Cultural Geography – Activity 3Cubans have a very strong culture that helps them stand out from typical American ways. Cubans speak Spanish and generally practice Roman Catholicism. In Cuba, the typical Spanish food brought to the country by European settlers is influenced by the island's Caribbean location. Music on the island is heavily influenced by West African, Caribbean, and European or Spanish cultures. For this reason, Cubans often listen to a wide variety of music, including; merengue, salsa, calypso and reggae. Large waves of emigration began after 1869, where hundreds of workers arrived in Key West, Florida. This arrival of many Cuban entrepreneurs and workers is linked to tobacco processing. In the early 1900s, approximately one hundred thousand Cubans arrived in America for economic reasons, settling and finding work in large cities such as New York. After the Cuban Revolution, the government was overthrown and replaced by a dictatorship. Cubans, unhappy with the political change, tried to leave the country and fled to Florida, just 90 miles north of the island. The American government welcomed Cuban refugees who fled Cuba, passing the Cuban Adjustment Act in 1966, granting $1.6 billion in financial assistance to immigrants and public assistance. In the fifteen years following the revolution, approximately half a million Cubans had settled in Miami, starting businesses and receiving assimilation aid from the government. After 1980, another 400,000 Cubans settled in Miami, leaving Cuba for economic reasons and to escape the communist government. Migration from Cuba was voluntary, many Cubans left the island illegally, as the current communist government prohibits people from leaving the c......middle of paper......it may seem that Cubans have acculturated to the city of Miami, the population is predominantly Cuban-American. Cubans living outside of Little Havana have become very assimilated into American culture. While Miami has been changed greatly over the years by Cuban influence, the rest of America has not, as Miami is one of the places that Cuban-Americans can call a little piece of home. Works Cited Firmat, Gustavo Pérez. "The Desi Chain." Introduction. Life on the Hyphen: The Cuban-American Way. Austin: University of Texas, 1994. 1-19. Print.Masud-Piloto, Felix Roberto. From Welcomed Exiles to Illegal Immigrants: Cuban Migration to the United States, 1959-1995. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1996. Print.Mchugh, Kevin E., Ines M. Miyares, and Emily H. Skop. “The Magnetism of Miami: Segmented Paths in Cuban Migration.” Geographic Review 87.4 (1997): 504. Web. 29 April. 2014.