a large and very important island in the West Indies, belonging to Spain. On the east side it begins at 20° N. Lat. touches the tropic of Cancer on the north, and extends from 74° to 85° W. Long. It lies 60 miles to the west of Hispaniola, 25 leagues north of Jamaica, 100 miles to the east of Jucatan, and as many to the south of Cape Florida; and commands the entrance of the gulfs both of Mexico and Florida, as also the windward passages. By this situation it may be called the key of the West Indies. It was discovered by Columbus in 1492, who gave it the name of Ferdinando, in honour of king Ferdinand of Spain; but it quickly after recovered its ancient name of Cuba. The natives did not regard Columbus with a very favourable eye at his landing; and the weather proving very tempestuous, he soon left this island, and sailed to Hayta, now called Hispaniola, where he was better received. The Spaniards, however, soon became masters of it. By the year 1511 it was totally conquered; and in that time they had destroyed, according to their own accounts, several millions of people. But the possession of Cuba was far from answering the expectations of the Spanish adventurers, whose advance could be satiated with nothing but gold. These monsters finding that there was gold upon the island, concluded that it must come from mines; and therefore tortured the few inhabitants they had left, in order to extort from them a discovery of the places where these mines lay. The miseries endured by these poor creatures were such that they almost unanimously resolved to put an end to their own lives; but were prevented by one of the Spanish tyrants called Vafco Porcellus. This wretch threatened to hang himself along with them, that he might have the pleasure, as he said, of tormenting them in the next world worse than he had done in this; and so much were they afraid of the Spaniards, that this threat diverted these poor savages from their desperate resolution. In 1511, the town of Havana was built, now the principal place on the island. The houses were at first built only of wood; and the town itself was for a long time so inconsiderable, that in 1536 it was taken by a French pirate, who obliged the inhabitants to pay 700 ducats to save it from being burnt. The very day after the pirate's departure, three Spanish ships arrived from Mexico, and having unloaded their cargoes, sailed in pursuit of the pirate ship. But such was the cowardice of the officers, that the pirate took all the three ships, and returning to the Havana, obliged the inhabitants to pay 700 ducats more. To prevent misfortunes of this kind, the inhabitants built their houses of stone; and the place has since been strongly fortified. See Havana.

According to the Abbé Raynal, the Spanish settlement at Cuba is very important, on three accounts:

1. The produce of the country, which is considerable. 2. As being the staple of a great trade; and, 3. As being the key to the West Indies. The principal produce of this island is cotton. The commodity, however, through neglect, is now become so scarce, that sometimes several years pass without any of it being brought into Europe. In place of cotton, coffee has been cultivated; but, by a similar negligence, that is produced in no great quantity; the whole produce not exceeding 30 or 35 thousand weight, one-third of which is exported to Vera Cruz, and the rest to Madrid. The cultivation of coffee naturally leads to that of sugar; and this, which is the most valuable production of America, would of itself be sufficient to give Cuba that state of prosperity for which it seems destined by nature. Although the surface of the island is in general uneven and mountainous, yet it has plains sufficiently extensive, and well enough watered, to supply the consumption of the greatest part of Europe with sugar. The incredible fertility of its new lands, if properly managed, would enable it to surpass every other nation, however they may have now got the start of it; yet such is the indolence of the Spaniards, that to this day they have but few plantations, where, with the finest canes, they make but a small quantity of coarse sugar at a great expense. This serves partly for the Mexican market, and partly for the mother-country; while the indolent inhabitants are content to import sugar for themselves at the expense of near 220,000 l. annually. It has been expected with probability, that the tobacco imported from Cuba would compensate this loss; for after furnishing Mexico and Peru, there was sufficient, with the little brought from Caracca and Buenos Ayres, to supply all Spain. But this trade too has declined through the negligence of the court of Madrid, in not gratifying the general taste for tobacco from the Havana. The Spanish colonies have an universal trade in skins; and Cuba supplies annually about 10 or 12 thousand. The number might easily be increased in a country abounding with wild cattle where some gentlemen possess large tracts of ground, that for want of population can scarce be applied to any other purpose than that of breeding cattle. The hundredth part of this island is not yet cleared. The true plantations are all confined to the beautiful plains of the Havana, and even those are not what they might be. All these plantations together may employ about 25,000 male and female slaves. The number of whites, mestizos, mulattoes, and free negroes, upon the whole island, amounts to about 30,000. The food of these different species consists of excellent pork, very bad beef, and cassava bread. The colony would be more flourishing, if its productions had not been made the property of a company, whose exclusive privilege operates as a constant and invariable principle of discouragement. If anything could supply the want of an open trade, and atone for the grievances occasioned by this monopoly at Cuba, it would be the advantage which this island has for such a long time enjoyed, in being the rendezvous of almost all the Spanish vessels that sail to the new world. This practice commenced almost with the colony itself. Ponce de Leon, having made an attempt upon Florida in 1512, became acquainted with the new canal of Bahama. It was immediately discovered that this was the best route the ships bound from Mexico to Europe could possibly take; and to this the wealth of the island is principally, if not altogether, owing.