Name ______
LOCATION, CLIMATE, AND NATURAL RESOURCES OF CUBA
Instructions: Read page 28 in the CRCT Test Prep book, then fill-in the blanks using the words from the word bank.
Location
1. Just 90 miles south of the state of Florida, Cuba is bounded by the Gulf of Mexico on the northwest,
the Atlantic Ocean on the northeast, and the Caribbean Sea to the south.
2. Largest of the islands in the Caribbean (also known as the West Indies), Cuba is 700 miles long, with
a width varying from 20 to 135 miles.
3. 76% of Cubans live in urban areas, with 20% living in the capital, Havana.
4. Many people in urban areas work in manufacturing and service jobs.
5. Cuba’s location on ocean trading routes has had a great impact on its history and modern economy.
Atlantic Ocean Caribbean Sea economy Gulf of Mexico Havana history jobs largest south urban
Climate
1. Cuba’s climate is tropical, but moderated (made more comfortable) by tradewinds.
2. It has just two seasons, rainy and dry, but is warm to hot all year long.
3. Cuba’s location and climate make it vulnerable to hurricanes that begin off the coast of Africa and move westward across the Atlantic Ocean and into the Caribbean Sea.
Africa hurricanes seasons tradewinds tropical
Continued on Back
Natural Resources
1. 28% of Cuba’s land is arable.
2. Cubans grow crops for its own use as well as to be used in trade.
3. Sugar from sugar cane plantations is Cuba’s leading export.
4. Other crops that are traded include coffee, fish, fruits, and tobacco products (especially cigars which provide a good income to the country).
5. Being located in the ocean, fishing provides an important food source for Cubans, and is another product that is exported.
6. Tourism is a growing industry that brings in a lot of money, so Cuba is building new hotels and renovating older ones in order to attract even more people.
7. Cuba is a communist country where the government owns or controls most farms and businesses.
8. The Soviet Union was a strong supporter of Cuba, so it really hurt the country financially when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
9. Cuba’s trade with other countries does not bring in enough money to meet the energy needs of its people, even though Venezuela sells it oil at a reduced price.
10. To save energy, the government sometimes orders businesses and factories to close, or orders blackouts during which electricity is cut off to entire regions.
arable blackouts cigars close communist crops exported fishing hurt oil sugar tourism