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PREFACE
PREFACE
It is my purpose in these volumes to write a History of Cuba. The title may imply either the land and its natural conditions, or the people and the nation which inhabit it. It in fact implies both, and to both I shall address myself, though it will appropriately be with the latter rather than with the former that the narrative will be most concerned. For it is with Cuba as with other countries: In the last supreme analysis the people make the history of the land. Apart from the people, it is tru
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CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
C uba ; America: America; Cuba. The two names are inseparable. The record of each is in a peculiar sense identified with that of the other. Far more than any other land the Queen of the Antilles is associated with that Columbian enterprise from which the modern and practical history of the Western Hemisphere is dated. In Cuba the annals of America begin. This island was not, it is true, the first land discovered by Columbus after leaving Spain. It was at least the fifth visited and named by him,
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CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
S unday , October 28, 1492, was the natal day of Cuba; the day of its advent into the ken of the civilized world. At the island which he called Isabella—either Long Island or Crooked Island—Columbus had heard of a very great land which the natives called Cuba, and which, the wish being father to the thought, he instantly identified with Cipango. Toward it, therefore, his course had thereafter been directed. Progress was slow, because of contrary winds and calms, and there were numerous small isl
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CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
W e have already quoted the enthusiastic encomium of Columbus upon Cuba at his first sight of and landing upon its shore. His diary and his narrative to the sovereigns of Leon and Castile on his return to Spain abound with similar expressions, as well as with informing bits of description of Cuba as they then found it. In the very first days of his first visit he found villages of houses "made like booths, very large, and looking like tents in a camp without regular streets but one here and anot
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CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
B etween these first merely tentative and inconclusive visits of Columbus to Cuba, in which so much was imagined and so little learned or done, and the actual occupation and settlement of the island, which were reserved for a few years later, it will be profitable to pause for a brief space, to review what science has revealed to us of not merely the pre-Columbian but indeed what we may term the archaic history of this chief member of the Antillean group. It is a history written in the rocks and
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CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
F or a considerable time after the last visit of Columbus, Cuba was strangely neglected by the enterprising explorers and conquistadors of Spain. Hispaniola, since known as Hayti or Santo Domingo, became the chief colony and centre of Spanish authority in the Antilles, and it for many years far outranked Cuba in interest and importance. It does not appear that for more than a dozen years after the last visit of Columbus any attempt whatever was made to colonize or to explore the great island, if
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CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI
V elasquez was for a number of years the dominant figure in Cuban history, and he much more than any other man is to be credited with the settlement of the island and its social, political and economical organization. He was married at Baracoa in the early part of 1513 to Donna Maria de Cuellar, daughter of Christopher de Cuellar, the royal treasurer in the island, but within a week was left a widower. To find solace for his grief in action, he threw himself with extraordinary energy into the wo
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CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
G old mining in Cuba appears for some time to have been profitable. There was not the vast opulence of the precious metal which a little later was discovered in Peru and elsewhere on the South American continent, but there was enough greatly to encourage an influx of colonists from Spain and also from the other Antilles. Hispaniola itself was for a time almost depopulated. Nor did this multitude of settlers consist exclusively of gold-seekers. There were also many agriculturists, artificers and
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CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII
T he new Mexican expedition was entrusted by Velasquez to the leadership of the greatest of all the Spanish conquistadors, Hernando Cortez, then Alcalde of Santiago de Cuba. This famous man was then, in 1518, only thirty-three years of age. HERNANDO CORTEZ HERNANDO CORTEZ He had been born in Estremadura, had survived a particularly weak and sickly childhood, and had studied law at the University of Salamanca. Leaving the University, he enlisted in the company of Nicolas de Ovando, also of Estrem
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CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER IX
V elasquez had been Governor—technically Lieutenant-Governor under the Admiral, Diego Columbus, at Hispaniola—for more than thirteen years; save for the abortive and illegal administration of Zuazo. But after him gubernatorial terms were destined to be of much shorter duration, and marked with many vicissitudes. His nominal successor was appointed some time before his death. Whether in anticipation of his decease, or with the design of ousting him, is not clear. At any rate, at the middle of May
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CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X
T he early part of the administration of Gonzalo de Guzman was chiefly occupied with the investigation of his predecessors' stewardships, and with controversies with the municipal councils. There was also a controversy with the Crown over the payment to him of a salary for his services, which he requested of the King, and which the King ordered to be paid to him, but which he did not receive. Then came complications over the royal treasurership in the island. Christopher de Cuellar had been succ
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CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XI
T he first governorship of Gonzalo de Guzman was marked with two features of very great importance to the young nation—for such we may properly regard Cuba as having been at that time. One of these was the development of the ecclesiastical establishment into a strong and sometimes dominant force in the body politic and social; and the other was the crisis of the protracted problem of dealing with or disposing of the native Indians. These two matters were, as they had been from the beginning, clo
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CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XII
T he successor of Rojas was Gonzalo de Guzman, who thus returned for a second term of the governorship. That adroit, masterful and often unscrupulous politician had spent his time in Spain to good advantage. In various ways and through various methods, not altogether dissociated from the golden treasure which he carried thither from the mines of Cuba, he ingratiated himself with a number of influential courtiers, and through them with the royal court itself. Before long he was able to secure a r
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CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIII
B artholomew O rtiz was at last, on his earnest entreaty, relieved of his duties as alcalde mayor in the fall of 1542, and for some time the insular government was again without a head. But in August, 1543, since nothing had been heard from or of de Soto for three years, the crown assumed that he was dead and that his office was vacant. It therefore appointed Juan de Avila to be not alcalde mayor but governor; permitting the title of Adelantado of Florida to fall into desuetude. The new governor
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CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XIV
T he administration of Gonzalo Perez de Angulo marked the lowest point in the early history of Cuba. That was not because of the character of his administration, which was indeed better than some of its predecessors, but because various processes militating against the progress and prosperity of the island then reached their culmination. Foremost among these was the migration to Florida, Mexico, Peru and other lands, which were richer, or were reputed to be richer, than the Pearl of the Antilles
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CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XV
W e have said that the administration of Angulo marked the nadir of early Cuban history. It also marked the turning point, and the entrance of the island into international affairs. Not yet had the great duel between Spain and England begun; which in the next century was to have so momentous results. France was the enemy. Francis I became King of that country in 1515, when Velasquez was beginning the settlement of Cuba, and Charles I (Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire) became King of Spain in t
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CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVI
T he disastrous events which have been related in the preceding chapter suggested to the Spaniards in Cuba and also to the government at Seville the desirability, if not the necessity, of establishing a more militant administration of affairs if the island was not to be the prey of all comers and perhaps ultimately be lost to the Spanish crown. Thitherto, with the exception of Velasquez and the possible exception of De Soto, every governor of the island had been a civilian and a lawyer. It seeme
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CHAPTER XVII
CHAPTER XVII
M enendez was governor of Cuba for a little more than six years, from October 24, 1567, to December 13, 1573. Those were important years for the world at large. They saw the Duke of Alva, as governor of the Netherlands, establish there the Bloody Tribunal, and in return the "Beggars of the Sea" engage in their indomitable campaigns against the oppressor, extending even to the coasts of Cuba. Spain engaged in a great war with the Ottoman Turks. France had the second and third civil wars, culminat
