The Isle of Youth (Spanish: Isla de la Juventud) is the largest island of Cuba after Cuba proper. The island is 3,056 km² (1,180 miles²) and lies 100 km to the southwest of mainland Cuba, almost directly south of Havana and separated by the Batabanó Gulf. The island is a special municipality (municipio especial) of the Province of Havana and the largest of the 672 islands in the Canarreos Archipelago. The population is around 100,000. The largest city and capital is Nueva Gerona in the north. Until 1978, the island was called the Isle of Pines (Spanish: Isla de Pinos).
Geography and economy
Much of the island is covered in pine forests, which is the source of the island's large lumber industry. The northern region of the island has low ridges from which marble is quarried, while the southern region is an elevated plain. Agriculture and fishing are the island's main industries, with citrus fruit and vegetables being grown.
The island has a mild climate, but is known for being hit by hurricanes. It is a popular tourist destination, with many beaches and resorts, including Bibijagua Beach. Until the U.S. embargo on Cuba levied in the early 1960s, much land was owned by Americans.
Transportation
Map Of Isle of Youth
The main transportation to the island is by boat or aircraft. Hydrofoils (kometas) and motorized catamarans will make the trip in between two and three hours. A much slower and larger cargo ferry takes around six hours to make the crossing, but is cheaper. The province has only one municipality, also named Isla de la Juventud.
The Isle of Youth (Spanish: Islade la Juventud) is the largest Cuban island after Cuba proper and the sixth-largest island in the West Indies.
Islade la Juventud was not mentioned in the Platt Amendment, which defined Cuba's boundaries, and this led to competing claims to the island by the United States and the now-independent Cuba.
From 1953 to 1955, Cuban leader Fidel Castro was imprisoned in the Presidio Modelo on the Islade la Juventud by the regime of Fulgencio Batista after leading the failed July 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks in the Oriente Province.
The Cuban Revolution was the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista’s regime by the 26th of July Movement and the establishment of a new Cuban government led by Fidel Castro in the 1950s.
It began with the assault on the Moncada Barracks on July 26, 1953, and ended on January 1, 1959, when Batista was driven from the country and the cities Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba were seized by rebels, led by Che Guevara and Fidel Castro's surrogates Raúl Castro and Huber Matos, respectively.
In 1955, due to pressure from civil leaders, the general opposition, and the Jesuits who had helped educate Fidel Castro, and perhaps because he had known the Castro brothers in their youth, Batista freed all political prisoners, including the Moncada attackers.
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