenous Americans from Central and South America |
| 1400 | Tainos, Arawak Indians from Orinoco basin, Venezuela. Farming and pottery and dominated Siboney. |
| 1492 | Christopher Columbus saw Cuba on October 27 - Europeans learn of tobacco. |
| 1511 | Diego Valasquez disembarks with 300 men near Guantanamo Bay, establishes the first town at Baracoa. |
| 1512 | Main resistance to Spanish from Hatuey from Hispanola, who warned of Spanish atrocities there. He preferred death by fire to conversion to Christianity. He was burned at the stake near Manzanillo. |
| 1514 | After a swift and cruel campaign Spain controlled Cuba. |
| 1522 | First slave ships arrive. |
| 1530 | Indian uprising at Bayamo, Oriente. |
| 1534 | The first sugar mill opens. |
| 1561 | Spain establish Havana as the assembly point for its silver fleet. Pirate attacks begin. |
| 1600 | Spanish exploited Cuba's gold and moved on. |
| 1607 | Havana replaces Santiago de Cuba as Capital. |
| 1662 | Slave trade begins in earnest. |
| 1762 | British capture heavily fortified Havana and opened Cuba to trade with world, changing its history. |
| 1763 | British trade Havana for Florida. |
| 1791 | Revolt in French Hispanola (Haiti) destroyed sugar industry, Cuba became Caribbean largest sugar exporter. 30,000 French planters flee to Cuba. |
| 1812 | Aponte Uprising of black slaves. |
| 1818 | Royal degree opened Cuban ports to free international trade. |
| 1819 | Carlos Manuel de Cespedes is born in Bayamo, Oriente. He trains as a lawyer and is inspired by Thomas Jefferson's ideas on liberty. |
| 1837 | Cuba lays first railroad. The first in Latin America. |
| 1840 | Cuban born Spanish, criollo, resented the power of Spanish elite, peninsulars, both groups fear the blacks, 40% of pop. |
| 1848 | Over three year period, Narcisco Lopez, former soldier in Spanish army, leads three failed invasions of Cuba, with aim of annexing the island to the US. |
| 1853 | Jose Marti is born in Havana. He was writing poems and essays against the Spanish at age 15. |
| 1868 | Carlos Manuel de Cespedes freed slaves, 10 Oct, on his La Demajagua plantation near Manzanillo, starting Ten Year War, first liberation war. The first battle was at Yara, commanded by Maximo Gomez and Antonio Maceo. |
| 1870 | Jose Marti exiled to Spain and moved to U.S.A. Advocated racial equality. |
| 1874 | Cespedes dies in Spanish ambush. |
| 1878 | Rebels capitulated when "criollo" (Cuban born Spanish) withdrew support to army of peasants and blacks. 250,000 died, sugar industry destroyed. |
| 1886 | Cuban abolition of slavery |
| 1892 | Jose Marti founds the Cuban Revolutionary Party in Florida. |
| 1895 | Jose Marti convinces Maceo and Gomez to start new armed struggle east of Guantanamo, 24 Feb. Jose Marti is shot dead 19 May. |
| 1896 | 90% of sugar and a majority of other export go to US. |
| 1897 | Liberation army push west exhausting Spanish force five time its size and is on the verge of victory. |
| 1898 | USS Maine sinks in Havana Harbor, Feb, two months later the US declares war against Spain. |
| 1898 | Treaty of Paris, 10 Dec, Spain transfers sovereignty of Cuba to US. |
| 1901 | Provisions known as the Platt Amendment are incorporated into the Cuban Constitution, thereby making Cuba essentially a protectorate of the United States. |
| 1902 | Cuba declared a Republic, 20 May, and US troops withdraw, except Guantanamo Bay. |
| 1924 | Gerardo Machado elected President on slogan of "honesty in government," later introduced Cuba's first brutal military dictatorship. |
| 1927 | Fidel Castro Ruz born in Oriente, attended Catholic school. |
| 1928 | Ernesto "Che" Guevara de la Serna born in Argentina. He trains to be a doctor. |
| 1933 | Communist called general strike, Marchado fell to militant students and dissatisfied Sgt. Fulgencio Batista. Three months later Col. Batista staged military coup. |