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CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XVIII
D on G abriel M ontalvo was appointed to be Governor of Cuba early in December, 1573. As was the custom in those days, however, he delayed for some time actual assumption of office, so that it was not until October 29, 1574, that he entered upon his duties. He was also charged with some important duties in Florida, but they were subordinate to those in Cuba. He made his home in the island and spent most of his time there. Indeed, he seems to have planned to make his home at Santiago, and to rest
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CHAPTER XIX
CHAPTER XIX
I t would be easy for the reflective historian to engage in many interesting and pertinent observations concerning the time in which Captain Francisco Carreño became governor of Cuba. It was the year 1577. That was the year in which the sixth religious war in France began, a struggle which made inevitable the still greater religious wars which followed, in which not merely two factions in France but the two great powers of Spain and England were the chief belligerents. That was the year, too, in
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CHAPTER XX
CHAPTER XX
T he regularly appointed successor of Governor Carreño was another soldier, to wit, Captain Gabriel de Luzan. He was an army veteran who had performed distinguished service in the Netherlands and elsewhere and was personally known to and greatly favored by the King. He was selected for the governorship and was informed of the appointment in the early fall of 1579, a few weeks before the malodorous Torres was appointed by the Court of Hispaniola. It was intended, however, that he should not actua
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CHAPTER XXI
CHAPTER XXI
S uch , then, was the state of affairs when in 1585 war began between Spain and England. English adventurers infested Spanish territory on the main land in the northern part of the vast region which the Spanish still called Florida. They planned an English colony at the Bay of Santa Maria and renamed that place "Roanoke" and they also renamed that part of Florida after the Queen of England; calling it "Virginia." The news of this invasion appears to have been known in Cuba, by the way of Souther
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CHAPTER XXII
CHAPTER XXII
I t is an interesting circumstance that what threatened to be a great disaster to Cuba proved in fact to be one of the greatest blessings that the Island had enjoyed since the Spanish settlement. We have already seen how great an alarm was caused at Havana and throughout Cuba by the threatened attack of the British under Sir Francis Drake and how fine a degree of public spirit and unity among all classes was thereby inspired. The threatened attack did not occur, and it was many years before an a
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CHAPTER XXIII
CHAPTER XXIII
T he character of the European nations whose navigators and explorers had sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and had opened to the bewildered gaze of the Old World a vista of unlimited possibilities in the New, underwent a great change during the seventeenth century. Acclaimed as national achievements, adding new lustre to national glory, these discoveries at first only stimulated patriotism and became an incentive to national effort. But as Spain and Portugal which had given to the world those
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CHAPTER XXIV
CHAPTER XXIV
S pain was at this time gradually working her defection, political and economic. Philip III. had died in 1621 and, as he had thrown the responsibilities of the government upon the shoulders of the Duke of Lerma, so his successor, Philip IV., left them to his favorite Olivares. Olivares immediately renewed the war with the United Provinces, which were still a thorn in the flesh of Spain, for, on being freed from the Spanish yoke, they had plunged into feverish activity which portended their devel
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CHAPTER XXV
CHAPTER XXV
I n spite of the "American Treaty" which had for the moment bound Great Britain and Spain together for mutual protection against the pirates, the designs of land-hungry British courtiers and adventurers were by no means abandoned. Spain was not blind to the fact that she had all powers against her, that were playing an important part in the development of the New World. French, Dutch and British were stung with the desire to appropriate to themselves some of its wealth. For many years the Britis
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CHAPTER XXVI
CHAPTER XXVI
W ith the death of King Charles II. in the year 1700 the Austrian dynasty upon the throne of Spain became extinct. One daughter of his predecessor, Philip IV., had married a Bavarian prince, another had become the wife of Louis XIV. of France. The offspring of these marriages and other candidates presented themselves for the succession and caused endless diplomatic parleys and plunged Spain into a most harassing state of uncertainty, even before the King expired. He had signed a will in favor of
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CHAPTER XXVII
CHAPTER XXVII
T he wonderful impetus which the discoverers and explorers of Spain gave to the spirit of adventure by opening to the world the gates of a new and strange world, promptly began to bear fruit among those nations who had always been daring navigators. Young men with no ties, either of family or profession, to hold them, were suddenly fired with the desire to see the new continent which the genius of Columbus and his associates had brought within their reach, and set out in quest of what promised t
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CHAPTER XXVIII
CHAPTER XXVIII
I t was the inscrutable irony of fate that Cuba should remain so negligible a quantity during one of the most momentous and progressive periods of human history. No other era since man began his career had been on the whole so marked with greatness. Discovery and exploration had doubled the known area of the globe, and the intellectual achievements of the race had even more than kept pace with the material. The era of which we have been writing in this volume saw the completion of Columbus's wor
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CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
When the Treaty of Utrecht was signed on the eleventh of April, 1713, the Spanish colonies in America felt as if they were entering upon a new era, an era of peace and unhindered growth and prosperity. They did not realize until the first elation over the establishment of peace had spent itself, that this treaty contained the seeds of future wars which were bound to be quickened by the powerful spirit of commercial rivalry, which had been awakened in the European nations and was alarmingly dimmi
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CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
When Governor Martinez de la Vega was promoted to the post of President and Captain-General of Panama, there was appointed in his place, as the thirty-sixth governor of Cuba, Fieldmarshal D. Juan Francisco Guemez y Horcasitas, a native of Oviedo and son of Baron de Guemez. Valdes remarks that during his administration was born his son D. Juan, who seems to have been also actively engaged in public life. Guemez was governor of Cuba long enough to occupy a prominent place in the chronicles of the
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CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
The alliances among the powers of Europe in the middle of the seventeenth century and the unsatisfactory settlements of some of the most harassing questions in dispute produced a state of unrest and tension throughout the world which the clever pourparlers and the fascinating fencing bouts of European diplomacy failed to relieve, and of which Cuba was destined to feel the effects. In spite of her insular isolation Great Britain was closely concerned with the intrigues that were being spun at the
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CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
When Prado took charge of the governorship, he immediately proceeded to build quarters for the reenforcement of dragoons which were to be sent over from Spain, and for that purpose engaged sixty galley-slaves from Vera Cruz. He also began work on the fortifications of Cabanas under the direction of the excellent engineer Francois Ribaut de Tirgale. But a second consignment of galley-slaves in June brought to Havana the "vomito negro," the yellow fever, of which Siam had made a gift to Mexico in
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CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
With the solemn signing of the foregoing articles of capitulation on the twelfth of August, 1762, began the occupation of Havana by the British, who thus seemed to have attained the goal of their covetous aspirations. It was a great day for them; it was a day of mourning for the Cubans. While these articles of capitulation were in themselves not unjust, differing in no essentials from those usually exacted by the victors from the vanquished, the people of Havana found it difficult to obey all th
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CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI
The changes which the island underwent during this time were far-reaching. The British occupation had established a direct contact with the world outside of Spain, which was bound to broaden the narrowly provincial viewpoint of the residents of the colony. For the nobles to whom large tracts of land had been granted in the earlier days of the colony had never permanently resided there but only came over for a short time to occupy their winter residence in Havana and for another brief season to s
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CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
By the terms of the treaty signed at Versailles on the tenth of February, 1763, Britain was to give back to Spain the city and territory of Havana in the condition in which the British had found it and Spain was to grant the British a term of eighteen months, so that those who had established themselves upon the island could insure their interests by transferring their property. To administrate the political and military affairs of Cuba and carry out these stipulations, a new governor was appoin
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CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII
