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Updates: 

I found the results of the 2002 census. They're shown in the table below. From the same source (Oficina Nacional de Estatisticas), I revised the areas of provinces.

Cuba switched from standard time to daylight saving time (horario de verano) as usual on 2004-04-04. In October, as a temporary energy-saving measure, it announced that it would not be returning to standard time that year. In October 2005 the same thing happened. Therefore, Cuba was on DST (UTC-4) continuously from April 2004 to October 2006. Now it has gone back to standard time (UTC-5).

Country overview: 

Short name	CUBA
ISO code	CU
FIPS code	CU
Language	Spanish (es)
Time zone	-5 ~
Capital	Havana

 

Cuba was liberated from Spanish rule in the Spanish-American War, just before the beginning of the 20th century. The United States dominated the Cuban administration for about a decade, but Cuba has been considered an independent country throughout the century.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Cuba
2. Dutch: Cuba, Republiek Cuba (formal)
3. English: Republic of Cuba (formal)
4. Finnish: Kuuba
5. French: Cuba f
6. German: Kuba n
7. Icelandic: Kúba
8. Italian: Cuba f
9. Norwegian: Cuba, Republikken Cuba (formal)
10. Portuguese: Cuba, República f de Cuba f (formal) (n in Portugal)
11. Spanish: Cuba, República f de Cuba f (formal)
12. Swedish: Cuba, Kuba

Origin of name: 

A native called the island Colba when questioned by Columbus, possibly misunderstanding him

Primary subdivisions: 

Cuba is divided into fourteen provincias (provinces) and one municipio especial (special municipality).

Province	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital	C.P.
Camagüey	CU.CM	09	CU05	784,178	15,615	6,029	Camagüey	70-74
Ciego de Ávila	CU.CA	08	CU07	411,766	6,783	2,619	Ciego de Ávila	65-69
Cienfuegos	CU.CF	06	CU08	395,183	4,180	1,614	Cienfuegos	55-59
Ciudad de la Habana	CU.CH	03	CU02	2,201,610	721	278	Havana	10-19
Granma	CU.GR	12	CU09	822,452	8,375	3,234	Bayamo	85-89
Guantánamo	CU.GU	14	CU10	507,118	6,168	2,381	Guantánamo	95-99
Holguín	CU.HO	11	CU12	1,021,321	9,293	3,588	Holguín	80-84
Isla de la Juventud	CU.IJ	99	CU04	86,559	2,419	934	Nueva Gerona	25-29
La Habana	CU.LH	02	CU11	711,066	5,732	2,213	Havana	30-34
Las Tunas	CU.LT	10	CU13	525,485	6,588	2,544	Victoria de Las Tunas	75-79
Matanzas	CU.MA	04	CU03	670,427	11,803	4,557	Matanzas	40-44
Pinar del Río	CU.PR	01	CU01	726,574	10,904	4,210	Pinar del Río	20-24
Sancti Spíritus	CU.SS	07	CU14	460,328	6,737	2,601	Sancti Spíritus	60-64
Santiago de Cuba	CU.SC	13	CU15	1,036,281	6,156	2,377	Santiago de Cuba	90-94
Villa Clara	CU.VC	05	CU16	817,395	8,412	3,248	Santa Clara	50-54
15 divisions				11,177,743	109,886	42,427
Province: except for Isla de la Juventud, which is a special municipality. HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Population: 2002-09-06 census. C.P.: Cuba uses five-digit Códigos Postales (postal codes). The first two digits correspond to the province. The ranges shown here are extrapolated from numerous examples.

Further subdivisions:

See the Municipios of Cuba page.

The provinces are subdivided into municipios (municipalities). Their number has stayed quite constant since 1976. Just before 1976, there were six provinces, divided into 51 regiones (regions), which in turn were divided into 326 municipalities. The provinces had been quite stable, but the lower-level subdivisions had undergone extensive changes over the years. In 1906, the six provinces had been subdivided into 83 términos municipales (municipal boundaries).

Territorial extent: 

1. Cuba is separated from the Bahamas by the Nicholas Channel and Old Bahama Channel; from Haiti by the Windward Channel; from Jamaica by the Cayman Trench; from the Cayman Islands and Mexico by the Yucatan Channel and Yucatan Basin. Some of the smaller, uninhabited islands and cays belonging to Cuba are not part of any province.
2. Ciego de Ávila includes, along its south shore, islands in the Archipiélago de los Jardines de la Reina from its western end to Cayo Caballones, and the Cayos de Ana María. Along its north shore, it contains Cayo Coco and a number of small islands, mostly west of Cayo Coco and east of Cayo Santa María.
3. Camagüey includes, along its south shore, islands in the Archipiélago de los Jardines de la Reina from Cayo Anclitos to its eastern end, and Cayo Media Luna. Along its north shore, it includes islands in the Archipiélago de Camagüey as far west as Cayo Romano.
4. Guantánamo surrounds an enclave leased to the United States, containing the Guantánamo Bay Naval Station.
5. Isla de la Juventud includes the adjacent small islands in the Archipiélago de los Canarreos as far east as Cayo Largo, and as far north as Islas de Mangles.
6. La Habana includes most islands in the Ensenada de la Broa and the Golfo de Batabanó as far south as Cayos del Hambre.
7. Matanzas includes about the western third of the Archipiélago de Sabana.
8. Pinar del Río includes the Cayos de San Felipe.
9. Villa Clara includes islands in the Archipiélago de Sabana and the Archipiélago de Sabana Camagüey as far east as Cayo Santa María.

