This is a timeline of Cuban history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Cuba and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of Cuba. See also the list of colonial governors of Cuba and list of presidents of Cuba.
15th century Year Date Event 1492 27 October Christopher Columbus arrives in Cuba and claims the island for Spain.
16th century Year Date Event 1508 Sebastián de Ocampo circumnavigates Cuba, confirming that it is an island. 1510 Spanish set out from Hispaniola. The conquest of Cuba begins. 1511 The first governor of Cuba, the Spanish conquistador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar leads a group of settlers in Baracoa. 1512 Indigenous Cuban resistance leader Hatuey is burned at the stake. 1513 The first African slaves in Cuba 1519 Havana founded as San Cristóbal de la Habana (north coast) 1523 Emperor Charles V authorizes 4,000 gold pesos for the construction of cotton mills. 1526 The beginning of the slave trade and the sale of African slaves in Cuba. 1532 Jobabó Slave Revolt, the first slave rebellion is crushed. 1537 A French fleet briefly occupies Havana. French corsairs blockade Santiago de Cuba. 1542 The Spanish crown abandons the encomienda colonial land settlement system. 1553 The Governor of Cuba relocates to Havana. 1555 French campaign against the Sudan usam 1578 French corsairs plunder Baracoa. 1586 The English privateer Francis Drake lands at Cape San Antonio but does not attack. 1597 Construction of the Morro Castle fortress is completed above the eastern entrance to Havana harbor.
17th century Year Date Event 1603 Authorities decree that the sale of tobacco to foreigners is punishable by death. 1607 Havana is named capital of Cuba.Captaincy General of Cuba is created by Philip III of Spain.67 1628 A Dutch fleet led by Piet Heyn plunders the Spanish fleet in Havana harbor. 1649 An epidemic of yellow fever kills a third of the island's European population. 1662 An English fleet captained by Christopher Myngs captures Santiago de Cuba to open up trade with Jamaica. 1670 The English withdraw after Spain recognises England's ownership of Jamaica. becomes Governor of Cuba. He serves for ten years.
18th century Year Date Event 1728 The University of Havana is founded. 1734 begins a 12-year tenure as Governor of Cuba. 1741 British Admiral Edward Vernon briefly captures Guantánamo Bay, renaming it Cumberland Bay, during the War of Jenkins' Ear. His troops withdraw after being decimated by fevers and raids from Spanish troops. 1747 Francisco Cajigal de la Vega begins a 13-year tenure as Governor of Cuba. 1748 Construction of Havana Cathedral is completed. 12 October Battle of Havana. Skirmishes between British and Spanish fleets end indecisively on a strategic level. 1762 5 March A massive British expedition leaves Portsmouth to capture Havana. 30 July British troops capture Havana during the Seven Years' War.Freemasonry in Cuba begins with the British military lodge operating out of the 48th Regiment of Foot, headquartered in the Basilica of San Francisco de Asís, Havana 1763 British troops suffer atrocious losses to disease. They cede Cuba to Spain in the Treaty of Paris. 1793 Some 30,000 French refugees from a slave rebellion in Saint-Domingue, which becomes the Haitian Revolution, arrive in Cuba. 1799 Salvador de Muro y Salazar becomes Governor of Cuba 1799–1812.
19th century Year Date Event1809The begins, one of the earliest separatist plots in Cuba.181216 MarchThe Aponte Rebellion is launched by José Antonio Aponte Juan Ruíz de Apodaca becomes governor of Cuba 1812–17. 1819 22 April Settlers from Bordeaux and Louisiana found the first European settlement at Cienfuegos.1823The Suns and Rays of Bolívar begins the Revolution of the Suns and Rays. 1843 Leopoldo O'Donnell, Duke of Tetuan becomes governor of Cuba 1843–48. 1844 Known as the Year of the Lash, when an uprising of black slaves was brutally suppressed. 1851 The filibustering Lopez Expedition was defeated by Spanish authorities. 1853 28 January José Martí is born in Havana.18624 FebruaryThe Bacardi company is founded in Santiago de Cuba by Facundo Bacardí Massó. 1868 The first war of Cuban independence, also known as the Ten Years' War, begins. It lasts until 1878. 10 October Cry of Yara. Revolutionaries under the leadership of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes proclaim Cuban independence. 1869 10 April An assembly of rebels against Spanish rule adopts the Guáimaro Constitution, which remains nominally in effect until the end of the Ten Years' War. The Republic of Cuba in Arms begins, officially installing Carlos Manuel de Céspedes as the first President of the Republic in Arms.187013–15 FebruaryThe Massacre of San Juan de Wilson occurs.187327 OctoberSalvador Cisneros Betancourt is installed as President of the Republic in Arms, following the ouster of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes.1875JulyJuan Bautista Spotorno becomes President of the Republic in Arms.187629 MarchTomás Estrada Palma becomes President of the Republic in Arms.1877Tomás Estrada Palma is captured and imprisoned by the Spanish, forcing the appointment of Francisco Javier de Céspedes as President of the Republic in Arms.13 DecemberVicente García González becomes President of the Republic in Arms 1878 10 February The Pact of Zanjón, promising the end of slavery in Cuba, ends the Ten Years' War.15 MarchAt the "Protest of Baraguá," a group of Cubans reject the Pact of Zanjón, particularly the fact that it did not abolish slavery in Cuba.16 MarchSigning of the Baraguá Constitution, installing Manuel de Jesús Calvar as President of the provisional government of the Republic in Arms, and Calixto García as the Commanding General of the Army.21 MayThe provisional government of the Republic in Arms officially dissolves. 