History of Cuba: Encyclopedia II - History of Cuba - Conquest of Cuba

History of Cuba - Conquest of Cuba

History of Cuba - Spanish Colonial Cuba

Cuba was first visited by Europeans when explorer Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Cuba for the first time on October 28, 1492. Two decades later, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar led the Spanish invasion, and became governor of Cuba for Spain.

The Spanish established sugar and tobacco as Cuba's primary products. As the native Indian population and the Spanish intermarried and educated, field labor became scarce. Natives from Florida and Bahama were imported as slaves, and as that population became mixed as well, field labor was harder to come by. African slaves were imported to work the plantations in order to replace the field labor. However, restrictive Spanish trade laws made it difficult for Cubans to keep up with the 17th and 18th century advances in processing sugar cane pioneered in British Barbados and French Saint Domingue Haiti. Spain also restricted Cuba's access to the slave trade, which was dominated by the British, French, and Dutch. One important turning point came in the Seven Years War, when the British conquered the port of Havana and introduced thousands of slaves in a ten month period. Another key event was the Haitian Revolution in nearby Saint-Domingue, from 1791 to 1804. Thousands of French refugees, fleeing the slave rebellion in Saint Domingue, brought slaves and expertise in sugar refining and coffee growing into eastern Cuba in the 1790 and early 1800s.

In the 1800s, Cuban sugar plantations became the most important world producer of sugar, thanks to the expansion of slavery and a relentless focus on improving the island's sugar technology. Use of modern refining techniques was especially important because the British abolished the slave trade in 1807 and after 1815 began forcing other countries to follow suit. Cubans were torn between the profits generated by sugar and a repugnance for slavery, which they saw as morally, politically, and racially dangerous to their society. By the end of the 19th century Slavery was abolished.

However, leading up to the abolition of slavery, Cuba gained great prosperity from their sugar trade. The Spanish had ordered regulations on trade with Cuba, which kept the island from becoming a dominant sugar producer. The Spanish were interested in keeping their trade routes and slave trade routes protected. Nevertheless, Cuba's vast size and abundance of natural resources made it an ideal place for becoming a booming sugar producer. When Spain opened the Cuban trade ports, it quickly became a popular place. New technology allowed a much more effective and efficient means of producing sugar. They began to use water mills, enclosed furnaces, and steam engines to produce a higher quality of sugar at a much more efficient pace than elsewhere in the Caribbean.

The boom in Cuba's sugar industry in the 1800's made it necessary for Cuba to improve its means of transportation. They needed safe and efficient ways to transport the sugar from the plantations to the ports, in order to maximize their returns. Many new roads were built, and old roads were quickly repaired. Railroads were built early and changed the way that perishable sugar cane (within one or two days after the cane is cut easily crystalizable sucrose sugar has "inverted" to turn into far less recoverable glucose and fructose sugars)is collected and alling more rapid and effective sugar transp. It was now possible for plantations all over this large island to have their sugar shipped quickly and easily. The prosperity seen from the boom in sugar production is a major reason that Cuban ethnicity became further enriched by new influx of Spanish migrants. Many Spaniards immigrated to Cuba, calling it a place of refuge.

History of Cuba - Sugar Plantations

Cuba failed to prosper before the 1760s due to Spanish trade regulations. Spain had set up a monopoly in the Caribbean and their primary objective was to protect this. They did not allow the islands to trade with any foreign ships. Spain was primarily interested in the Caribbean for its gold. The crown thought that if the colonies traded with other countries it would itself not benefit from it. This slowed the growth of the Spanish Caribbean. This effect was particularly bad in Cuba because Spain kept a tight grasp on it. It held great strategic importance in the Caribbean. As soon as Spain opened Cuba's ports up to foreign ships a great sugar boom began that lasted until the 1880s. The Island was perfect for growing sugar. It is dominated by rolling plains, with rich soil, and adequate rainfall. It is the largest island in the Caribbean, its relatively low mountains and large plains are suitable for roads, and railroads, and it has the best ports in the area. By 1860 Cuba was devoted to growing sugar. The country had to import all other necessary goods. They were dependent on the United States who bought 82 percent of the sugar. Cubans resented the economic policy Spain implemented in Cuba, which was to help Spain and hurt Cuba. In 1820 Spain abolished the slave trade, hurting the Cuban economy even more and forcing planters to buy more expensive, illegal slaves [4] and trouble some as demonstrated by the events surrounding the ship Amistad (ship). Some Cubans seeking freedom from Spain began to support annexation to join the United States even if it were to be a slave state. For a time Cuba ports served as bases for ineffective Confederate blockade runner ships [5]. This movement did not end with the American civil war but was transmuted to seek freedom for both Black and Whites.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Conquest of Cuba", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki