Cultural geography – Activity 3 Cubans have a very strong culture that helps them stand out from typically American habits. Cubans speak Spanish and generally practice Roman Catholicism. In Cuba, the typical Spanish cuisine brought to the country by European settlers is influenced by the island's Caribbean location. The island's music is heavily influenced by West African, Caribbean and European or Spanish culture. 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 businessmen and workers is linked to tobacco manufacturing. In the early 1900s, approximately one hundred thousand Cubans arrived in America for economic reasons, settling and finding work in major cities like New York. After the Cuban Revolution, the government was overthrown and replaced by a dictatorship. Cubans, unhappy with the political change, sought to leave the country and fled to Florida, just 90 miles north of the island. The U.S. government welcomed Cuban refugees who had fled Cuba, passing the Cuban Adjustment Act in 1966, providing $1.6 billion in financial aid to immigrants as well as public assistance. In the fifteen years following the revolution, approximately half a million Cubans had settled in Miami, starting businesses and receiving assimilation assistance from the government. After 1980, an additional 400,000 Cubans settled in Miami, leaving Cuba for economic reasons as well as to escape the communist government. Migration from Cuba was voluntary, many Cubans left the island illegally, as the ruling communist government forbade people from leaving middle of paper......may seem as if Cubans acculturated in the city In Miami, the population is predominantly Cuban-American. Cubans living outside of Little Havana have largely assimilated into American culture. While Miami has changed a lot over the years under Cuban influence, the rest of America hasn't, as Miami is one of the places that Cuban Americans can call home. . Works Cited Firmat, Gustavo Pérez. “The Desi Channel.” 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.” Geographical Review 87.4 (1997): 504. Web. April 29. 2014.