1879 August A second uprising, The Little War, engineered by Antonio Maceo and Calixto García, begins.1880The Little War ends. 1886 7 October Slavery is abolished in Cuba.18893 MarchConrado Walter Massaguer is born in Cárdenas, Cuba18925 JanuaryJosé Julián Martí y Pérez forms the Cuban Revolutionary party. 1895 24 February "Grito de Baire." The Cuban War of Independence begins, under the leadership of José Martí and General Máximo Gómez.24 MarchThe Montecristi Manifesto is issued by José Martí29 MarchAntonio Maceo returns from exile10 AprilJosé Martí and Máximo Gómez Baez return to Cuba 19 May José Martí is killed by Spanish troops at the Battle of Dos Ríos.AugustFirst Eastern Campaign begins, led by Generalissimo Máximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo September Spanish Captain-General Arsenio Martínez Campos is defeated at Peralejo and leaves Cuba in January 1896.SeptemberCuban Junta forms in New York City16 SeptemberJimaguayú Constitution is signed, re-establishing the Cuban Republic in Arms, establishing a Government Council, and re-installing Salvador Cisneros Betancourt as President.189616 FebruarySpanish general Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau institutes the policy of Reconcentration (reconcentración) to control Cuban insurgents.28 FebruaryThe U.S. Senate recognizes Cuban belligerency status During the First Eastern Campaign, Cuban rebels led by Antonio Maceo and Máximo Gómez execute a successful invasion along the length of the island.9 AugustThe United Kingdom foils Spanish attempt to organize European support for Spanish policies in Cuba7 DecemberAntonio Maceo is killed by Spanish forces. 1897 Calixto Garcia takes a series of strategic fort complexes in the East, leaving the Spanish confined to coastal cities there.Miguel Angiolillo assassinates Spanish Prime Minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo at Santa Agueda, Spain. Práxides Mateo Sagasta becomes prime minister of Spain.OctoberLa Yaya Assembly convenes, drafting the La Yaya Constitution.30 OctoberLa Yaya Assembly elects Bartolomé Masó as President of the Republic in Arms, and Domingo Méndez Capote as his Vice President.31 OctoberCaptain General Ramón Blanco y Erenas replaces General Valeriano Weyler as governor-general of Cuba.18981 JanuarySpain grants limited autonomy to Cuba12 FebruaryGeneral Máximo Gómez issues a call to various Cuban autonomist groups for formation of a united effort against Spain. 15 February The battleship USS Maine explodes and sinks while anchored in Havana harbor.13 MarchGeneral Máximo Gómez repels the Spanish attack at Majagua, Cuba.20 MarchMáximo Gómez rejects an offer of Spanish Captain General Ramón Blanco of an alliance of the Cuban Liberation Army and the Spanish forces against a United States invasion.2 AprilCuban revolutionaries under Colonel J.P. Quijano defeat Spanish forces at Chambas10 AprilSpanish Governor General Blanco in Cuba suspends hostilities15 AprilThe commanders of Spanish forces, under Captain General Ramón Blanco call a council of war in Havana. Only Western commanders arrive - Eastern commanders are currently engaged in combat with the Mambises.21 AprilDe-Facto state of war between the United States and Spain.Spain mines Guantanamo Bay25 AprilSpanish–American War officially begins with formal declarations of war30 AprilBlanco resumes hostilities with Cuban Liberation Army23 JuneThe Rough Riders land in Cuba, led by Leonard Wood and Theodore Roosevelt.16 JulyCuban forces led by General Calixto García defeat the Spanish in Santiago de Cuba.17 JulySpanish General Toral surrenders to U.S. General William Shafter. Cuban commanders are excluded from the surrender negotiations at the express insistence of American authorities.12 AugustThe Peace Protocol is signed in Washington between U.S. Secretary of State William R. Day and French Ambassador Jules Cambon, representing Spain. Cuban representatives are again absent and denied any observer status due to the U.S. government’s refusal to recognize the Republic in Arms or the legitimacy of the Cuban Liberation Army.20 OctoberProvisional Constitution created in Santiago de Cuba by U.S. military governor General Leonard Wood24 OctoberThe Assembly of Representatives of Santa Cruz del Sur is convened in Santa Cruz del Sur seeking to re-insert Cuban sovereignty of the island. This Assembly disbands shortly after.10 NovemberThe Assembly of Representatives of the Cuban Revolution appoints Rafael María Portuondo Tamayo as President of the Executive Council. 10 December The Treaty of Paris between Spain and the U.S. ends the Spanish–American War. Spain relinquishes sovereignty over Cuba. 1899 1 January The Spanish colonial government withdraws and the last captain General Alfonso Jimenez Castellano hands over power to the North American Military Governor, General John Ruller Brooke.4 AprilJosé Lacret Morlot succeeded Portuondo Tamayo as President of the Executive Council. 23 December Leonard Wood becomes U.S. Provisional Governor of Cuba.
20th century