While Cuba was enjoying the peace and prosperity which had followed its return to Spain, Louisiana, which by the Treaty of Paris had been ceded to Spain by Louis XV. of France, to indemnify her for the Floridas and the government of which was annexed to that of Cuba, was going through a most harassing period of anxiety. For this agreement, which transferred the French inhabitants of Louisiana to Spain, was a violation of that human right which at this very time was beginning to dawn in the awake
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CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER IX
While the new Spanish possession annexed to Cuba by virtue of the Treaty of Paris, Louisiana, was passing through that painful state of transition which always follows the transfer of a nation belonging to a certain race speaking a certain language and cherishing customs deeply rooted in the national consciousness, to the rule of another nation, of a different race, speaking a different language and practising widely different customs, Cuba was enjoying a period of peace, prosperity and progress
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CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X
In the mean time events in North America continued to agitate the diplomatic world of Europe and to stir up trouble. As Great Britain had begun to interfere with the commerce and navigation of France, the relations between the two countries grew daily more strained. France had come to an understanding with Spain, that by the beginning of the year 1778, the two powers would have to combine to make war on Britain, but Carlos III., getting old and more and more conservative, did not want to depart
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CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XI
Washington's warning of entangling alliances comes to one's mind on reading the curious results of the concerted action against Britain decided upon by France and Spain in Europe, while the United States were fighting the British in North America, and the Spanish colonies of Cuba and Louisiana were attempting to wrest from them the Gulf coast. The lure of Gibraltar had led to a state of blockade; but this was far from satisfying to the insatiable ambition of the Spanish prime minister, Florida B
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CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XII
The French Revolution set the pace for the world's movements in the last decade of the eighteenth century and spread the seeds of many more in the century to come. Pamphlets, books and proclamations coming to Spain from France opened the eyes of the people to evils, which in their loyalty to the throne and to the traditions of the country they had never dared to perceive. The corruption of her court, the ruin of her finances, the incompetency of her statesmen and her generals were revealed to th
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CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIII
The prosperity of a new country and the happiness of the people depend largely upon a just apportionment of the land of that country and the opportunity to exploit the resources of the soil and sell the products thereof at the greatest possible profit to the producer. Had this simple truth been recognized as the cornerstone of Cuban colonization the island would have been spared centuries of hard up-hill struggle for healthy economic conditions. From the standpoint of the agrarian reformer, the
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CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XIV
The conditions which we have described did not, however, prevent the colony, when prosperity came to her, from succumbing to the evils which invariably follow in the wake of new wealth. The historian Blanchet reports that there existed in Cuba towards the end of the century a strange mixture of immorality and piety. Religious enthusiasm rose to an unusual degree of fervor in Villa Clara in the year 1790. Two Capuchin missionaries had been there a month, and the church was crowded from early morn
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CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XV
"Cuba; America: America; Cuba. The two names are inseparable." So we said at the beginning of our history of the "Pearl of the Antilles." So we must say at the beginning of a new era, the third, in these annals. At the beginning the connection was between Cuba and America as a whole—the continents of the western hemisphere. In this second case it is between Cuba and America in the more restricted meaning of the United States. There was a significant and to some degree influential forecast of thi
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CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVI
We must consider, in order rightly to understand the situation of Cuba at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and the momentous train of incidents in her history which then began, the salient features of the history of Spain at that time. The reign of Charles III. had temporarily restored Spain to a place in the front rank of European powers, with particularly close relations, through the Bourbon crowns of the two countries, with France. But that rank was of brief duration. In 1788 Charles
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CHAPTER XVII
CHAPTER XVII
For a correct understanding of the internal dissensions and uprisings which played so large a part in the history of Cuba during the greater part of the nineteenth century, it is necessary to have clearly in mind an idea of the number, nature and distribution of her population during this period. The first record of anything like a satisfactory enumeration of the people of the island is that of the census of 1775. It was known as that of the Abbe Raynal, and was taken under the direction and by
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CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XVIII
The first records of the slave trade in Cuba—so far as the eastern part of the island is concerned—were in 1521. Curiously enough it was begun by Portuguese rather than Spanish settlers. It was a well recognized institution, licensed by the government. The first license was held by one Gasper Peralta, and covered the trade with the entire Spanish America. Later French traders visited Havana and took tobacco in trade for their slaves. The English, during their possession of the island, far from f
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CHAPTER XIX
CHAPTER XIX
Perhaps it is a wise Providence that decrees that even government shall be subject to that rhythm by which the tides of human affairs rise and fall. Who shall say? In 1796, Las Casas, who had tried to do so much for Cuba, was succeeded, as Captain-General, by the Conde de Santa Clara. The latter was of a different type from Las Casas. In spite of his aristocratic birth, he was a man of little education, and indifferent to it. The result was, since he had no taste for letters, and social elegance
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CHAPTER XX
CHAPTER XX
It was on May 2, 1823, that Don Francisco Vives, afterward Conde de Cuba, arrived in Cuba to take over the office of Captain-General. Let us first contemplate the good which he accomplished for Cuba, before scanning the darker pages of his high-handed rule. Vives reorganized the rural militia, and he caused the construction of a number of important fortresses and the completion of others already begun. He divided the island into three military departments. Under his instructions two asylums for
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CHAPTER XXI
CHAPTER XXI
Cuba, so rich and fertile, was an object of desire, not alone to America, but at least equally to the countries of Europe. Thus England cast covetous eyes at Cuba, and some of the English papers intimated that the United States was anxious to acquire the island, and that if England wished to save her West Indian trade, she had best look to her interests and, if possible, wrest Cuba from Spain. Probably the strongest feeling in the United States in the early part of the nineteenth century was tha
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CHAPTER XXII
CHAPTER XXII
The half century from 1776 to 1826 was afire with the spirit of revolution and freedom. During this period the United States won her independence from England; Belgium sought separation from Holland; France was in the throes of revolution; and Greece won her freedom from Turkey. This spirit of liberty penetrated to Central and South America and set the Spanish colonies there aflame. A successful revolution must have a competent and daring leader. The South American revolt in Venezuela and surrou
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CHAPTER XXIII
CHAPTER XXIII
Tales of Bolivar's triumphs in South America were not slow to penetrate to the knowledge of the Cubans. Liberty, which had seemed only a dream, now began to take on the aspect of a possible reality. Men expressed their opinions and desires furtively in their own homes, to tried and trusted friends. They began to assemble and exchange views. No one dared to come out openly at first, and so propaganda was carried on through veiled articles, by word of mouth, by the secret clasp or sign of union. U
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CHAPTER XXIV
CHAPTER XXIV
General Geronimo Valdez, who succeeded the Prince de Aglona as Captain-General in 1840, probably endeavored to rule wisely, since he was by nature a rather gentle and just man; but he had absolutely no chance with the power of Spain against him. It was during his incumbency that the first of the alarming slave uprisings occurred, and the Spanish officials were so frightened that they counseled the most violent methods of subduing the offenders, to which as we shall see General Valdez at least sh
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CHAPTER XXV
CHAPTER XXV
The era of Cuban history which embraced part of the seventeenth, the eighteenth, and part of the nineteenth centuries, and which we have endeavored to review in this volume, presents a striking and almost unique contrast to the customary course of human affairs. The normal order of civic development begins with the rise and confirmation of nationality, and thence proceeds to international relationships and cosmopolitan interests and activities. Such was the record of other American states which
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THE HISTORY OF CUBA
THE HISTORY OF CUBA
BY WILLIS FLETCHER JOHNSON A.M., L.H.D. Author of "A Century of Expansion," "Four Centuries of the Panama Canal," "America's Foreign Relations" Honorary Professor of the History of American Foreign Relations in New York University WITH ILLUSTRATIONS V OLUME T HREE colophon NEW YORK B. F. BUCK & COMPANY, I NC . 156 F IFTH A VENUE 1920 Copyright, 1920, By CENTURY HISTORY CO. ——— All rights reserved Entered at Stationers Hall London, England. PRINTED IN U. S. A. ...
