Cuba: Geography and Strategic Position in the Caribbean

Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean (109,884 km² / 42,426 sq mi) and the most populous (11+ million). Its location has shaped five centuries of geopolitics.

Geographic Coordinates & Neighbors

• Coordinates: 23°N, 82°W (Havana: 23.1136°N, 82.3666°W)
• North: Florida Straits — 90 miles (145 km) to Key West
• East: Windward Passage — 50 miles to Haiti
• South: Caribbean Sea — Jamaica 90 miles, Cayman Islands 150 miles
• West: Yucatán Channel — 130 miles to Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula

Physical Geography

• Length: 780 miles (1,250 km) east-west — "crocodile shape"
• Mountain ranges: Sierra Maestra (Pico Turquino 1,974m), Escambray, Guaniguanico
• Plains: Extensive lowlands for sugarcane, rice, citrus
• Archipelagos: 4,000+ keys/cays (Jardines de la Reina, Canarreos, Sabana-Camagüey)
• Climate: Tropical, wet/dry seasons, hurricane corridor

Strategic Significance

Gateway to Gulf of Mexico: Controls access via Florida Straits and Yucatán Channel. Spanish Empire: "Key to the New World" — treasure fleet rendezvous. 1898: Spanish-American War pivot. Cold War: Soviet missiles (1962) — 90 miles from US. Today: Migration, drug interdiction, environmental cooperation flashpoint.

Maritime Zones

• Territorial sea: 12 nm
• EEZ: Extends to median lines with US, Mexico, Haiti, Jamaica, Bahamas
• Guantanamo Bay: US naval base (leased 1903, disputed since 1959)

Cuba's geography makes it a natural fulcrum of Caribbean geopolitics—too large to ignore, too close to dominate, too strategic to forget.