The 116-year relationship between the US and Cuba has been strained since Cuba gained independence in 1902. Key events include the US backing Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship in the 1950s, Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution that led to Cuba allying with the Soviet Union, the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis that brought the countries to the brink of nuclear war, and decades of US embargo against Cuba. In recent years some restrictions have eased and in 2014 the countries began normalizing relations, culminating in the December 2014 announcement of plans to further normalize diplomatic and economic ties.

2. 116 years of US-Cuban relations
The US and Cuba have announced plans to
normalise diplomatic and economic relations -
marking a dramatic shift in a relationship that
has been strained for more than half a
century.
Here is the story of the two countries'
entangled history, told through pictures.

3. The US battleship Maine sails into Havana harbour in 1897, as Cuba fights for independence from its colonial power, Spain. The sinking of the
USS Maine in 1898 is a trigger for the Spanish-American war, in which the US wins control of Cuba.

4. Cuba gains independence from the US in 1902. However, the US retains the right to intervene in Cuban affairs until 1934. In this image from
1935, Havana police detain a suspected opponent of the government of the time, which came to power in a coup led by Fulgencio Batista.

5. A rhumba dancer performs in a Havana club in the 1940s, as the Cuban capital's freewheeling nightlife draws visitors- and investors - from the
US. In 1952, Batista comes out of retirement and takes power again, with US backing.

6. Many Cubans are unhappy with the Batista dictatorship. Here, the president, at left, inspects weapons seized in a failed uprising led by a young
rebel named Fidel Castro.

7. July 1953: Fidel Castro begins a revolutionary campaign against the
regime of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista. Getty Images

8. January 1959: Castro and Che Guevara enter Havana after a successful final
offensive. Batista flees, and Castro becomes prime minister, ruling by decree
Getty Images

9. Teaming up with Argentinian revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Mr Castro launches a guerrilla war against Batista. Relaxing in the rebels' base
in the mountains, Guevara tries his hand at baseball - a sport that is still as popular in Cuba as it is in the US.

10. October 1960: Castro’s reforms sees hundreds of US businesses in Cuba
nationalised and their owners not compensated. In December, US US breaks
off diplomatic relations and imposes a trade embargo
Getty Images

11. April 1961: Cuban exiles launch the Bay of Pigs invasion with US backing
Getty Images

12. October 1962: A 13-day confrontation known as the Cuban missile crisis
begins when Castro allows the USSR to deploy nuclear missiles on the island.
Generally regarded as the closest the world has come to nuclear war
Getty Images

13. 1962: US President John F Kennedy signs off a naval blockade

14. Mr Castro's rebels seize power in 1959, forcing Batista to flee. In the same year, Mr Castro meets US Vice-President Richard Nixon, on an
unofficial visit to Washington.

15. The missile crisis is eventually resolved peacefully. Cuba continues to build ties with the Soviet Union, with Mr Castro visiting Moscow in 1963, as
a guest of the Soviet leader at the time, Nikita Khrushchev.

16. Nixon later writes that the US tried to steer Mr Castro in the "right direction". This sign in Miami harbour aims to reassure the US about the new
government in Havana.

17. However, in 1960, Mr Castro nationalises US businesses in Cuba without compensation. The US breaks off diplomatic ties. In 1961, the US backs
an abortive invasion attempt at the Bay of Pigs. Mr Castro, seen here leaping from a tank, leads the Cuban operation against the invaders.

18. A nationalized cement factory in Mariel, Cuba, once owned by Lone Star Industries of Connecticut. In July 1960, Castro seized Esso Standard and
Shell oil installations in Cuba after they had refused to refine Soviet oil, putting a $150 million industry in Castro’s hands. The seizures followed
the passage of a U.S. bill to slash Cuba’s sugar quotas, at a time when the country was buying 3.5 million tons of sugar from Cuba. Soon, all U.S.
private companies in Cuba were nationalized. Jon Mcconnico / AP

19. In 1962, Cuba agrees to permit the Soviet Union to deploy nuclear missiles on the island. This alarms the US, triggering the Cuban missile crisis -
widely regarded as the most dangerous chapter in the Cold War. This image shows a US patrol aircraft following a Soviet freighter in 1962.

20. The Cuban exiles involved in the US-backed invasion attempt are captured. Mr Castro declares Cuba a communist state and allies it with the
Soviet Union.

21. February 1996: Cuba shoots down two US aircraft operated
by Miami-based Cuban exiles, prompting the US to make its
trade embargo permanent
Creative Commons

22. Six-year-old Elián González was at the center of an international custody battle after a boat he was traveling in from Cuba to the United States capsized, killing
his mother and 10 others. In this file photo taken April 22, 2000, in Miami, González is held in a closet by Donato Dalrymple, one of the two men who rescued
the boy from the ocean, as government officials search the home of Lázaro González, Elián’s uncle. The boy was eventually reunited with his father in
Cuba.Alan Diaz / AP

23. June 2001: The case of the “Cuban Five” begins, as five spies in Miami are
convicted of providing intelligence to the Havana government
Getty Images

24. Nov 2001: US sells $30m of food to the Cuban government to assist in
the aftermath of Hurricane Michelle, which killed 22 people, the first
food export between the countries for more than 40 years
Corbis

25. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US tightens a trade embargo on Cuba. Refugees from the island continue to make the dangerous sea
crossing to Florida. Here, a Cuban woman bids farewell to her daughter on a beach near Havana. In 1994, the US signs a deal with Cuba to try to
limit the exodus.

26. In 1999, Cuban exiles in the US campaign for Elian Gonzalez, a Cuban refugee boy rescued off the coast of Florida, to remain in America. He
becomes a symbol of tensions between the US and Cuba - and eventually returns to Havana to be re-united with his father

27. Relations sour further in 2002, when a US official accuses Cuba of trying to develop biological weapons. But there are also efforts to rebuild ties.
Former US President Jimmy Carter, at right, is seen here with Mr Castro, visiting a baseball stadium in Cuba 2002.

28. Oct 2003: US President George W Bush announces fresh anti-communist
measures, including tightening the travel embargo and creating a new
government body, the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba
Getty Images

29. Aug 2006: President Bush seizes the opportunity of President
Castro’s illness and a handover of powers to Raul Castro, urging
Cubans to work towards democratic change
Getty Images

30. In 2008, both countries get new leaders. Raul Castro succeeds his brother, Fidel, in Cuba, and Barack Obama is elected to succeed President
George W Bush in the US. While diplomacy continues behind the scenes, Mr Castro and Mr Obama surprise onlookers by shaking hands at the
funeral of South Africa's former leader, Nelson Mandela, in 2013.

31. April 2009: President Obama lifts restrictions on family travel to Cuba
Getty Images

32. Nov 2010: American Ballet Theatre performs in Cuba for the first time in 50 years, the most high-profile in a series of cultural exchanges
Getty Images

33. An exchange of prisoners in 2014 is followed by the announcement that Cuba and the US are to seek to normalise relations. At Havana harbour
in 2014, the island's historic links to Moscow and Washington are symbolised by a vintage American car driving past a Soviet-era warship.

35. President Obama announced a shift in policy toward Cuba from the White House REUTERS/Doug Mills/Pool

36. People in Havana watched Cuba's president Raul Castro speaking during a state television broadcast. REUTERS/Enrique De La Osa

37. Joe Raedle/Getty images
Osvaldo Hernadez, Miguel Saavedra, and Carlos Munoz Fontanillehas reacted to the Cuba news outside a Little Havana restaurant in Miami.

39. Jeff Flake/Associated pressAlan Gross arrived at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Wednesday.