Sub-class i. Tentaculata, Order 1. CYDIPPIDEA, _Hormiphora_.
" 2. LOBATA, _Deiopea_.
" 3. CESTOIDEA, _Cestus_.
" ii. Nuda, " _Beroe_.
The Tentaculata, as the name implies, may be recognized by the
presence of tentacles of some sort. The CYDIPPIDEA are generally
spherical or ovoid, with two long retrusible pinnate tentacles: the
meridianal and paragastric canals end blindly. An example of these has
already been briefly described. The LOBATA are of the same general
type as the first Order, except for the presence of four circumoral
auricles (processes of the subtransverse costae) and of a pair of
sagittal outgrowths or lobes, on to which the subsagittal costae are
continued. Small accessory tentacles lie in grooves, but there is no
tentacular pouch; the meridianal vessels anastomose in the lobes. In
the CESTOIDEA the body is compressed in the transverse plane,
elongated in the sagittal plane, so as to become riband-like: the
subtransverse costae are greatly reduced, the subsagittal costae
extend along the aboral edge of the riband. The subsagittal canals lie
immediately below their costae aborally, but continuations of the
subtransverse canals round down the middle of the riband, and at its
end unite, not only with the subsagittal but also with the paragastric
canals which run along the oral edge of the riband. The tentacular
bases and pouches are present, but there is no main tentacle as in
Cydippidea; fine accessory tentacles lie in four grooves along the
oral edge. The sub-class Nuda have no tentacles of any kind; they are
conical or ovoid, with a capacious stomodaeum like the cavity of a
thimble. There is a coelenteric network formed by anastomoses of the
meridianal and paragastric canals all over the body.
The embryology of _Callianira_ has been worked out by E. Mechnikov.
Segmentation is complete and unequal, producing macromeres and
micromeres marked by differences in the size and in yolk-contents.
The micromeres give rise to the ectoderm; each of the sixteen
macromeres, after budding off a small mesoblast cell, passes on as
endoderm. A gastrula is established by a mixed process of embole and
epibole. The mesoblast cells travel to the aboral pole of the embryo,
and there form a cross-shaped mass, the arms of which lie in the
sagittal and transverse planes (perradii).
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Schematic Drawing of Cestus. (After Chun.)
Subs, Subsagittal costae.
Subt, Much reduced subtentacular costae.
Subt, Branch of the subtentacular canal which runs along the centre of
the riband.
Pg, Continuation of the paragastric canal at right angles to its
original direction along the lower edge of the riband. At the
right-hand end the last two are seen to unite with the subsagittal
canal.]
There can be but little question of the propriety of including
Ctenophora among the Coelentera. The undivided coelenteron
(gastro-vascular system) which constitutes the sole cavity of the body,
the largely radial symmetry, the presence of endodermal generative
organs on the coelenteric canals, the subepithelial nerve-plexus, the
mesogloea-like matrix of the body--all these features indicate affinity
to other Coelentera, but, as has been stated in the article under that
title, the relation is by no means close. At what period the Ctenophora
branched off from the line of descent, which culminated in the
Hydromedusae and Scyphozoa of to-day, is not clear, but it is
practically certain that they did so before the point of divergence of
these two groups from one another. The peculiar sense-organ, the
specialization of the cilia into paddles with the corresponding
modifications of the coelenteron, the anatomy and position of the
tentacles, and, above all, the character and mode of formation of the
mesenchyme, separate them widely from other Coelentera.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Schematic Drawing of _Beroe_. (After Chun.)]
The last-named character, however, combined with the discovery of two
remarkable organisms, _Coeloplana_ and _Ctenoplana_, has suggested
affinity to the flat-worms termed Turbellaria. _Ctenoplana_, the best
known of these, has recently been redescribed by A. Willey (_Quart.
Journ. Micr. Sci._ xxxix., 1896). It is flattened along the axis which
unites sense-organ and mouth, so as to give it a dorsal (aboral)
surface, and a ventral (oral) surface on which it frequently creeps. Its
costae are very short, and retrusible; its two tentacles are pinnate and
are also retrusible. Two crescentic rows of ciliated papillae lie in the
transverse plane on each side of the sense-organ. The coelenteron
exhibits six lobes, two of which Willey identifies with the stomodaeum
of other Ctenophora; the other four give rise to a system of
anastomosing canals such as are found in _Beroe_ and Polyclad
Turbellaria. An aboral vessel embraces the sense-organ, but has no
external opening. _Ctenoplana_ is obviously a Ctenophoran flattened and
of a creeping habit. _Coeloplana_ is of similar form and habit, with two
Ctenophoran tentacles: it has no costae, but is uniformly ciliated.