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CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
T HE revolutionary era in Cuban history had its rise amid circumstances of both political and commercial dissatisfaction and protest, and it is by no means impossible nor even improbable that the latter form of discontent was the more potent of the two. The commercial and industrial development of the island, despite its almost incredibly opulent resources, had been very slow, because handicapped by selfish and sordid misgovernment. The typical attitude of the Peninsular government and its agent
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CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
V ENEZUELA gave the struggling Spanish American colonies Bolivar, who was their liberator and their savior. In the same country was born, at the end of the eighteenth century, in 1798 or 1799, a child who fifty years later was to lay down his life on the altar of freedom for Cuba. This boy, like Bolivar, was of a wealthy and respected family. His father was the proprietor of a large estate which was stocked with cattle and horses and live stock of every kind. His mother had gentle and even arist
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CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
L OPEZ planned to begin the uprising for the freedom of Cuba on June 24, 1848. He had enlisted the sympathy and secret cooperation of many men in the United States, chiefly in the southern part of that country, and looked to them to provide him with the needed arms and ammunition. There was no lack of readiness on their part to respond to his needs in this respect, but there was much difficulty in transporting such supplies from the United States to Cuba. Whatever the personal sentiments of the
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CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
C ARDENAS was chosen as the place of landing probably for two reasons. First, because the Cubans of this district were supposed to be exceedingly dissatisfied with Spanish rule—more disgruntled than the inhabitants of the other parts of the island, because the people of Cardenas had been given their own particular grievances by the Spanish garrison; and in the second place, the garrison at this point was exceedingly small, and the town was situated on a bay the entrance to which, like the coast
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CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
Spain was now thoroughly alive to the danger which threatened her future retention of Cuba, and in the face of an emergency she vacillated. Her high officials began to wonder if after all their policy of extreme oppression and suppression had not been in a measure the wrong one to pursue with the Cubans. Roncali, who had been so pleasing to the Peninsulars, or Spanish party in Cuba, and so unpopular with the patriots, was recalled and Don José Gutierrez de la Concha was dispatched to take his pl
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CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI
I T will be recalled that the Cubans, in the first flush of victory, had dispatched the good tidings to the Cuban Junta in New York City. These reports were so sanguine of victory that even though later rumors of defeat at the hands of the Spaniards did reach that body, they were regarded as Spanish propaganda and suppressed. These adverse rumors were vague, and unsupported by confirming data, and Spanish spies had been for some time active in dispensing unreliable news favorable to their countr
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CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
L OPEZ had failed. Such was the obvious judgment of the world. Upon the face of the matter, his expedition had ended in disaster and utter tragedy. The first serious attempt to achieve the separation of Cuba from Spain had come to naught. It had been completely suppressed and its promoters had been destroyed. In a broader, deeper and more significant sense, however, the enterprise and sacrifice of Lopez and his comrades had splendidly succeeded. That valiant pioneer of Cuban liberation had indee
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CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII
T HE United States government, both before and immediately after the expeditions of Lopez, exhibited an increasing desire to acquire possession of Cuba by purchase or otherwise. We have already referred to the historic expression of John Quincy Adams upon this subject. It is also to be recalled that in 1823, in commenting upon the prospective results of the Monroe Doctrine, Thomas Jefferson looked upon Cuba as the most interesting addition that could be made to the United States. The control whi
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CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER IX
T HE years following the close of the Civil War in the United States were marked with momentous occurrences in various other countries, particularly in Cuba, and the two nations with which she had long been intimately connected, Mexico and Spain. The beginning of the year 1866 in Peninsular Spain saw General Prim heading a revolutionary body of troops at Aranjuez and at Ocana. These operations caused great excitement, and feeling ran high throughout the kingdom, for they were generally regarded
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CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X
C UBAN independence was proclaimed on October 10, 1868, at the Yara plantation. That was the natal date and that was the natal place of the Republic of Cuba. The event was made known to the world in a Declaration of Independence, which was issued at Manzanillo, and which was as follows: "In arming ourselves against the tyrannical Government of Spain we must, according to precedent in all civilized countries, proclaim before the world the cause that impels us to take this step, which though liabl
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CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XI
A REVOLUTION usually involves fighting as well as the organization of a government. In the case of Cuba, this was especially inevitable. It was realized by the patriots in advance that the redemption of Cuba from the tyranny of Spain could only be accomplished by force of arms, and consequently plans to that effect had been carefully perfected in advance. It was highly creditable to the Cubans that they so promptly organized a dignified and worthy government, and adopted a constitution favorably
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CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XII
A T the time of the beginning of the Cuban insurrection the United States was undergoing one of its quadrennial political campaigns, and March 4, 1869, saw General Ulysses S. Grant inducted to the Presidency—the man who had led the nation to victory in the Civil War and had thus maintained the union of the United States of America; a soldier of the highest character, and one whose sympathies were keenly enlisted in behalf of the Cuban revolution. When this news reached the Cuban leaders they at
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CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIII
W ITH the opening of the year 1870, the revolutionists had in the field forty thousand well disciplined, and for the time being at least well armed troops, who were under the command of efficient officers, and a competent military organization. The movements of the troops were, so far as possible, directed according to a concerted plan, and their distribution through the island was governed in the same manner. Spain had also increased her regular army, and her navy had been greatly augmented, fo
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CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XIV
W HILE these things were occurring in the "Ever Faithful Isle," there were doings of epochal significance in Peninsular Spain. Queen Isabella had, as we have seen, for some time been an exile, and on June 25, 1870, the Serrano republican government forced her to sign a final manifesto of abdication. The government itself, however, was far from strong, and was unable to stand against strong opposition in the Cortes. It was shortly overthrown by a vote of that body, and a monarchical form of gover
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CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XV
A T the beginning of 1872 the storm center of the insurrection moved eastward to Puerto Principe, Santiago and Guantanamo. Engagements in the vicinity of these places had been frequent, and now they were almost daily consisting chiefly of little skirmishes between small forces of men. It was estimated that by this time Spain had sent to the island in the neighborhood of sixty thousand trained soldiers, but they had come few at a time, and on no occasion in larger numbers than two or three thousa
