1900s: bolero appears in Havana

1900s: second wave of mass immigration from Haiti enters Cuba, strengthening tumba francesa music in Oriente

1500s
1600s
1700s
1800s
1920: son appears in Havana, taking on its modern, popular form

1920-25: septeto ensemble format develops; many groups record son music

1925: Septeto Habanero forms
1930: orquestra típica dies out as an ensemble format

1930: conjunto ensemble format develops from the septeto

1930: Don Azpiazu's Havana Orchestra performs on Broadway, giving mass audiences in the United States their first taste of authentic Afro-Cuban music and spawning an international rumba craze

1938: Desi Arnaz popularizes conga dance music in the United States during a series of concerts in Miami
1939: Orquestra Anacaona forms in Havana
1940: Machito's Afro-Cubans forms and becomes the most important group in the development of Latin jazz

ca. 1945: mambo appears in the United States

1947: Dizzy Gillespie's performance of Afro-Cuban jazz at Carnegie Hall gives overnight status to Latin jazz

1947: Tito Puente forms conjunto, The Picadilly Boys, which epitomizes dance-hall mambo in the United States

1948: Pérez Prado begins to record a number of popular Cuban mambos in Mexico
1950s: Cuban dance music becomes popular in metropolitan African cities

1950: Israel "Cachao" López popularizes the big band mambo, creating a Cuban music craze in the United States

1953: chachachá sweeps Cuba

1954: chachachá arrives in the United States, spawning another Cuban music craze and bringing many Cuban charanga orchestras to New York City

1958: bolero becomes popular in the United States and influences Nashville-style country music with its slow 2/4 meter

1959: Cuban Revolution brings Fidel Castro's Communist government into power
1965: charanga groups lose popularity in the United States

1966: Pete Seeger's recording of "Guantanamera" popularizes guajira music throughout the world
early 1970s: salsa becomes the commonly-used word to describe Cuban-derived dance music in the United States

early 1970s: nueva trova emerges as a political song form in Cuba

1970s: songo emerges in Havana and becomes popular throughout the Spanish-speaking world
1993: U.S. Supreme Court legalizes animal sacrifices as practiced in santería, creating a surge in Afro-Cuban religious practice -- and in santería music -- in New York City and Miami

Previous Century