Geography of Cuba in the context of "Straits of Florida"

Hispaniola is an island in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean, located between Cuba and Puerto Rico. It is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by land area, after Cuba. Covering an area of 76,192-square-kilometre (29,418 sq mi), it is divided into two separate sovereign countries: the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic (48,445 km (18,705 sq mi)) to the east and the French and Haitian Creole–speaking Haiti (27,750 km (10,710 sq mi)) to the west. The only other divided island in the Caribbean is Saint Martin, which is shared between France (Saint Martin) and the Netherlands (Sint Maarten). At the time of the European arrival of Christopher Columbus, Hispaniola was home to the Ciguayo, Macorix, and Ciboney and Classic Taíno native peoples.

Hispaniola is the site of the first European fort in the Americas, La Navidad (1492–1493), the first settlement, La Isabela (1493–1500), and the first permanent settlement, the capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo (1498–present). These settlements were founded successively during each of Christopher Columbus's first three voyages under the patronage of the Spanish Empire.

The Mona Passage (Spanish: Canal de la Mona) is a strait that separates the islands of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean region. Along with the Windward Passage between Hispaniola and Cuba, the approximately 80 miles (130 km) wide Mona Passage connects the North Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Sea, operating as an important shipping route between the North Atlantic and the Panama Canal. The passage is fraught with variable tidal currents created by the islands on either side of it, and by sand banks that extend out from both coasts.

The Republic of Cuba (Spanish: República de Cuba), covering the historical period in Cuban history between 1902 and 1959, was an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de Pinos (after 1925) and several minor archipelagos. The period began in 1902 following the end of its first U.S. military occupation years after Cuba declared independence in 1898 from the Spanish Empire. This era included various changing governments and U.S. military occupations, and ended with the outbreak of the Cuban Revolution in 1959. During this period, the United States exerted great influence on Cuban politics, notably through the Platt Amendment.

The governments of Cuba between independence from Spain and the Revolution have been regarded as client state of the United States. From 1902 to 1934, Cuban and U.S. law included the Platt Amendment, which guaranteed the United States right to intervene in Cuba and placed restrictions on Cuban foreign relations. In 1934, Cuba and the United States signed the Treaty of Relations in which Cuba was obligated to give preferential treatment of its economy to the United States, in exchange the United States gave Cuba a guaranteed 22 percent share of the U.S. sugar market that later was amended to a 49 percent share in 1949.