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CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVI
A T the beginning of the year 1874 a coup d'etat placed Serrano again at the head of the government in Spain, but in Cuba there was no change. The struggle was still continued. The first battle of the year was on a larger scale than the majority of those which had preceded it. At Naranjo, on January 4, two thousand Cubans under General Gomez were victorious over four thousand Spaniards, and the Cuban losses were slight in comparison with those of the enemy. Again, at Corralillo, on January 8, th
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CHAPTER XVII
CHAPTER XVII
T HE Spanish government had granted concessions to the Cubans, or what on their face seemed to be concessions, but in actual administration, the government remained practically the same. The power remained vested in a military government, at the head of which was the Captain-General, whose name was subsequently changed to Governor-General, but whose nature and functions remained in the last analysis very little different from what they had been before the revolution. The struggle had, however, g
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CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XVIII
"N EW occasions," sang a great American poet of freedom and of progress, "new occasions teach new duties"; and splendidly was the truth exemplified in Cuba in the era of which we have been writing in this volume. There befell the island at the beginning of the Nineteenth Century a new occasion, the greatest thus far in all its history since the landfall of Columbus. It was perhaps only partially realized at first, and it took many years for the complete realization to dawn upon the universal pop
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CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
Cuba for Cuba must be the grateful theme of the present volume. We have seen the identification of the Queen of the Antilles with the Spanish discovery and conquest of America. We have traced the development of widespread international interests in that island, especially implicating the vital attention of at least four great powers. We have reviewed the origin and development of a peculiar relationship, frequently troubled but ultimately beneficent to both, between Cuba and the United States of
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CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
We have said that there was no consideration of annexation to the United States, on the part of the organizers and directors of the Cuban War of Independence. Neither was there much if any thought of intervention by the United States in Cuba's behalf; though that was what ultimately occurred. No doubt, if ever a fleeting thought of that passed through a Cuban patriot's mind, he esteemed it "a consummation devoutly to be wished." But it was not reckoned to be within the limits of reasonable possi
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CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
The war was on. Marti and his comrades had planned to have a simultaneous uprising in all six provinces on February 24. In each a leader was appointed, an organization was formed, and such supplies as could be obtained were provided. But in only three provinces did an actual insurrection occur. These were Oriente, or Santiago as it was then called, Santa Clara, and Matanzas; the extreme eastern and the two central provinces. In Oriente uprisings occurred at two points, under Henry Brooks at Guan
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CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
It now seemed opportune to effect a more complete organization of the civil government of the Cuban Republic, and for that purpose a convention was held in the Valley of the Yara, at which on July 15 a Declaration of Cuban Independence was proclaimed, and on August 7, near Camaguey the action of May 18 was confirmed and amplified, Bartolome Maso being retained as President; Maximo Gomez as Vice-President and Minister of War; Salvador Cisneros as Minister of the Interior; Gonzalo Quesada as Secre
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CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
The administration of General Marin lasted only a few weeks, but it was marked with strenuous doings. His first effort was to do what Campos had failed to do, namely, to maintain an impassable barrier between Pinar del Rio and Havana. He massed troops on the line between Havana and Batabano, and took command himself at the centre, hoping to draw Maceo into a general engagement. But Maceo sent Perico Diaz with 1,400 men from Artemisia to create a diversion just north of the centre, which was done
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CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI
We have said that the death of Antonio Maceo moved Cuban patriots to redouble their efforts to atone for the grievous loss which their cause had thus suffered. Unfortunately not all of them were capable of so doing, while those who did so were unable to make devotion and zeal take the place of consummate military genius. In consequence, despite the utmost efforts of Gomez and his colleagues matters went badly for the revolution through most of the following year. Gomez himself indeed felt that h
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CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
There could be no greater mistake than that which has been too often and too persistently made, in regarding the destruction of the Maine as the cause of American, intervention in Cuba. The declarations of policy which we have already quoted from the messages of President Cleveland and President McKinley, the former fourteen months and the latter two months before that vessel went to Havana, are ample indications of the purpose of the American government to intervene unless there were a satisfac
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CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII
Following the protocol and the cessation of hostilities, two major tasks were to be performed. One was to remove the Spanish forces from the island and to establish permanent terms of peace, and the other was to organize and establish a permanent Cuban government. The former of these was promptly undertaken, by the governments of the United States and Spain. A joint commission arranged the details of evacuation, which was a formidable undertaking because of the number of persons to be transporte
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CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER IX
American occupation of Cuba, formal and complete, did not begin, as we have seen, until January 1, 1899, when the ceremonial transfer of sovereignty was effected at Havana. But nearly six months before that epochal date actual occupation and administration was begun on an extensive scale and in a most auspicious manner. With singular appropriateness this was effected at that city which nearly four centuries before had been the first capital and metropolis of the island, and in that Province whic
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CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X
General Brooke was succeeded by General Leonard Wood. He had also in a measure been preceded by him. General Wood had at Santiago been the real pioneer in American administration in Cuba. He laid the first foundations there. General Brooke at Havana enlarged upon those foundations. Then came General Wood to Havana to complete the structure. It was with the fame and prestige of his great victory over pestilence at Santiago, and of all his other achievements in Oriente, that he came to Havana on D
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CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XI
The supreme work of the Government of Intervention, from the political point of view, was to prepare Cuba for complete self-government and then to relinquish the control of the island to its own people. It was with that end in view that General Wood filled all possible offices with Cubans. It was also to the same end that the municipal election was held in June, 1900, under a new election law. Soon after that election there came a call for another, of vastly greater importance. On July 25, 1900,
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CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XII
The concretion of Cuban history is in the Constitution of the Cuban Republic. In that document are realized the hopes of a patient but resolute people. In it are embodied the ideals for which Lopez fought and died; for which Cespedes strove; for which Marti pleaded and taught and planned; for which Maximo Gomez and Antonio Maceo battled against desperate odds; for which Estrada Palma gave the ripe statesmanship of a devoted life. There were provisional constitutions before, drafted in mountain c
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CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIII
