2-7/8” x 4-7/8” Cuba Flag Coat of Arms of 1899 Tobacco Silk Nebo Cigarettes Circa 1911.

The coat of arms is a symbol of the nation that is formed by two arches of equal circles, cut turning concavities to each other, as in an ogival shield. It's split at two thirds of its height, where a horizontal line divides it. It consists of three spaces or fields: the top represents a sea, on its sides, right and left, opposite to each other, two capes or points of land, between which, closing the strait they form, extending from left to right, a key with a thick stem, its ward down, and for its background a rising sun with its rays extending throughout the sky of the landscape. In the lower space or field to its left lie five bends, placed alternately, of the same width, of the colors dark blue and white, blue one being the highest, and all slighted from left to right. In the lower space or field to its right, the figure of a landscape representing a valley, in its center rises a royal palm tree, with the bud of its middle leaf being the highest, standing upright, for its background two mountains and clear skies.

The Republic of Cuba, covering the historical period in Cuban history between 1902 and 1959, was an island country comprised the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud (since 1925) and several minor archipelagos. It was located where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean meet. The period began in 1902 following the end of its first U.S. military occupation years after Cuba declared independence in 1898 from the Spanish Empire. This era included various changing governments and US military occupations, and ended with the outbreak of the Cuban Revolution in 1959. During this period, the United States exerted great influence on Cuban politics, notably through the Platt Amendment. The post-1959 communist government refers to this era as the Neocolonial Republic while the Cuban exiles refer to this period as Free Cuba as opposed to the present communist rule in the country.

After the Spanish–American War, Spain and the United States signed the 1898 Treaty of Paris, by which Spain ceded Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam to the United States for the sum of $20 million (equivalent to $650 million in 2021). With the end of United States Military Government (USMG) jurisdiction, Cuba gained formal independence on 20 May 1902, as the Republic of Cuba.[10] Under Cuba's new constitution, the U.S. retained the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise its finances and foreign relations. Under the Platt Amendment, the U.S. leased the Guantánamo Bay naval base from Cuba.

US occupation, 1906–1909

Main article: Second Occupation of Cuba

Following political purging and a corrupt and rigged election in 1906, the first president, Tomás Estrada Palma, faced an armed revolt by veterans of the war.[11] As in the independence war, Afro-Cubans were overrepresented in the insurgent army of 1906. For them, the August Revolution revived hopes for a 'rightful share' in Cuba's government. On 16 August 1906, fearing the government ready to smash the plot, former Liberation Army general Pino Guerra raised the banner of revolt. Immediately Palma arrested every Liberal politician in reach; the remainder went underground. In an effort to avert intervention Roosevelt sent two emissaries to Havana to seek a compromise between government and opposition. Regarding such impartiality as a vote of censure on his government, Estrada Palma resigned and made his entire cabinet resign too, leaving the Republic without a government and forcing the United States to take control of the island. Roosevelt immediately proclaimed that the USA had been compelled to intervene in Cuba and that their only purpose was to create the necessary conditions for a peaceful election.

1909–1924

In 1909, home-rule government was restored when José Miguel Gómez was inaugurated as Cuba's second president, while the U.S. continued intervening in Cuban affairs. In 1912, the Partido Independiente de Color attempted to establish a separate black republic in Oriente Province, but was suppressed by General Monteagudo with considerable bloodshed.

Sugar production played an important role in Cuban politics and economics. In the 1910s, during and after World War I, a shortage in the world sugar supply fueled an economic boom in Cuba, marked by prosperity and the conversion of more and more farmland to sugar cultivation. Prices peaked and then crashed in 1920, ruining the country financially and allowing foreign investors to gain more power than they already had. This economic turbulence was called "the Dance of the Millions".