History

European Discovery: 1492

On October 27th, 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on Cuba, called Cubanacán by the natives who lived there. He found about 50,000 of them—the Ciboney and Guanahatabey in the west and the Taíno elsewhere. Thinking he had reached India, Columbus dubbed these natives "Indians," renamed the island Juana in honor of Prince Juan of Portugal, and, leaving the island undisturbed, sailed on to Hispaniola (present-day Haiti and Dominican Republic), where he founded the first Spanish settlement in the New World.

The Colonial Period: 1511-1895

In 1511, Diego Velásquez and 300 men were sent from Hispaniola to establish a colony in Cuba. The Taínos had received word of the Spaniards' cruelty and mistreatment and tried to resist. The Spanish military strength soon conquered them, however, and within five years the island had been divided into seven municipal divisions, each with its own town council reporting to a royal council. A feudal-like system called encomienda was established whereby each conquistador was granted a set number of Indians who had to pay tribute to the encomendero (grantee), while the grantee was responsible for the Indians' welfare and Christianization.

Disease, mistreatment, and dislocation soon decimated the Indian population. By 1550 it had dropped to 5,000, making the practice of encomienda untenable and lessening the attraction of the island to potential settlers. Those settlers were also discouraged by the scarcity of gold on the island, and most proceeded further to look for riches, especially in Peru and Mexico.

Those who stayed on the island concentrated on raising cattle and tobacco. They needed laborers and began to supplement the dwindling stock of native laborers with slaves imported from Africa. It was at this time also that cultivation of the sugar cane, which Columbus had introduced to the Caribbean, was begun.

A look at a map of the western hemisphere shows why Cuba quickly came to be strategically important as a colony of Spain, despite its lack of gold. Standing as it does at the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico from the Atlantic, it was the transit point for Spanish expeditions in the New World as well as the point of departure for the Spanish fleet system, which provided escort ships to protect the gold and riches being shipped back to Spain.

The end of the 16th century and most of the 17th century were marked by pirate activity. Spain prohibited its American colonies from trading with one another and with other European countries. To circumvent these strictures, rival European powers sponsored pirates and privateers who raided the Spanish merchant ships. These pirates at tacked not only Spanish ships, but also Cuban ports and towns; Havana was one of their favorite targets.

Cuban colonial society at the time was divided along color and class lines: Whites of Spanish descent were either criollos (Cuban-born) or peninsulares (Spanish-born), while blacks were either slaves or free. The biggest rivalries at this time existed between the criollos and the peninsulares: Although criollos could own land and acquire wealth, they were prohibited from holding the high administrative positions that brought the greatest prestige and wealth. In fact, much of the peninsulares' wealth was appropriated from the criollos. For example, as tobacco became more popular in Europe toward the end of the 17th century, Spain prohibited the criollo tobacco farmers from selling their product directly to Europe. They were forced instead to sell their product for low prices to tobacco monopolies owned by peninsulares, who then resold it for much higher prices to Spain and other European nations. The criollos could get around such restrictions by smuggling, but such treatment formed the impetus for the beginning of Cuban nationalism and resistance to Spanish control.

The 18th century was characterized by agricultural development and increased economic prosperity, mostly because conflicts in Europe made it difficult for Spain to keep tight control over its colonies. After the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, which ended the War of Spanish Succession, England was permitted to bring slaves from Africa into Cuba. The subsequent increase in the Black slave population allowed the peninsulares to expand their sugar plantations, and led to the establishment of a sugar industry. In 1762, during the Seven Years' War, England attacked Cuba and held control of Havana for a year. During the English occupation, Havana was open to free trade with all nations, a situation which favored the importation of slaves and goods at low cost, and greatly stimulated both sugar and tobacco production. Toward the end of the century, the slave revolt and ensuing revolution in Haiti caused many French colonists to flee to Cuba, bringing skilled laborers and advanced sugar technology with them. This turn of events, combined with the lack of competition from Haiti, quickly made sugar the basis of the Cuban economy.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Cuba was enjoying remarkable prosperity, and several factors were at work to push toward independence from Spain and the abolition of slavery. Several factors were at work. First, the Black population was increasing, both naturally and through continuing importation of slaves from Africa, and many Cubans feared the kind of violence that had disrupted Haiti. Another factor was the continuing inflexibility and corruption of the Spanish colonial administration, which deepened resentment on the part of the criollos against the government. Yet another factor was the example of the United States, which 25 years earlier had gained its own independence from England, and which was increasingly divided over the issue of slavery. The final factor was the example set by the Latin American countries' gaining their independence from Spain in the 1820s.

As a result of these and other pressures, Cubans of all backgrounds began to seek reforms and greater autonomy from Spain. Politically, Cubans fell into three basic categories: annexationists, separatists, and reformists. Annexationists desired independence from Spain and annexation to the United States. (There was strong support for this position in the slave-holding American South, but all three attempts at annexation failed because the abolitionist South and the North were absolutely opposed to the annexation of another slave-holding society.) Separatists wanted complete independence from Spain, and favored the abolition of slavery as well. Reformists wanted to remain part of Spain, but desired a separate constitution and much more autonomy.

All Cubans, regardless of political persuasion, had one thing in common: They no longer welcomed Spanish authority. This state of affairs resulted in a first attempt at revolution, carried on from 1868 to 1878 and called the Ten Years' War, revolved around the question of independence only; it was not over the slavery issue. Its lack of success made it clear to the revolutionaries that independence could be gained only if all Cubans, including free blacks and slaves, presented a united front.

Between 1878 and 1895, there were other unsuccessful attempts at revolution. The most important figure at this time was the lawyer, poet, and journalist José Martí, whose writings and organizational activities among the Cubans living in the United States in the 1870s and 1880s propelled the revolution to the point where it could make a successful bid for independence.

In 1886, slavery was abolished in Cuba by royal decree. The abolition of slavery probably had as much to do with changing work conditions as it did with social justice: More efficient processing techniques had been developed, as had a new labor system involving free and contract workers as well as slaves.

Cuba was by now dependent on the United States as a market for sugar. The European market for Cuban sugar had dried up because European sugar beet producers had become successful at meeting the European demand for sugar. In the late 1890s, U.S. investment was estimated at $50 million, and annual trade was estimated at $100 million. The United States was therefore taking a great deal of interest in Cuba's fortunes, both as a near neighbor and as an important trading partner.

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