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Further Reading

Colonial Society

In 1492 when Columbus landed on Cuba, he said this about the island in his journal, "[I have] never seen anything so beautiful [Everything I saw] was so lovely that my eyes could not weary of beholding such beauty, nor could I weary of the songs of the birds large and small -- Flocks of parrots darken the sun. There are trees of a thousand species, each has its particular fruit, and all of marvelous flavor." - Columbus, in Novas, 1994

The Spanish prospected for gold on the island; however Cuba's wealth was in its rich soil and strategic location. Cuba lies at the crossroads of three main maritime routes: the Straits of Florida, to the North; the Windward Passage to the East; and the Yucatan Channel to the West which allows access to both the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. Spain was most vulnerable to foreign aggression at this intersection. For two centuries, Cuba served as a home base and launching pad for some of the most important Spanish expeditions in the New World and was valued by Spain as a vital strategic colony and dubbed the "Spanish fortress of the Caribbean."

The Tainos and Siboney Amerindians inhabited the island and lived by fishing, hunting, and farming. Like the Tainos of Puerto Rico, the Amerindian population of Cuba was decimated by hard labor and European diseases. The Siboney and Tainos cultivated tobacco and taught the conquistadors how to roll and smoke tobacco.

Spanish conquest of the island began almost twenty years after Columbus first trip, as part of the occupation radiating from La Hispaniola (Saint Domingo) to the other Caribbean islands. The conquest and control of the Cuban territory was entrusted to Diego Velázquez, one of the richest landowners of Hispaniola. The whole process started in 1510 with an extensive operation of reconnaissance and conquest plagued of cruel events. Warned of the outrages of the Spaniards in neighboring islands, the aboriginals of the eastern region of Cuba offered resistance against the invasion under the leadership of Yahatuey or Hatuey, a runaway cacique from La Hispaniola, who was finally caught and burnt alive to set an example.

With the foundation in 1513 of the village of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Baracoa, the Spaniards began the foundation and establishment of seven villages with the objective of controlling the conquered territory ¾ Bayamo (1513), Santísima Trinidad, Sancti Spiritus and San Cristóbal de La Habana (1514); Puerto Príncipe (1515)¾ and Santiago de Cuba (1515), the last one, which was appointed seat of the government. Although almost all these settlements changed their original locations, they were used by the conquerors to exploit the resources of the island.

The economy was based on the slave work of the native Indians, which were assigned to the colonizers by means of a system of "encomienda", a revocable and non-transferable personal concession or grant. According to this system, the colonizer was bound to feed and dress the Indians, and teach them the Christian faith. In turn, the colonizer was entitled to make the Indians work for him and in his benefit. In practice, such system was even worse than slavery, and was one of the main causes of the quick reduction of the Indian population. The most important economic activity during the very first years was gold mining, in which assigned Indians worked. Also in this activity were used a few Black slaves, who thus integrated, from the very beginning, the ethnic conglomerate which, centuries after, was to form the Cuban population.

Very quickly the gold was exhausted, and the dramatic reduction of the population ¾ including the Spaniards who enrolled in the successive conquest expeditions into the continent¾ turned cattle raising in the main source of income in Cuba. Lacking gold, salt beef and leathers would become the almost only commodity with which the few Spaniards living in the country could make a living from, at the same time they introduced themselves into the commercial activity of the rising Spanish empire.

Under strict mercantile principles and rules, the Empire's trade developed as a closed monopoly managed by the Casa de Contratación of Seville. Very soon, other European nations became jealous and anxious to participate in such a prosperous commerce. Thus, French, Dutch, English corsairs, privateers attacked and plundered Caribbean villages, towns and cities, and captured the ships that sailed in the area. Cuba was not spared. For over a century, Jacques de Sores, Francis Drake and Henry Morgan, to mention a few, was a real danger for the Island and its inhabitants. On the other hand, wars and piracy had also some advantages. To safeguard its trade, Spain decided to organize a system of large fleets that would have a mandatory stop in the port of Havana, a well-protected natural harbor strategically situated in the Gulf Stream. The crowd of travelers and merchants that visited Havana and the workers permanently working in the construction of fortresses became an important source of income for the country. In addition, the soldiers stationed in the fortresses like Morro Castle that protected the city from pirate's attacks were an important source of revenue. The people in far away regions, who did not enjoy similar benefits, appealed to a highly profitable illegal trade with the same corsairs and privateers. Tight commercial monopoly from Seville was outwitted in a less aggressive way through smuggling. However, colonial authorities, bent on suffocating the illegal trade, clashed with the neighbors, most of all with those from Bayamo. The uprising of the village in 1603 is an early evidence of the differences between "the people from the country" (those who had been born in the Island), and the government of the metropolis. Shortly afterwards, in 1608, on of the contraband incidents served as an inspiration for the poem Espejo de Paciencia (Mirror of Patience), one of the very first works in the history of Cuban literature.

