Many forms of Latin dance, including Salsa, Mambo, Cha Cha and Rumba, claim Cuba as their birthplace, although similar dances were being created simultaneously across the Caribbean.
Latin dance's earliest roots can be traced back to a seventeenth century English country dance. This dance spread to Spain, where it was called the Contradanza, and was eventually brought to Cuba, where it became know as Danza.
Spain's contribution to Cuban Danza, and Latin dance in general, can be found in its Flamenco-style flair, its heavy use of the Spanish folk guitar and the lyrical style of its songs.
African slaves brought their dramatic drumbeats to the West Indies, eventually infusing them into the Cuban Danza and giving it its trademark syncopation.
In the late 1800s, the Danza changed to a less formal style called Danzon, which invoked the use of brass bands, horns, pianos and violins that are still used today. Danzon, fused with jazz and a lively Cuban music style called Son, gave rise to the Mambo, of which Salsa is a derivative.
The Samba originated in Brazil; the Merengue is from the Dominican Republic and Haiti; the Paso Doble is believed to be a Spanish gypsy dance; and the Tango, although its origins are somewhat disputed, is credited to the lower class population of early 1900s Buenos Aires.