Geography Cuba is located at the connection point between the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, also known as the Tropic of Cancer. The closest neighboring countries are Haiti located 48 miles to the east and Jamaica located 87 miles to the south. Cuba comprises a group of approximately 1,600 islands, cays and islets with a combined area equal to three-quarters of the US state of Florida. The islands form a major segment of the Antillean island chain that continues east and then south in a great arc enclosing the Caribbean Sea. Cuba is by far the largest in the archipelago and is one of the four islands of the Greater Antilles. The long, narrow island runs northwest to southeast and is 777 miles long and has 119 miles at its widest point and 19 miles at its narrowest point. Cuba's geography is made up of a quarter of mountainous terrain. The Sierra Maestra is the most rugged landscape. It extends about 150 miles along the southeastern coast and reaches the highest elevations on the island: 6,476 feet. The far western Cordillera extends southwest to northeast for 110 miles, with huge, vegetated mounds called mogotes interrupting the central-western area