After the Constitution, the Government. On October 14, 1901, General Wood as Military Governor of Cuba issued an order for the holding of a general election throughout the island on December 31, that day to be a legal holiday. At that election there were to be chosen Presidential and Senatorial Electors, Members of the House of Representatives, Governors of Provinces or Departments, and members of Provincial Assemblies or Councils. At the same time it was announced that the election of President
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CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XIV
The result of the earnest and efficient work of all departments of the Palma administration, in spite of the fact that the employes had much to learn, and that mistakes were unavoidably made, was that Cuba began almost immediately to establish herself as a nation worthy of consideration, and respected among the other nations of the world. Her commerce and industries were started for the first time on a stable basis, and the general feeling of confidence, not only in the natural resources of the
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CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XV
Mr. Magoon came to Cuba but little known to Cubans and unfamiliar with what was before him. During this second American intervention there were some radical changes in the administration, and more public works were undertaken than President Palma had ventured upon. The consensus of opinion among American officers, all the officers who had accompanied Mr. Magoon, was that the Palma administration had made a mistake in allowing so much money to accumulate in the treasury. It had become a temptatio
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CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVI
Jose Miguel Gomez became President and Alfredo Zayas became Vice-President of the Republic of Cuba on January 28, 1909. With a substantial majority in Congress ready to do his will, and with the immeasurable prestige of success, first over the Palma Administration and later in the contest at the polls, the President was almost all-powerful to adopt and to execute whatever designs he had, either for the assumed welfare of Cuba or for the strengthening of his own political position. He selected a
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CHAPTER XVII
CHAPTER XVII
The fourth Presidential campaign in Cuba began in the spring of 1912. The Liberal administration had given the nation a thorough taste of its quality, with the result that there was a strong reaction against it on the part of many who had been its zealous upholders. The compact between José Miguel Gomez and Alfredo Zayas was, however, carried out, the former not seeking re-election but standing aside in favor of the latter, who accordingly received the Presidential nomination at the convention w
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CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XVIII
The fifth Presidential campaign of the Republic of Cuba occurred in 1916. The Conservative candidate for President was General Mario G. Menocal, who was thus seeking reelection, and the candidate for Vice-President was General Emilio Nuñez, of whom we have already heard as the leader of the Veterans' Association in its legitimate and orderly resistance to the corruption and despotism of the Gomez administration, who had had a distinguished career in the Liberating Army in the War of Independence
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CHAPTER XIX
CHAPTER XIX
Cuba entered the Great War. That fact was the supreme seal to her title-deeds to a place as peer among the nations; placing her in blood-brotherhood with her neighbors. She entered the war almost simultaneously with the United States, though with less delay than that country. At Washington the President addressed Congress on April 2, advising a declaration of war against Germany, and the declaration was made on April 6. At Havana the President delivered his war message on April 6, and on April 7
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CHAPTER XX
CHAPTER XX
"A revolution which comprehends the responsibilities incumbent upon the founders of nations." Those were almost the last words of José Marti, epigrammatically expressive of his purpose in fomenting the ultimate and triumphant revolution of 1895-1898, and of the purpose of those devoted men who caught the standard of liberty from his dying hand and through labors and perils and tragedies incommensurable bore it on to victory. How well that purpose has been served in these scarcely twenty years of
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PREFACE
PREFACE
N ATURE designed Cuba for greatness. That salient fact is written large and clear upon every page of the island’s history. He must lack vision who can not discern it even in the annals of political, military and social development of the Cuban nation. Although one of the earliest lands in the Western Hemisphere to be discovered and colonized, it was actually the last of all to be erected into political independence and thus to enter into an opportunity for improving fully the incomparable opulen
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CHAPTER I THE PEOPLE OF CUBA
CHAPTER I THE PEOPLE OF CUBA
I N the last analysis, of course, the people of a country have much to do in making it what it is, or what it may be. From them must come the life, energy, character and development. They will regulate its social standing and fulfill the promise of its future. Society in Cuba, as in nearly all long settled countries, is many sided, and while resembling, more or less, that of all civilized communities, certain racial traits stand out prominently in the Island Republic. If asked to name the most p
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CHAPTER II THE TOPOGRAPHY OF CUBA
CHAPTER II THE TOPOGRAPHY OF CUBA
T OPOGRAPHICALLY the surface of Cuba may be divided into five rather distinct zones, three of which are essentially mountainous. The first includes the entire eastern third of the province of Oriente, together with the greater part of its coast line, where the highest mountains of the Island are found. The second includes the greater part of the province of Camaguey, made up of gently rolling plains broken by occasional hills or low mountains, that along the northern coast, and again in the sout
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CHAPTER III THE CLIMATE OF CUBA
CHAPTER III THE CLIMATE OF CUBA
S INCE on the climate of country depends largely its healthfulness, nothing perhaps is of greater importance, especially to the man who wishes to find some place where he may build his permanent home and raise his family; to him this feature above all demands careful consideration. The most striking and perhaps the most important fact in regard to the climate of Cuba is its freedom from those extremes of temperature which are considered prejudicial to health in any country. The difference betwee
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CHAPTER IV PROVINCE OF HAVANA
CHAPTER IV PROVINCE OF HAVANA
T HE Province of Havana, with its area of 3,171 square miles, is the smallest in Cuba, and yet, owing to the city of Havana, capital of the Republic, it plays a very important part in the social, political and economic life of the Island. Geographically, it is the pivotal province of Cuba, since the narrowest place across the long arch-like stretch of the Island is found along the border between Havana and Pinar del Rio, where only twenty-two miles lie between the Mexican Gulf and the Caribbean
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CHAPTER V PROVINCE OF PINAR DEL RIO
CHAPTER V PROVINCE OF PINAR DEL RIO
T OPOGRAPHICALLY , the Province of Pinar del Rio is perhaps the most picturesquely beautiful in the Island. Owing also to its variety of soils, mahogany red, jet black, mulatto or brown, and the grey sands of the south and west, Pinar del Rio offers marvellous opportunities for many agricultural industries. Tobacco, of which it produces over $30,000,000 worth annually, has always been the most important product of this section of Cuba. This Province, with its area of 5,764 square miles, owing to
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CHAPTER VI PROVINCE OF MATANZAS
CHAPTER VI PROVINCE OF MATANZAS
H ISTORICALLY the province of Matanzas has played a comparatively unimportant part in the various events that have influenced the destiny of the Island. In the early days of conquest, little mention of the district was made. Grijalva, however, with a small body of men, was the first of the Spanish conquerors who, pushing his way along the northern coast of Cuba, reached the harbor now known as Matanzas on October 8, 1518. A very substantial fort of the same excellent style of military architectu
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CHAPTER VII PROVINCE OF SANTA CLARA
CHAPTER VII PROVINCE OF SANTA CLARA
