The island of Cuba is the largest of the Antilles, or Caribbean islands, with an area of approximately 110,922 km2 (44,218 sq mi). Its official name is “República de Cuba.” The capital is Habana (Havana) and the chief cities include Santiago de Cuba, Camagüey, Guantánamo, and Santa Clara. The island is separated from U.S. territory on the NW by a 160-km (90-mile) channel, the Straits of Florida. A large shallow intermediate bank (Cay Sal) belongs to the Bahamas. The separating Nicholas Channel is 1500 m deep. The much narrower Old Bahama Channel (600 m deep) separates Cuba on the NE from the Great Bahama Bank. To the E it is separated by the 3000-m-deep Windward Channel from Hispaniola (Haiti). On the W the Yucatan Channel and the main course of the Gulf Stream separates it from Mexico.
The main island of Cuba is 1290 km long (E-W) and 70–200 km across. There are numerous smaller offshore islands; these are mainly coral or sandcays (e.g., on the northern coast the Archipelago de...
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Fairbridge, R.W. (1975). Cuba . In: World Regional Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31081-1_40
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