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The coat of arm of
CUBA was conceived in 1849 by Miguel Teurbe Tolón; a Cuban
patriot born in the west providence of Cuba known as Matanzas.
General Narciso López head of the Provincial Government of
Cuba, adopted the coat of arm to seal communications and bonds
emitted during the years of 1850 and 1851.
Originally the
Cuban coat of arms contained elements that were later omitted
for not being considered representative of the ideals of that
time.
On April 21, 1906,
Tomás Estrada Palma, (first constitutional president of Cuba)
through a decree, determined how the second of the national
symbols would come to be, one that through the annals of
history, would always remind the glories of the past and the
consecrations of grand efforts.
The coat of arms
was shaped from an elongated oval, and is divided through two
thirds of its height where it is then cut off by a horizontal
line. In the upper part, the main area, one observes an ocean
in which two landmasses are visible with a key placed at the
center. These elements symbolize the geographical importance
and politics of CUBA. The key represents the entrance of the
Gulf of Mexico and the significance of the land masses are
from left to right, Cape Sable, Florida and Cape Catoche,
Mexico. In the background, the sun appears partially sunk on
the horizon, detonating its tropical heat.
The lower left
quadrant, represent the division of the island, or the
Departments in which the island was divided in those times,
representing them with three turquoise stripes. Two white
stripes, that exhibit the purity of its patriots, inserted
between the three turquoise stripes, close the contents of the
compartment.
In the lower right
quadrant there is a palm tree, symbol of the health and
fertility of its privledged ground, exposing that the palm has
been the most utilized tree throughout the history of that
country. The background displays two mountains and light
silhouettes frame the landscape.
As a way of
support, a column of rods shows at the top and bottom of the
"ojiva" vertices. At the top is a cap with a five-point star.
The column of rods means union of all Cubans; the star is the
maximum expression of liberty.
The ornamentation
of the coat of arms is finished, always visible from the
front, and border from left to right a wreath of evergreen,
which represents the peace, and another of laurel, that
represents the victory, outlining the coat of arms.
The coat of arms,
born in conjunction with the Republic, was ratified by the
Constitution of 1940. Its original design, in debt to the
patriot Miguel Teurbe Tolón, survived few modifications. It
was Tolón, nourished by patriotic impulses, who designed a
coat of arms to be taken to the forefront from a nobleman
gesture in a bellicose attitude, and later in time to the
premiere of the
Republic. | 