At the beginning of the 17th century, the Island, with a population of 30,000, was divided into two governments, one in Havana and the other in Santiago de Cuba. Havana was appointed as the capital city. Slowly, the economic activities grew and diversified. Cultivation and production of tobacco and sugar cane developed. Steadily, new villages were founded, generally far from the coasts, and the first seven villages grew. The first seven villages became wealthier and showed a more comfortable life-style, offering frequent distractions ranging from games, gambling and balls to bull fights and religious feasts and ceremonies. Important religious buildings remain as an evidence of the strong religious activity, dominant in the social life. Among these buildings, mention must be made of the magnificent building of the Santa Clara Convent.

The ascent of the Bourbon dynasty to the Spanish throne at the beginning of the 18th century brought an updating of the mercantile concept presiding over colonial trade. Instead of weakening, the monopoly diversified and manifested in the economic life of all the colonies. In the case of Cuba, the monarchy implemented the monopoly on tobacco, already the most important produce in the Island, aimed at controlling not only the production but also the trade in its own benefit. Producers and merchants resented the measure, which gave way to several protests and revolts. The third of these revolts of tobacco growers was violently repressed with the execution of eleven tobacco planters in Santiago de las Vegas, a town close to the capital. Unable to beat the strict control of the monopoly, the wealthiest class decided to participate and benefit from it. In 1740, they, in association with Spanish merchants, managed to make the King interested, and obtained his permission to create the Real Compañía de Comercio de La Habana. For over two decades, this organization monopolized all the commercial activity in Cuba.

The 18th century witnessed successive wars between the major European powers, wars that in the American scenario pursued a defined mercantile interest. All these wars affected Cuba in one way or another, though the one that undoubtedly had more impact for Cuba was the Seven Years war (1756-1763). It was precisely during this war that Havana was attacked, overtaken and occupied by an English expeditionary force. The inefficiency of top Spanish authorities during the defense of the city contrasted with the disposition to fight of the "creoles", whose most outstanding leader was José Antonio Gómez, a courageous militia captain from the nearby village of Guanabacoa, and who died as a consequence of the wounds received in combat.

The English became interested in the Spanish colonies, particularly Cuba and in 1762, they struck Havana harbor and took control of the city. Trade taxes were abolished and the port was opened for commerce with merchants and traders from England and the North American colonies. Cuba could now buy and sell to a large part of the world that was forbidden under Spanish rule. However, the Spanish saw the value in Cuba and ceded Florida to the English in 1763 in exchange for Cuba. During the short 10 months of English rule more than 10,000 African slaves were introduced to the island. This surge of cheap labor increased the agricultural output. Sugar cane became the main crop of the island. The rich African-Cuban music, philosophy, and religious traditions can be traced to this period. The island was transformed with the influx of Africans. During the eleven months of the British occupation (August 1762 to July 1763), Havana was the theatre of an intense commercial activity, thus showing evidence of the enormous possibilities of the Cuban economy, until then under a stern control by the Spanish commercial system.

Once the Spanish domination was reestablished in the Western part of the Island, King Charles III and his "enlightened" ministers adopted a series of measures favoring development. The first was to increase and improve the system of fortifications aimed at defense, of which the most outstanding example would be the magnificent, imposing, and extremely costly, Fortress of San Carlos de la Cabaña. Other constructions would come after the fortress, this time several civil constructions, like the Palace of the General Captains (seat of the government), and religious, the Cathedral of Havana, which would become symbols within the scenery of the city. Also foreign trade was increased and extended, at the same time domestic communications were improved. New towns like Pinar del Río and Jaruco were founded and developed. Other steps were aimed at the renovation of governmental management, especially to the creation of the Intendance (or Superintendence) and Revenue Administration. Within the framework of all these measures, the first census (1774) was made, showing a population of 171 620 inhabitants.

On the other hand, several events abroad contributed to the development of the Island. The first was the War of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies in North America, during which Spain -- participant of the conflict -- authorized trade between Cuba and the fighting Americans. The importance of this market, so close geographically, became evident a few years afterwards, during the wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon's Empire, in which Spain was also involved with great damage for Spain's colonial communications. Under these circumstances, trade with 'neutrals' ¾ meaning the United Sates ¾ was authorized, and as a consequence, the economy of the Island experimented a dramatic and rapid growth with the favorable opportunity that was the slave revolution in Haiti for the prices of sugar and coffee. The criollo planters became richer and their newly acquired power materialized in Institutions that, like the Real Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País (Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country) and the Real Consulado (Royal Consulate) paved the way for implementing their influence in the colonial government. Under the leadership of Francisco de Arango y Parreño, these criollo potentates managed to benefit from the unstable political situation in Spain. Once the Bourbon dynasty was restored in power in 1814 obtained important concessions, like the free trade, lifting of the monopoly on tobacco and the possibility of legalization of their agricultural possessions.

