The former President of Cuba, Fidel Castro, has died aged 90.

After taking power he defied 10 US presidents and enforced Soviet-style communism for half a century.

Castro ruled Cuba as a one-party state and here are some of the most important events of his five decades as leader:

1 January 1959: Castro’s rebels take power as dictator Fulgencio Batista flees Cuba.

June 1960: Cuba nationalises US-owned oil refineries after they refuse to process Soviet oil. Nearly all other US businesses were expropriated by October.

October 1960: Washington bans exports to Cuba, other than food and medicine.

16 April 1961: Castro declares Cuba socialist state.

17 April 1961: Bay of Pigs: CIA-backed Cuban exiles stage failed invasion.

Fidel Castro speaks with prisoners from the Bay of Pigs invasion at the sports stadium in Havana, Cuba (AP)

7 February 1962: Washington bans all Cuban imports.

October 1962: US blockade forces removal of Soviet nuclear missiles from Cuba. US President John F Kennedy agrees privately not to invade Cuba.

March 1968: Castro’s government takes over almost all private businesses.

April 1980: Mariel boatlift: Cuba says anyone can leave; some 125,000 Cubans flee.

December 1991: Collapse of Soviet Union devastates Cuban economy.

August 1994: Castro declares he will not stop Cubans trying to leave; some 40,000 take to sea heading for United States.

18 March 2003: 75 Cuban dissidents sentenced to prison.

31 July 2006: Castro announces he has had operation, temporarily cedes power to brother Raul.

19 February 2008: Castro resigns as president.

July 2010: Castro re-emerges after years in seclusion, visiting a scientific institute, giving a TV interview, talking to academics and even taking in a dolphin show at the aquarium.

Fidel Castro during a ceremony to pay homage to national hero Jose Marti in 2010 (Getty) (Getty Images)

19 April 2011: Castro is replaced by his brother Raul as First Secretary of the Communist Party, the last official post he held. The elder Castro made a brief appearance at the Congress, looking frail as a young aide guided him to his seat.

19 April 2016: Castro delivers a valedictory speech at the Communist Party’s seventh Congress, declaring: “Soon I’ll be like all the others. The time will come for all of us, but the ideas of the Cuban Communists will remain.”

The Castropedia: Fidel's Cuba in facts and figures Show all 10 1 /10 The Castropedia: Fidel's Cuba in facts and figures The Castropedia: Fidel's Cuba in facts and figures Attempts made on Castro's life since he came to power in 1959: 638 (according to Fabian Escalante, former Cuban security chief) Reuters/Prensa Latina The Castropedia: Fidel's Cuba in facts and figures Castro is a baseball fan - with 16 teams making up the Cuban National Baseball League Reuters/Kimberly White The Castropedia: Fidel's Cuba in facts and figures Size of the original rebel army led by Castro and including Che Guevara that sailed to Cuba in 1956, eventually toppling President Batista on 1 January 1959: 82 STF/AFP/Getty Images The Castropedia: Fidel's Cuba in facts and figures Acts of "civil disobedience" logged in Cuba in 2005, according to a report by the exiled Cuban Democratic Directorate: 3,322 Miguel Vinas/AFP/Getty Images The Castropedia: Fidel's Cuba in facts and figures Age at which Castro began smoking cigars: 15 Age at which Castro gave up smoking cigars: 59 Jorge Rey/Getty Images The Castropedia: Fidel's Cuba in facts and figures Family members: Castro's second wife Dalia Soto del Valle, one of their five sons, Alexander and an unidentified friend at an event in Havana, February 2001 Jorge Rey/Getty Images The Castropedia: Fidel's Cuba in facts and figures Family members: Raul Castro has been named Cuba's acting president. He played a key role in the 1959 revolution and has a reputation as Fidel's enforcer but is not expected to play a long term role post-Fidel Reuters/Andrew Winning The Castropedia: Fidel's Cuba in facts and figures Total number of Cubans believed to have emigrated while Castro was in power: about 1.4 million (81 per cent of whom have settled in North America) Rodrigo Arangua/AFP/Getty Images The Castropedia: Fidel's Cuba in facts and figures Duration of a speech Castro made at the UN in 1960: 4 hours 29 minutes (listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the longest speech made in the United Nations) Tom Mihalek/Getty Images The Castropedia: Fidel's Cuba in facts and figures Films: Castro is listed as an "uncredited extra" in the 1946 musical Holiday in Mexico and as a "poolside spectator" in the romantic comedy Easy to Wed (also 1946) Hrvoje Polan/AFP/Getty Images

25 November 2016: Fidel Castro dies. The announcement of his passing was made by his brother Raul who ended the announcement by shouting the revolutionary slogan: “Towards victory, always!”