These two forms at least indicate a possible stepping-stone from
Ctenophora to Turbellaria, that is to say, from diploblastic to
triploblastic Metazoa. By themselves they would present no very weighty
argument for this line of descent from two-layered to three-layered
forms, but the coincidences which occur in the development of Ctenophora
and Turbellaria,--the methods of segmentation and gastrulation, of the
separation of the mesoblast cells, and of mesenchyme
formation,--together with the marked similarity of the adult mesenchyme
in the two groups, have led many to accept this pedigree. In his
Monograph on the Polyclad Turbellaria of the Bay of Naples, A. Lang
regards a Turbellarian, so to say, as a Ctenophora, in which the sensory
pole has rotated forwards in the sagittal plane through 90 deg. as
regards the original oral-aboral axis, a rotation which actually occurs
in the development of _Thysanozoon_ (Muller's larva); and he sees, in
the eight lappets of the preoral ciliated ring of such a larva, the
rudiments of the costal plates. According to his view, a simple early
Turbellarian larva, such as that of _Stylochus_, most nearly represents
for us to-day that ancestor from which Ctenophora and Turbellaria are
alike derived. For details of this brilliant theory, the reader is
referred to the original monograph.
LITERATURE.--G. C. Bourne, "The Ctenophora," in Ray Lankester's
_Treatise on Zoology_ (1900), where a bibliography is given; G.
Curreri, "Osservazioni sui ctenofori," _Boll. Soc. Zool. Ital._ (2),
i. pp. 190-193 et ii. pp. 58-76; A. Garbe, "Untersuchungen uber die
Entstehung der Geschlechtsorgane bei den Ctenophoren.," _Zeitschr.
Wiss. Zool._ lxix. pp. 472-491; K. C. Schneider, _Lehrbuch der
vergleich. Histologie_ (1902). (G. H. Fo.)
CTESIAS, of Cnidus in Caria, Greek physician and historian, flourished
in the 5th century B.C. In early life he was physician to Artaxerxes
Mnemon, whom he accompanied (401) on his expedition against his brother
Cyrus the Younger. Ctesias was the author of treatises on rivers, and on
the Persian revenues, of an account of India (which is of value as
recording the beliefs of the Persians about India), and of a history of
Assyria and Persia in 23 books, called _Persica_, written in opposition
to Herodotus in the Ionic dialect, and professedly founded on the
Persian royal archives. The first six books treated of the history of
Assyria and Babylon to the foundation of the Persian empire; the
remaining seventeen went down to the year 398. Of the two histories we
possess abridgments by Photius, and fragments are preserved in
Athenaeus, Plutarch and especially Diodorus Siculus, whose second book
is mainly from Ctesias. As to the worth of the _Persica_ there has been
much controversy, both in ancient and modern times. Being based upon
Persian authorities, it was naturally looked upon with suspicion by the
Greeks and censured as untrustworthy.
For an estimate of Ctesias as a historian see G. Rawlinson's
_Herodotus_, i. 71-74; also the edition of the fragments of the
_Persica_ by J. Giimore (1888, with introduction and notes and list of
authorities).
CTESIPHON, a large village on the left bank of the Tigris, opposite to
Seleucia, of which it formed a suburb, about 25 m. below Bagdad. It is
first mentioned in the year 220 by Polybius v. 45. 4. When the Parthian
Arsacids had conquered the lands east of the Euphrates in 129 B.C., they
established their winter residence in Ctesiphon. They dared not stay in
Seleucia, as this city, the most populous town of western Asia, always
maintained her Greek self-government and a strong feeling of
independence, which made her incline to the west whenever a Roman army
attacked the Parthians. The Arsacids also were afraid of destroying the
wealth and commerce of Seleucia, if they entered it with their large
retinue of barbarian officials and soldiers (Strabo xvi. 743, Plin. vi.
122, cf. Joseph. _Ant._ xviii. 9, 2). From this time Ctesiphon increased
in size, and many splendid buildings rose; it had the outward appearance
of a large town, although it was by its constitution only a village.
From A.D. 36-43 Seleucia was in rebellion against the Parthians till at
last it was forced by King Vardanes to yield. It is very probable that
Vardanes now tried to put Ctesiphon in its place; therefore he is called
founder of Ctesiphon by Ammianus Marcellinus (xxiii. 6. 23), where King
Pacorus (78-110) is said to have increased its inhabitants and built its
walls. Seleucia was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 164. When Ardashir
I. founded the Sassanian empire (226), and fixed his residence at
Ctesiphon, he built up Seleucia again under the name of Veh-Ardashir.