P ROBABLY in no part of Cuba is the topography more varied or the scenery more beautiful than in the Province of Santa Clara, with its area of 8,250 square miles. Mountain, valley, table land and plain seem to be thrown together in this, the central section of the Island, in reckless yet picturesque confusion. The main system of mountains, extending throughout the entire length of Cuba, disappears and reappears along the northern coast of Santa Clara, thus permitting easy communication between h
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CHAPTER VIII PROVINCE OF CAMAGUEY
CHAPTER VIII PROVINCE OF CAMAGUEY
A CCORDING to the log of the Santa Maria , the first glimpse of the Island of Cuba enjoyed by Christopher Columbus, sailing as he did in a southwesterly course across the Bahama Banks, is supposed by many to have been at some point along the northern coast of what is now known as the Province of Camaguey. The area of this Province, including Cayos Romano, Guajaba, Sabinal and Coco, is approximately 11,000 square miles. The general trend of the coast lines is similar to those of the Province of S
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CHAPTER IX PROVINCE OF ORIENTE
CHAPTER IX PROVINCE OF ORIENTE
T HE Province of Oriente, called by Spain Santiago de Cuba, forms the eastern extremity of the Island, and is not only the largest in area, but, owing to the exceptional fertility of its soil, the great number of magnificent harbors, the size and extent of its plains and valleys, together with the untold wealth of its mines of iron, copper, manganese, chrome and other minerals, it must be considered industrially as one of the most important provinces of Cuba. Its area consists of 14,213 square m
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CHAPTER X THE ISLE OF PINES
CHAPTER X THE ISLE OF PINES
A LTHOUGH from the early days of Spanish conquest the Isle of Pines was considered by Spain as an integral part of Cuba, as are Cayo Romano and all other adjacent islands, in the treaty of Paris that concluded the controversy in regard to Spain’s possessions in the West Indies the Isle of Pines was referred to as a locality distinct in itself, and as possibly not coming within the jurisdiction of Cuban territory. A rule placed on any mariner’s chart of the West Indies, connecting in a straight l
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CHAPTER XI MINES AND MINING
CHAPTER XI MINES AND MINING
A FTER a lapse of more than four centuries, there are grounds for believing that the dreams of the early Spanish conquerors, who overran Cuba shortly after its discovery by Columbus, may be realized, though not exactly as they expected. Gold may never be found in paying quantities, yet the mineral wealth of the Island may exceed in value its present agricultural output, which amounts annually to hundreds of millions of dollars. The followers of Columbus as a rule cared little for the more quiet
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CHAPTER XII ASPHALT AND PETROLEUM
CHAPTER XII ASPHALT AND PETROLEUM
T HE presence of bituminous products in Cuba has been a matter of record since the days of the early Spanish conquerors. Sebastian Ocampo, that adventurous follower of Columbus, in the year 1508 dropped into one of the sheltered harbors of the north coast, not previously reported, in order to make repairs on some of his battered caravels. Much to his surprise and delight, while careening a boat to scrape the bottom some of his men ran across a stream of soft asphalt or mineral pitch, oozing from
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CHAPTER XIII FORESTRY
CHAPTER XIII FORESTRY
T HE virgin forests of Cuba, at the time of the Spanish conquest, were rich in hardwoods, such as mahogany, cedar, rosewood, ebony, lignum-vitæ and many others unknown in the markets of the United States. During four centuries these forests have been one of Cuba’s most important assets. Unfortunately this source of wealth has been drawn upon without forethought or discrimination since the first white settlers began to use the products of the forest in 1515. The completion of the North Shore Rail
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CHAPTER XIV AGRICULTURE
CHAPTER XIV AGRICULTURE
T HE Island of Cuba is essentially an agricultural country. Its fertile soils have come from the constant erosion of rocks by heavy rains, through eons of time. Mountain torrents have brought down the debris of crumbling mountains of feldspar, shale and limestone to be deposited on the plains below, while rushing streams have eaten their way into the plateaus of Pinar del Rio and Oriente, until we have at last a marvellously rich, tropical island garden, supplied by Nature with all the ingredien
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CHAPTER XV SUGAR
CHAPTER XV SUGAR
C ONSIDERED from the point of view of agriculture, manufactures or commerce, Cane is King in Cuba. The sugar crop of 1918, amounting to 25,346,000 bags, or 3,620,857 tons, was sold for over $350,000,000; and the crop of 1919, consisting of 27,769,662 bags, equivalent to 3,967,094 tons, will probably realize the sum of $500,000,000. The significance of these facts may be strikingly appreciated by making a simple comparison. The Cuban sugar crop of 1919 is worth $200 for every man, woman and child
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CHAPTER XVI TOBACCO
CHAPTER XVI TOBACCO
T HIS strangely hypnotic leaf of the night-shade family seems to have originated in the Western Hemisphere, and that variety familiar to commerce, known as the Nicotina Tabacum, was in popular use among the aborigines of the West Indies, Mexico and the greater part at least of the North American continent, probably for thousands of years before the written history of man began. Christopher Columbus and his followers noted the fact that the Indians of Cuba wrapped the clippings from peculiar arom
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CHAPTER XVII HENEQUEN
CHAPTER XVII HENEQUEN
N EXT to the “Manila hemp” of the Philippines, which is really a variety of the banana, the henequen of Yucatan is probably the most important cordage plant in the world. The name henequen is of Aztec origin, and the plant itself, a variety of the agave or century plant family, is indigenous to Yucatan, whence it has been introduced not only into other sections of Mexico but also into Cuba, Central America and the west coast of South America. No satisfactory substitute has been found for heneque
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CHAPTER XVIII COFFEE
CHAPTER XVIII COFFEE
T O either Arabia or Abyssinia belongs the honor of having been the birth place of those previous shrubs that were the forerunners of all the great coffee plantations of two hemispheres. And from the seeds of this valued plant is made probably the most universally popular beverage of the world. The people of Europe, North Africa and Western Asia all drink coffee. The same is true in most countries of South and Central America, while in the United States and the West Indies no breakfast is comple
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CHAPTER XIX THE MANGO
CHAPTER XIX THE MANGO
O F all Oriental fruits brought to the Occident, the golden mango of India is undoubtedly king. For thousands of years, horticulturists of the Far East, under the direction of native princes, have worked towards its perfection. Just when the seeds were introduced into Cuba, no one knows, but certain it is that so favorable were both soil and climate that the mango today, in the opinion of the natives at least, furnishes the Island its finest fruit. It has so multiplied and spread throughout all
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CHAPTER XX CITRUS FRUITS
CHAPTER XX CITRUS FRUITS
A LTHOUGH the forests of Cuba abound in several varieties of the citrus family growing wild within their depths, the fruit was probably brought from Spain by the early conquerors. The beautiful, glossy-leafed trees of the wild sour and bitter oranges are met today throughout most of the West Indies, and are especially plentiful in this island. The seeds have probably been carried by birds, but the wild fruit, although seldom if ever sweet, with its deep red color, is not only ornamental to the f
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CHAPTER XXI BANANAS, PINEAPPLES AND OTHER FRUITS
CHAPTER XXI BANANAS, PINEAPPLES AND OTHER FRUITS
T HE banana is of East Indian origin, but of an antiquity so great that man has no record of its appearance on earth as an edible fruit, nor can any variety of the plant be found today growing wild. The importance of the banana as a source of food for the human race in all warm countries of low altitude is probably equaled by no other plant, owing to the fact that a greater amount of nourishment can be secured from an acre of bananas than from any other product of the soil. The banana has accomp
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CHAPTER XXII GRAPES, CACAO, AND VANILLA
CHAPTER XXII GRAPES, CACAO, AND VANILLA
