Cuba 12th Grade History Final Exam key terms

Indigenous peoples of Cuba encountered by the Spanish, often described as earlier or simpler in material culture than the Taíno and living in smaller coastal and cave-dwelling groups. Their exact classification remains debated by archaeologists.

Arawak-speaking indigenous societies of the Greater Antilles whose chiefdoms, agriculture, and village life characterized much of Cuba at the time of Spanish arrival. Their legacy persists in place names, foods, and vocabulary.

A term used in Cuban historiography for supposedly the oldest and least complex indigenous inhabitants of the island, associated with cave sites and fishing. Scholars increasingly question whether they formed a distinct people.

A Taíno chief who exercised political and religious authority over a community or chiefdom, organizing labor, warfare, and ritual. The title is among the most widely recognized indigenous words in Caribbean history.

A Taíno leader from Hispaniola remembered for resisting the Spanish conquest in Cuba and for being executed by burning. Cuban tradition treats him as an early symbol of anti-colonial resistance and national defiance.

A Spanish colonial grant giving a colonist the right to extract labor and tribute from indigenous communities in exchange for supposed protection and Christian instruction. In Cuba it accelerated indigenous population collapse and forced labor.

The holder of an encomienda grant, typically a Spanish settler or conquistador who profited from indigenous labor and tribute. Encomenderos clashed with royal and church authorities over control of native populations.

A Spanish Dominican friar and bishop whose writings denounced abuses of indigenous peoples in the Indies and shaped early debates on colonial justice. His account remains a key, though contested, source for early Cuban history.

Cuba's principal port and capital, whose fortified harbor made it a hub of Spanish treasure fleets and imperial defense. Its strategic role shaped colonial administration, trade, and urban development.

The integrated system of land, enslaved labor, mills, and export infrastructure that made sugar Cuba's dominant export economy. Its expansion in the nineteenth century deepened social inequality and dependence on world markets.

The forced labor system that supplied plantation agriculture, especially sugar and coffee, until abolition in 1886. Its scale and late abolition shaped Cuban demography, racism, and struggles for independence.

The final legal end of slavery in Cuba, following gradual emancipation laws and pressure from war and international opinion. It transformed labor relations but did not end racial inequality.

The 1868–1878 uprising against Spanish rule begun at La Demajagua under Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, combining independence and social demands. Its unresolved outcome set the stage for later independence struggles.

A plantation owner who freed his slaves and launched the Ten Years' War in 1868, becoming the first president of the rebel republic. He is remembered as the initiator of Cuba's armed independence movement.

A poet, journalist, and revolutionary organizer who founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party and led the 1895 independence war until his death in battle. His writings on Cuban identity and anti-imperialism remain foundational.

The organization founded by José Martí in 1892 to unite exile communities and fund the independence struggle against Spain. It coordinated the 1895 uprising and articulated a democratic, anti-imperialist program.

A 1901 provision imposed by the United States that limited Cuban sovereignty, authorized intervention, and required a naval base at Guantánamo. Its incorporation into the 1901 constitution symbolized constrained independence.

The formally independent Cuban state established on May 20, 1902, under the shadow of United States influence and the Platt Amendment. Its politics combined fragile democracy with foreign economic dominance.

A condition in which a country is politically independent but economically and militarily subordinate to a stronger power. In Cuba it describes United States investment, trade, and intervention between 1902 and 1959.

Cuban president from 1925 to 1933 whose authoritarian rule and economic policies provoked widespread opposition and a revolutionary overthrow. His fall opened a period of reformist experimentation.

A popular upheaval that toppled Gerardo Machado and produced a short-lived reformist government under Ramón Grau San Martín, including the 1933 Constitution's social guarantees. It revealed the strength of nationalist and labor movements.

A military figure who dominated Cuban politics from the 1930s and ruled as president and later dictator until 1959. His 1952 coup and repressive government galvanized the opposition that overthrew him.

A comparatively progressive Cuban constitution that included labor rights, social guarantees, and limits on foreign ownership. It became a reference point for later revolutionaries and was suspended after the 1952 coup.

The revolutionary organization led by Fidel Castro, named for the 1953 attack on the Moncada barracks, which waged guerrilla war against Batista. It became the core of the coalition that took power in 1959.

The lawyer and revolutionary leader who directed the 1959 overthrow of Batista and shaped Cuba's socialist state for decades. His speeches and political decisions defined the revolution's direction and its conflicts with the United States.

The mountain range in eastern Cuba that served as the guerrilla base for the 26th of July Movement after 1956. Its insurgency demonstrated how a small rural force could undermine an unpopular regime.

A strategy emphasizing small armed vanguard groups in rural areas to spark broader insurrection, influential in Cuban revolutionary thought. Its limits and successes are central to debates on how Batista was defeated.

The 1961 declaration that the Cuban revolution was socialist, aligning it with the Soviet bloc and prompting radical nationalizations and United States hostility. It marked a decisive break with the original democratic program.

The failed 1961 United States-backed landing by Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs, defeated by Cuban forces within days. It strengthened the revolutionary government and pushed Cuba closer to the Soviet Union.

The 1962 confrontation over Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, resolved through withdrawal and United States assurances against invasion. It exposed Cuba's limited control over superpower decisions affecting its security.

The state takeover of private enterprises, land, and foreign-owned assets after 1959, including the 1960–1961 expropriations. It reorganized the economy around state ownership and provoked emigration and external conflict.

A mass mobilization that taught basic reading and writing to hundreds of thousands of Cubans and declared the country illiteracy-free. It combined social inclusion with political socialization and is a landmark of revolutionary cultural policy.

The severe economic crisis of the 1990s triggered by the collapse of the Soviet bloc and the loss of trade and subsidies. It forced rationing, limited market reforms, and mass hardship.

Cuba's system of subsidized basic goods distributed through a ration book, expanded after 1959 and central during the Special Period. It guarantees minimal consumption but has long been criticized for shortages and inefficiency.

Measures from the 2000s and 2010s allowing limited private enterprise, self-employment, and foreign investment while retaining state control of key sectors. They respond to chronic shortages and aim to update the socialist economy.

The shared sense of belonging and culture forged through language, music, religion, sport, and resistance to external domination. It blends indigenous, African, Spanish, and other influences and is debated in historiography.

A concept describing how cultures in contact transform one another rather than one simply replacing another, famously applied to Cuba by Fernando Ortiz. It explains the blending of African and Spanish elements in Cuban society.

A Cuban anthropologist and writer who developed the idea of transculturation and studied African heritage in Cuba. His work shaped understandings of race, culture, and national identity.

The skill of assessing a historical source's origin, purpose, audience, and reliability before using it as evidence. It is essential for evaluating colonial chronicles, speeches, and revolutionary propaganda.

The analysis of why events happened by identifying long-term structures, immediate triggers, and the decisions of actors. It requires distinguishing necessary conditions from sufficient ones and avoiding single-cause explanations.

The ordering of events in time and the ability to place them in correct sequence and context. It underpins causal and comparative arguments in history.

The division of the past into named periods, such as colonial, neocolonial, and revolutionary, based on chosen criteria. It shapes interpretation and can be contested when it obscures continuity.