Natural resources Geography of Cuba

a tobacco field in pinar del río.

natural resources include cobalt, nickel, iron ore, copper, salt, timber, silica, oil , petroleum. @ 1 time, whole island covered forests , there still many cedar (cedrela odorata), chechem (metopium brownei), mahogany (swietenia mahagoni), , other valuable trees. large areas cleared grow more sugarcane, , few trees remained timber had imported.

the important cuban mineral economic resource nickel. cuba has second largest nickel reserves in world after russia. sherritt international, canadian energy company, operates large nickel mining facility in moa, cuba. leading mineral resource cobalt, byproduct of nickel mining operations. cuba ranks fifth largest producer of refined cobalt in world.

petroleum extracted on cuba s northern shore, in provinces of la habana , matanzas. recent petroleum exploration has revealed north cuba basin produce approximately 4.6 billion barrels (730,000,000 m) 9.3 billion barrels (1.48×10 m) of petroleum. of 2006, cuba has started test-drill these locations possible exploitation. petroleum of low quality, , used energy generation only.

sugarcane important part of economy in cuba s history, , still grown on large areas. extensive irrigation systems developed in south of sancti spíritus province. tobacco, used of world s cigars, grown in pinar del río province.

climate

cuba s climate tropical savanna in koppen climate classification. dry season lasts november april , rainy season may october.

cuba archipelago of islands located in caribbean sea, geographic coordinates 21°3n, 80°00w. cuba principal island, surrounded 4 main groups of islands. these colorados, sabana-camagüey, jardines de la reina , canarreos. main island of cuba constitutes of nation s land area or 104,556 km (40,369 sq mi) , seventeenth-largest island in world land area. second largest island in cuba isla de la juventud (isle of youth) in southwest, area of 2,200 km (850 sq mi). cuba has total land area of 109,884 km (42,426 sq mi).

the main island consists of flat rolling plains. @ southeastern end sierra maestra, range of steep mountains highest point pico real del turquino @ 1,974 metres (6,476 ft). climate tropical, though moderated trade winds. in general (with local variations), there drier season november april, , rainier season may october. average temperature 23.1 °c (73.6 °f) in january , 27 °c (80.6 °f) in july.

cuba lies in path of hurricanes, , these destructive storms common in september , october. havana largest city , capital; other major cities include santiago de cuba , camagüey. better known smaller towns include baracoa first spanish settlement on cuba, trinidad, unesco world heritage site, , bayamo.