Origins of names: 

1. Cienfuegos: Spanish cien fuegos: a hundred fires, but named after an inhabitant.
2. Ciudad de La Habana: City of Havana (considered a province, despite its name). In common usage, La Habana is translated when it refers to the city (Havana in Dutch, English, and Portuguese; La Havane in French; L'Avana in Italian; Habana in German), but not when it refers to either of the provinces.
3. Granma: Named for the yacht which brought Fidel Castro back to Cuba on 1956-12-02.
4. Isla de la Juventud: Island of youth, because of a cohort of young settlers.
5. La Habana: named San Cristóbal de la Habana by Diego Velásquez. Habana may be an ethnic name, or related to Middle Dutch havene: port.
6. Matanzas: Killings
7. Oriente: East
8. Sancti Spíritus: Latin for Holy Spirit.

Change history: 

This CubaGenWeb  page is the source for a backward extension of the change history.

1. 1827: Spanish colonial government created three departamentos administrativos (administrative departments): Central, Occidental, and Oriental.
2. ~1878: Spanish colonial government reorganized Cuba into six provincias administrativas (administrative provinces).
3. 1898-12-10: Cuba attained independence from Spain (administered by U.S. until 1902-05-20).
4. 1899: Name of Puerto Principe province changed to Camagüey.
5. 1905: Name of Santiago de Cuba province changed to Oriente by the Provincial Council.
6. 1940: Name of Santa Clara province changed to Las Villas by the new constitution. As a result, the primary subdivisions of Cuba were:

Province	FIPS	Area(km.²)	Capital	Divided into
Camagüey	CU05	20,623	Camagüey	Camagüey, Ciego de Ávila, parts of Las Tunas and Sancti Spíritus
La Habana	CU02	8,252	Havana	Ciudad de La Habana, Isla de Pinos, most of La Habana
Las Villas	CU04	18,837	Santa Clara	Cienfuegos, Villa Clara, most of Sancti Spíritus, part of Matanzas
Matanzas	CU03	12,033	Matanzas	most of Matanzas
Oriente	CU06	36,601	Santiago de Cuba	Granma, Guantánamo, Holguín, Santiago de Cuba, most of Las Tunas
Pinar del Río	CU01	10,859	Pinar del Río	Pinar del Rio, part of La Habana
6 provinces		107,205
FIPS: Code from FIPS PUB 10-1. Divided into: provinces formed from this area in 1976.

1. 1976-06-05: Cuba reorganized from six provinces to fourteen provinces and one special municipality.
2. 1978-06-28: Name of Isla de Pinos changed to Isla de la Juventud.

Population history:

Province	1899	1914	1943	1953-01-28	1970-09-06	1970 est.
Camagüey	88,243	154,567	487,701	618,256	813,204	815,704
La Habana	427,614	651,266	1,235,939	1,538,803	2,335,344	2,331,598
Las Villas	356,536	567,277	938,581	1,030,162	1,362,179	1,363,122
Matanzas	202,214	270,483	361,079	395,780	501,273	502,898
Oriente	327,715	567,639	1,356,489	1,797,606	2,998,972	3,008,370
Pinar del Río	170,254	257,893	398,794	448,422	542,423	547,430
	1,572,576	2,469,125	4,778,583	5,829,029	8,553,395	8,569,121

 

In the 1931 census, the total population was 3,962,344.

Most current online sources say that the population of Cuba, according to the 1970 census, was 8,569,121, but they don't give the breakdown by provinces. I have three printed sources for that information. One of them is rounded to the nearest 100, and the total is off by over 200. Another is the Statesman's Year-Book, 1977-78 edition, usually reliable. That's where the data in the first 1970 column came from. Finally, I have a table from "Censo de Poblacion y Viviendas 1970", by the Junta Central de Planificación, published by Editorial ORBE, Havana, 1975; but it only gives areas of provinces (rounded to the nearest are, which is quite precise) and population densities (rounded to .01 person per km.²). Multiplying those two together, I can calculate the population of each province, and the result should be correct within 0.01%. That's how I got the figures in the "1970 est." column.

Province	1981-09-11	2002-09-06
Camagüey	667,539	784,178
Ciego de Ávila	321,015	411,766
Cienfuegos	326,383	395,183
Ciudad de la Habana	1,929,432	2,201,610
Granma	739,234	822,452
Guantánamo	466,039	507,118
Holguín	912,853	1,021,321
Isla de la Juventud	58,058	86,559
La Habana	585,912	711,066
Las Tunas	437,198	525,485
Matanzas	559,260	670,427
Pinar del Río	640,726	726,574
Sancti Spíritus	400,026	460,328
Santiago de Cuba	914,107	1,036,281
Villa Clara	765,823	817,395
Total	9,723,605	11,177,743

 

Sources: 1981 census data from Thomas Brinkhoff's page ; 2002 census from ONE .