PRIOR TO SPANISH COLONIZATION, CUBA WAS INHABITED BY VARIOUS AMERINDIAN TRIBES. IT REMAINED A COLONY OF SPAIN (1492-1898) UNTIL THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR OF 1898, WHICH LED TO NOMINAL INDEPENDENCE AS A DE FACTO UNITED STATES PROTECTORATE IN 1902. IN THE YEARS FOLLOWING ITS INDEPENDENCE, THE CUBAN REPUBLIC SAW SIGNIFICANT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, BUT ALSO POLITICAL CORRUPTION AND A SUCCESSION OF DESPOTIC LEADERS, CULMINATING IN THE OVERTHROW OF THE DICTATOR FULGENCIO BATISTA BY THE 26TH OF JULY MOVEMENT, LED BY FIDEL AND RAUL CASTRO, DURING THE 1953-59 CUBAN REVOLUTION. CUBA HAS SINCE BEEN GOVERNED AS A SOCIALIST STATE BY THE COMMUNIST PARTY UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF THE CASTRO BROTHERS. THE COUNTRY HAS BEEN POLITICALLY AND ECONOMICALLY ISOLATED BY THE UNITED STATES SINCE THE REVOLUTION, BUT HAS GRADUALLY GAINED ACCESS TO FOREIGN COMMERCE AND TRAVEL AS EFFORTS TO NORMALIZE DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS HAVE PROGRESSED. DOMESTIC REFORMS ARE ALSO BEGINNING TO MODERNIZE CUBA'S SOCIALIST ECONOMY. CUBA RANKS HIGHLY IN HEALTH CARE AND EDUCATION.