Guantanamo Bay Naval Base area surrounding Guantanamo bay was originally inhabited by the Taíno people. On 30 April 1494, Christopher Columbus, on his second voyage, arrived and spent the night. The place where Columbus landed is now known as Fisherman's Point. Columbus declared the bay "Puerto Grande". The bay and surrounding areas came under British control during the War of Jenkins' Ear. Prior to British occupation, the bay was referred to as "Walthenham Harbor". The British renamed the bay "Cumberland Bay". The British retreated from the area after a failed attempt to march to Santiago de Cuba. During the Spanish–American War, the U.S. fleet
Cuban refugees at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base refugees occasionally slip into the camp to this day. According to a February 6, 2012 report from "Agence France Presse", ten political dissidents slipped into the base in November 2011. Cuban refugees at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base Over the years a varying number of Cuban refugees at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base have found refuge there. In the 1990s several thousand refugees were held at the base for years. Most of the refugees were housed in a tent city on the re-purposed airstrip that would later be used to house the complex used for the Guantanamo military commissions. The