| 1934 | Batista enjoyed initial popularity and implemented one of the most progressive constitutions in Latin America. |
| 1934 | The Platt Amendment is repealed, although the United States maintains control of Guantanamo Bay naval base. |
| 1940 | Batista elected President with help of Communists. |
| 1944 | Batista looses to Ramon Grau and goes into "voluntary exile," purportedly with millions of dollars. |
| 1945 | Fidel enters Univ. of Havana. |
| 1948 | Carlos Prio elected President. Corruption and oppression increases. |
| 1952 | Batista returned from exile and staged coup, 10 March, and imposed harshest dictatorship yet. While misery reigned in the countryside Havana glittered. |
| 1953 | Fidel Castro and 125 militants attacked Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba, 26 Dec. Few survived. Castro stood trial and was sentenced to 15 years. |
| 1955 | Fidel and other rebels granted amnesty. Castro leaves for Mexico city, where he meets "Che" Guevara. |
| 1956 | Cabin cruiser "Granma" brings Fidel and 81 revolutionaries from Mexico to Cuba, Dec. |
| 1957 | Fidel, his brother Raul and about 13 others make it to Pico Turquino in the Sierra Maestra, west of Santiago, and recruited 2000 peasants. Fidel promises free election. |
| 1958 | 26 of July Movement agitated in the cities. Mid-year Batista launches offensive against rebels - a fiasco. Fidel counter attacks and sends two columns towards Havana. |
| 1959 | U.S. right-wing dictator, Batista, flees to Dominican Republic (New Years Eve). Fidel Castro arrives in Havana 8 Jan 1959. Government suspends constitution. |
| 1960 | Cuba nationalizes U.S. corporate assets and sign sugar-for-oil deal with USSR. US cut Cuba sugar quota, then cancelled purchase and prohibited most exports to Cuba, except food and medicine. |
| 1961 | U.S. breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba (Jan 3). Bay of Pigs fiasco, 1200 of 1500 captured (April 16). Captives exchanged for US$50 million. Castro embraces Marxism-Leninism and declares Cuba a socialist workers state. |
| 1962 | At U.S. prompting, the Organization of American
States suspends communist Cuba from the hemispheric body. (Jan) Full U.S. trade embargo imposed on Cuba. (Feb 7), including ban on travel. Cuban missile crisis (The "October Crisis" in Cuba) brings world to the brink of nuclear war. Russia withdraws missiles after U.S. naval quarantine. (Oct-Nov) |
| 1965 | End of six-years of exit visas for counter-revolutionaries. About a half-million
wealthy Cubans leave. Che leaves cabinet for South America. He is killed in Bolivia in 1967. Establishment of labor camps for the rehabilitation of "social deviants," particularly homosexuals, dissident intellectuals and Catholics. |
| 1968 | Establishment of a classless society becomes a Government objective. |
| 1970 | Effort to produce 10-million tons of sugar fails, bailout from USSR averts economic crisis. |
| 1975 | First Parrido Communista de Cuba (PCC) congress convened. The United States announces that it will allow foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies to sell in Cuba. It will also stop penalizing other foreign nations from doing business with Cuba. |
| 1976 | New constitution and assemblies of People's Power approved. |
| 1977 | Washington and Havana reestablish limited diplomatic relations (President Carter's administration) (Sept 1). President Carter lifts the travel and spending ban for U.S. citizens. |
| 1978 | Cuban exiles in Miami are allowed to return to Cuba to visit relatives. |
| 1980 | Unrest becomes widespread among the population. Castro relaxes emigration restrictions, allows 125,000 Cubans to leave country in what became known as the Mariel boatlift. (April-Sept) |
| 1981 | Newly elected President Ronald Reagan announces a tightening of the embargo. The following year, the Reagan Administration re-establishes the travel and spending ban for U.S. citizens. |