I N spite of the fact that the Grape is indigenous to Cuba, prohibitory laws on the part of Spain discouraged its culture in all of her colonies, so that vine culture in the Island has had no opportunity to thrive. The few isolated specimens found occasionally in gardens have produced excellent fruit, especially in the neighborhood of Guantanamo, where French refugees from Santo Domingo introduced a few plants in the beginning of the 19th century. Realizing the importance of grape culture in any
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CHAPTER XXIII VEGETABLE GROWING
CHAPTER XXIII VEGETABLE GROWING
W ITH the advent of the American colonists in 1900, truck gardening sprang rapidly into prominence in Cuba until today it forms an important part of the small farmer’s revenue. Most of the well-known vegetables of the United States are grown here, not only for local markets, but for shipment abroad. They are usually planted at the close of the rainy season in October or November, and are brought to maturity in time to reach the North during winter and early spring, when high prices prevail. Thos
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CHAPTER XXIV STANDARD GRAINS AND FORAGE
CHAPTER XXIV STANDARD GRAINS AND FORAGE
C ORN or Maize was probably indigenous to the Island of Cuba, since it was one of the chief staples of food used by the Siboney Indians at the time of Columbus’s visit. This cereal may be grown in any of the provinces, although varieties introduced from the United States do not give the results that might be expected. The native Cuban corn has a comparatively short ear with its point closed by Nature. This prevents the entrance of the grub or worm, so destructive to the northern varieties that h
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CHAPTER XXV ANIMALS
CHAPTER XXV ANIMALS
C UBA , like the other West Indian Islands, is strangely poor in its indigenous mammals. The largest wild animal is the deer, a beautiful creature, resembling much the graceful Cervidae of the Virginia mountains. It is in fact a sub-species of the American deer. But these were imported into Cuba from some unknown place, and at a time of which there is no record extant. They are very plentiful throughout nearly all of the thinly settled sections of Cuba, especially in the Province of Pinar del Ri
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CHAPTER XXVI STOCK RAISING
CHAPTER XXVI STOCK RAISING
S OME of the men who followed Christopher Columbus across the Atlantic at the close of the 15th century were accustomed to stock raising in Spain, and all of them realized the value of the horse to the mounted warrior, armed with long lance or sharp cutlass, with which he could ride down the poor naked Indians of Cuba. They had come from Seville and the southern provinces, and had perhaps acquired their appreciation of the horse from the Arab, who made this noble animal his companion, and to all
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CHAPTER XXVII POULTRY: BEES: SPONGES
CHAPTER XXVII POULTRY: BEES: SPONGES
N OTWITHSTANDING the fact that several millions a year are expended by the people of the Republic in bringing poultry and eggs to Cuba, no steps were taken towards what might be termed systematic poultry raising until American colonists began experimenting with different breeds brought from the United States during the first Government of Intervention. And even since that time there are very few who have carried on really scientific experiments towards determining what varieties of chickens may
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CHAPTER XXVIII PLACES OF HISTORICAL INTEREST
CHAPTER XXVIII PLACES OF HISTORICAL INTEREST
T O the lover of romance or student of history, few spots in the western hemisphere, perhaps, have greater charm and interest than Morro Castle, high perched on the promontory that guards the eastern entrance of Havana Harbor. Seen at early dawn from the open port of an entering steamer, its great, rugged, picturesque bulk seems to assemble from the spectral mists of a legendary past, while all those intensely dramatic scenes of which El Morro has been the center, pass before one like the dreamy
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CHAPTER XXIX HAVANA
CHAPTER XXIX HAVANA
H AVANA is one of the most charming capitals in the New World. Its very name, Indian in its origin, conjures up a vivid panorama of four centuries, crowded with tragedy, pathos, adventure, bold deeds, cruel crimes and noble sacrifices; on whose rapidly moving film the hand of fate has pictured every phase of human emotion from the wild dreams of world conquerors, to the hopeless despair of hunted Cubenos, who preferred death to slavery. It was on the 25th day of July, 1515, that Diego Velasquez,
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CHAPTER XXX A PARADISE OF PALM DRIVES
CHAPTER XXX A PARADISE OF PALM DRIVES
T O those who are fond of motoring in the tropics, the world offers no more delightful field than the Island of Cuba from the end of October until early May, with Havana as a point of departure. Some fourteen hundred kilometers or 850 miles of clean, cream colored macadamized drives stretch out to the east, south and west of Havana, each inviting the tourist or lover of nature to feast his eyes on a fascinating panorama of mountain, hill and dale; of canon, cliff and undulating plain. Long lines
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CHAPTER XXXI BAYS AND HARBORS
CHAPTER XXXI BAYS AND HARBORS
N OTHING is more essential to the general prosperity of a mercantile country than good harbors. They are the economic gateways to the interior, through which all foreign trade must come and go. Cuba in this sense is essentially fortunate, especially along her north coast, where sixteen large, deep, well protected bays and harbors of the first order empty into the Gulf of Mexico, and into the north Atlantic, furnishing thus direct avenues of trade to the greatest commercial centers of the world.
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CHAPTER XXXII RAILROAD SYSTEMS IN CUBA
CHAPTER XXXII RAILROAD SYSTEMS IN CUBA
S OMEWHAT strange to relate, railroad building, insofar as it applied to Spanish territory, had its inception in Cuba, at a time when the Island was one of Spain’s colonial possessions. A few rich planters owning large properties at Guines, an exceptionally fertile district some forty miles from the capital, had kept in touch with experiments in railroad building and steam locomotives, as a new source of power in the commercial world, and for the purpose of trying out the practicability of this
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CHAPTER XXXIII MONEY AND BANKING
CHAPTER XXXIII MONEY AND BANKING
A perusal of Cuban history shows that within a few years after the country was settled, questions in regard to the exchange value of its moneys arose, which were not effectually resolved till the lapse of nearly four centuries later, upon the establishment of the Cuban Republic. As with the other early Spanish colonies of the New World, the circulating medium was at first solely metallic. A credit currency was not suited to a primitive country, whose foreign trade was largely clandestine, open t
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CHAPTER XXXIV PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
CHAPTER XXXIV PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
T HINKING men and women, the world over, realize that the hope, security and well being of the future lies in properly educating the children of the present. From an educated community we have nothing to fear. Mistakes in government policies may occur, but where intelligence dwells, right and justice will soon prevail over wrong. Education to-day is universally recognized as the most efficient and potent safeguard against crime and lawlessness of all kind, and in no section of the world is the n
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CHAPTER XXXV OCEAN TRANSPORTATION
CHAPTER XXXV OCEAN TRANSPORTATION
T RANSPORTATION is the handmaid of production. Where transportation facilities are faulty, exchange of commodities is necessarily restricted to local demands, and commerce with the outside world is practically impossible. Good harbors are among the first essentials to foreign trade, and with deep, well protected bays, Cuba has been bountifully supplied. Every sheltered indentation of her two thousand miles of coast line, from the days of Colon, has been an invitation for passing ships to enter.
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CHAPTER XXXVI AMERICAN COLONIES IN CUBA
CHAPTER XXXVI AMERICAN COLONIES IN CUBA
A MERICAN soldiers returning to the United States at the conclusion of her little war with Spain, in the summer of 1898, brought wonderful stories of Cuba, with glowing accounts of her climate, her rainfall, her rich soil and natural advantages. Schemes for the colonization of the Island were immediately formed and some of them put into effect during the early days of the Government of Intervention. Unfortunately, most of these enterprises originated with speculators, and so-called land-sharks,
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