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The island of Cuba has been occupied for at least several thousand years by Amerindian peoples referred to as the Taino and Ciboney. The Taino were known to be mostly farmers while the Ciboney were hunter-gatherers. The name Cuba in fact is derived from the Taino word cubanacan, which means "a central place”. Christopher Columbus sighted the island during his first voyage of discovery on 24 October 1492, and instantly claimed it for Spain.
Spain possessed the island of Cuba for 388 years, dominated by the governor of Havana. It had an economic base of plantation agribusiness and main exportations of sugar, java and tobacco to Europe and later to North America. British people clutched the island in 1762, but returned it to Spain the following year. Like most of the Spanish Empire, a minute land-owning elect of settlers held all the social and economic power. They were helped by a universe of modest farmers, laborers and slaves.
Many architectural masterpieces built during Spanish rule still stand nowadays. An excellent example is the Catedral de San Cristobal, Havana. During the 1820s, when the rest of Spain’s conglomerate in South America rebelled and seceeded, Cuba persisted loyal, although some pushed for independence. Partly because concerns of a slave uprising (as had took place in Haiti) if the Spanish disengaged, partly because the prosperity of Cuban colonists depended on their export trade to Europe, and partially because Cuba dreaded the ascending power of the United States more than they disliked Spanish colonial reign.
Due to the fact that Cuba is a mere 90 miles from the United States has had a sound influence on the lands development. Politicians in the south planned the island’s annexation as a means of supporting the pro-slavery forces in the U.S. throughout the early 1900’s. In 1848 a pro-annexationist uprising was thwarted after various failed invasion atemps from Florida proved fruitless. After that the United States sought to buy Cuba from Spain but was always rejected.
Rural impoverishment in Spain led to a significant Spanish expatriation to Cuba. Among those arriving were the parents of Fidel Castro. During the 1890s pro-independence turmoil revivified, fueled by resentment of the restrictions brought down on Cuban trade by Spain and antagonism to Spain’s more and more tyrannous and incompetent governance of Cuba. On 15 July 1895 rebellion erupted and the independence party, led by Tomas Estrada Palma and the poet Jose Marti, proclaimed Cuba an sovereign republic. Marti was killed not long thereafter and has become Cuba’s unquestioned national hero.
This short paper can’t possibly address the huge story that is Cuba. I have numbered several first-class books at the close of this site. You can get them all at Amazon or your local bookshop.
Cuba: A New History by Richard Gott
The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics (Latin America Readers) by Aviva Chomsky, Barry Carr, and Pamela Maria Smorkaloff
This is Cuba: An Outlaw Culture Survives by Ben Corbett
Inside Cuba by Julio Cesar Perez Hernandez, Angelika Taschen, and Giani Bosso