| 1986 | Rectification of Errors ends brief experiment with private enterprise. |
| 1988 | Peace accord 15 years of Cuban involvement in Angola. |
| 1989 | Trail and execution of General Ochoa heralds clampdown on those in favor of perestroika-style reforms. |
| 1990 | USSR collapses and aid comes to an end, heralding the start of chronic food and fuel shortages -- "the Special Period in Peace Time." |
| 1991 | 4th PCC Congress decides to admits Catholics into party for the first time. |
| 1992 | The Cuban Democracy Act passes in Congress (Torricelli law) and President George Bush signs bill to tighten embargo on Cuba; prohibiting foreign-based subsidiaries of U.S. companies from trading with Cuba and blocks family remittances from the United States to Cuba. (Oct 23) Cuba faces a severe economic crisis since collapse of the Soviet bloc. |
| 1993 | The US dollar is legalized and economic reforms initiated. |
| 1994 | The economic situation worsens. Riots in Havana (Jun 8). 30000 "balseros" (raftmen) leave Cuba in homemade rafts for Miami. US tightens immigration laws. Washington and Havana sign migration accord to stem exodus and agree minimum of 20,000 U.S. visas per year for Cubans. (Aug-Sept) |
| 1996 | Cuban fighters shoot down two small U.S. planes in
the Florida Straits belonging to Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue.
Four crew members killed. (Feb 24) President Bill Clinton signs the Helms-Burton Act, which makes the Cuban embargo law, but more importantly allows U.S. businesses and citizens to sue foreign investors who profit from expropriated U.S. assets seized by the Cuban government (March 12) |
| 1998 | Pope visits Cuba (Jan). President Clinton relaxes some sanctions. |
| 2000 | After bitter seven-month custody dispute, which
prompted furious campaigns by Havana and Miami exiles, motherless Cuban
shipwreck survivor 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez flies home to live with his
father. (June 28) President Clinton relaxes the trade ban to allow the sale of agriculture and medicine to Cuba for humanitarian purposes. (Oct 28) |
| 2002 | President George W. Bush, backed by Castro's exiled opponents in Florida, vows to veto any further easing of sanctions and to step up support for political change in Cuba. May 20) |
| 2003 | Castro threatens to shut down U.S. Interests
Section in Havana, calling it a breeding ground for dissidents. (March 16) Castro launches biggest political crackdown in decades, jailing 75 dissidents for terms of up to 28 years for collaborating with Washington to undermine his one-party state. (March 18) U.S. releases hijackers of two Cuban planes on bail. (late March) Cuba executes three men who hijacked a commuter ferry in a failed bid to reach the Florida. (April 11) U.S. expels 14 Cuban diplomats. (May 13) |
| 2004 | The Cuban government bans transactions in US dollars. |
| 2005 | The U.S. Treasury Department issues a rule requiring Cuba to pay for U.S. imports up front. |
| 2006 | The Bush Administration suspends operations of remittance agencies to
Cuba as part of its intensifying economic war against the communist country
and further restricts travel and association by US citizen. (June 5) Fidel Castro turns over power to his brother Raúl due to an emergency surgery. It is the first time that Fidel is known to have ceded power since he won control of Cuba in 1959. (Aug 1) |
| 2008 | Fidel Castro resigns as President of Cuba. Raúl is elected President by the National Assembly. |
| 2014 | U.S. President Barack Obama and Raúl Castro re-establish diplomatic ties between the two countries. |
| 2016 | U.S. President Barack Obama is the first sitting U.S. president to visit Cuba in more than 88 years. |
| 2016 | Fidel Castro dies. |
Cuba: Library of Contemporary Issues
Cuba People-to-People Bicycle Program
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