However, such progress was based on the terrible increase of slave trade. Starting in 1790, in only 30 years, more African slaves were imported in Cuba than in the century and a half before. By 1841, when the population was over a million inhabitants, the society of the Island was highly polarized, on one side, an oligarchy of creole landowners and large-scale Spanish merchants, and on the other side the slave masses. In between, there were the middle classes of the freed blacks and mulattos and the poor whites that worked in the countryside and the cities. These last ones were increasingly reluctant to work as hand laborers, because it was considered humiliating and proper for slaves. Slavery was to become a major source of social instability, not only because of the frequent demonstration of rebelliousness from the slaves ¾ both as individuals and as groups ¾ but also because the rejection against it gave way to conspiracies which purpose was to abolish slavery. Examples are the conspiracy headed by the black José Antonio Aponte, a former slave, discovered in Havana in 1812, and the so-called Conspiracy of la Escalera (the Ladder) in 1844. Because of this last one, a cruel repression was unleashed, in which many slaves and free blacks and mulattos were killed. Among them was the mulatto poet Gabriel de la Concepción Valdés (Plácido).

The development of the colony sharpened the differences of interests with the metropolis. To the undoubted signs of an emergence of a Cuban nationality that appeared in literature and other cultural expressions during the last quarter of the 18th century, followed defined political trends with various proposals and possible solutions for the problems of the Island. The cautious reformism of Arango and other wealthy creoles, found equally liberal reformists followers in José Antonio Saco, José de la Luz y Caballero and other intellectuals of prestige related to the sector of the rich Cuban planters and landowners. The rapacious and discriminatory Spanish colonial policy towards Cuba after the loss of the rest of the colonies in the American Continent was to frustrate several times the expectations of reform.

This entire situation favored the development of still another political trend, which hoped to solve the Cuban situation by annexation to the United States. In this trend were found the group of slave owners and landowners and another group of individuals with democratic feelings. The first group sought annexation as the possibility for the continuation of slavery, with the support they would find on the part of Southern slave owners and planters; the latter with the hope of finding freedom in the North American democracy as compared with the Spanish despotism. The first, grouped in the "Club de La Habana", favored the several intents by the government in Washington to buy the Island, as well as the possibilities of a "liberating" invasion under the leadership of a US General.

To the annexation, aimed all its efforts Narciso López a Venezuelan general, who, after serving several years in the Spanish army, got involved in the conspiracies. López was the leader of two expeditions into Cuba, but both of them failed. In 1851, during the second expedition, he was captured and shot by the Spanish authorities.

Another, more radical, trend hoped to obtain total independence for Cuba. This trend appeared as early as 1810, when the first independence conspiracy, under the leadership of Román de la Luz, was discovered. The height of this movement was reached in the first years of the 1820's. Under the influence of the independence movements in Spanish America and of the constitutional period in Spain, in the Island proliferated all sorts of masons lodges and secret societies. Other two important conspiracies were discovered during these years: the Soles y Rayos de Bolívar (Bolivar's Suns and Rays), in 1823, in which the poet José María Heredia, one of the most outstanding representatives of the Cuban Romantic movement was involved; and the Gran Legión del Aguila Negra (The Black Eagle Great Lodge) supported from Mexico. In addition, during those years the work of Priest Felix Varela prepared the ideological basis to the movement for independence. Varela, a professor of Philosophy at the Catholic Seminary of San Carlos in Havana, was elected representative to the Cortes (the Spanish Parliament) in 1821 and was forced to escape from Spain when absolute monarchy was restored in Spain. Living in the United States, Varela began to publish the newspaper El Habanero devoted to spreading the independence ideals. In spite of his efforts, the circumstances and the conditions, both internal and external, were not favorable for the Cuban independence and it took long years to win independence.

In the following years, significant changes took place in the Cuban economy. Coffee production collapsed due to the clumsy tax policy of Spain, to the competition offered by Brazil that has a coffee of much better quality, and to the higher income-producing capacity of sugar cane. Even the sugar industry as forced to improve productivity in view of the mercantile thrust of the sugar beet in Europe. Depending more and more on one only production -- sugar -- and from the U.S. market, Cuba was in urgent need of deep socioeconomic changes, to which slavery and Spanish colonial exploitation posed enormous, almost insurmountable obstacles. The failure of the Board for Information called for in 1867 by the Madrid government to revise its colonial policy towards Cuba, meant a demolishing blow for the once more thwarted hopes of reform. However, the same circumstances helped the development of latent independence sentiments in the more advanced sectors of the Cuban society, favoring at the same time the organization of a vast conspiratorial movement in the central and Eastern regions of the country.