Located in the Caribbean Ocean, this island nation of 4,193 square miles (10,860 sq. km), rests just 93 miles from Key West of Florida at 21 30 N, 80 00 W and has a coastline of 2,320 miles (3,735 km). A little smaller in area than Pennsylvania, Cuba is basically all land with no major bodies of fresh water. Despite a contentious relationship with the US, Cuba does have one border with the US at Guantanamo Bay (Guantanamo Naval Base) which is leased from Cuba by the US.

The Republic of Cuba is divided into 14 provinces: Camaguey, Ciego de Avila, Cienfuegos, Ciudad de La Habana, Granma, Guantanamo, Holguin, La Habana, Las Tunas, Matanzas, Pinar del Rio, Sancti Spiritus, Santiago de Cuba, Villa Clara; and one special municipality: Isla de la Juventud.

Cuba claims 12 nautical miles of territorial seas, a contiguous zone of 24nm and the exclusive economic zone of 200nm.

The tropical island is mostly flat to rolling plains (the lowest point at sea level) with some rugged mountains (the highest point being Pico Turquino at 2,005 meters) in the southeast region.

Her natural resources include: cobalt, nickel, iron ore, chromium, copper, salt, timber, silica and petroleum. With 27.63% of arable land, Cuba uses 6.54% for permanent crops. A total of 8,700 sq. km are irrigated.

The east coast is subject to hurricanes from August to November (in general, the country averages about one hurricane every other year) and droughts are common. However, the island has 38.1 cu km of renewable water and uses 8.2 cu km of fresh water per year. That averages out to 728 cu m per year per capita.