Later kings added other suburbs; Chosroes I. in 540 established the
inhabitants of Antiochia in Syria, whom he had led into captivity, in a
new city, "Chosrau-Antioch" (or "the Roman city") near his residence.
Therefore the Arabs designate the whole complex of towns which lay
together around Seleucia and Ctesiphon and formed the residence of the
Sassanids by the name Madain, "the cities,"--their number is often given
as seven. In the wars between the Roman and Persian empires, Ctesiphon
was more than once besieged and plundered, thus by Odaenathus in 261,
and by Canis in 283; Julian in 363 advanced to Ctesiphon, but was not
able to take it (Ammianus xxiv. 7). After the battle of Kadisiya
(Qadisiya) Ctesiphon and the neighbouring towns were taken and plundered
by the Arabs in 637, who brought home an immense amount of booty (see
CALIPHATE). From then, these towns decayed before the increasing
prosperity of the new Arab capitals Basra and Bagdad. The site is marked
only by the ruins of one gigantic building of brick-work, called Takhti
Khesra, "throne of Khosrau" (i.e. Chosroes). It is a great vaulted hall
ornamented with pilasters, the remainder of the palace and the most
splendid example of Sassanian architecture (see ARCHITECTURE, vol. ii.
p. 558, for further details and illustration). (Ed. M.)
CUBA (the aboriginal name), a republic, the largest and most populous of
the West India Islands, included between the meridians of 74 deg. 7' and
84 deg. 57' W. longitude and (roughly) the parallels of 19 deg. 48' and
23 deg. 13' N. latitude. It divides the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico
into two passages of nearly equal width,--the Strait of Florida, about
110 m. wide between Capes Hicacos in Cuba and Arenas in Florida (Key
West being a little over 100 m. from Havana); and the Yucatan Channel,
about 130 m. wide between Capes San Antonio and Catoche. On the N.E., E.
and S.E., narrower channels separate it from the Bahamas, Haiti (50 m.)
and Jamaica (85 m.). In 1908, by the opening of a railway along the
Florida Keys, the time of passage by water between Cuba and the United
States was reduced to a few hours.
The island is long and narrow, somewhat in the form of an irregular
crescent, convex toward the N. It has a decided pitch to the S. Its
length from Cape Maisi to Cape San Antonio along a medial line is about
730 m.; its breadth, which averages about 50 m., ranges from a maximum
of 160 m. to a minimum of about 22 m. The total area is estimated at
41,634 sq. m. without the surrounding keys and the Isle of Pines (area
about 1180 sq. m.), and including these is approximately 44,164. The
geography of the island is still very imperfectly known, and all figures
are approximate only. The coast line, including larger bays, but
excluding reefs, islets, keys and all minute sinuosities, is about 2500
m. in length. The N. littoral is characterized by bluffs, which grow
higher and higher toward the east, rising to 600 ft. at Cape Maisi. They
are marked by distinct terraces. The southern coast near Cape Maisi is
low and sandy. From Guantanamo to Santiago it rises in high escarpments,
and W. of Santiago, where the Sierra Maestra runs close to the sea,
there is a very high abrupt shore. To the W. of Manzanillo it sinks
again, and throughout most of the remaining distance to Cape San Antonio
is low, with a sandy or marshy littoral; at places sand hills fringe the
shore; near Trinidad there are hills of considerable height; and the
coast becomes high and rugged W. of Point Fisga, in the province of
Pinar del Rio. On both the N. and the S. side of the island there are
long chains of islets and reefs and coral keys (of which it is estimated
there are 1300), which limit access to probably half of the coast, and
on the N. render navigation difficult and dangerous. On the S. they are
covered with mangroves. A large part of the southern littoral is subject
to overflow, and much more of it is permanently marshy. The Zapata Swamp
near Cienfuegos is 600 sq. m. in area; other large swamps are the
Majaguillar, E. of Cardenas, and the Cienaga del Buey, S. of the Cauto
river. The Isle of Pines in its northern part is hilly and wooded; in
its southern part, very low, level and rather barren; a tidal swamp
almost cuts the island in two. A remarkable feature of the Cuban coast
is the number of excellent anchorages, roadsteads and harbours. On the
N. shore, beginning at the W., Bahia Honda, Havana, Matanzas, Cardenas,
Nuevitas and Nipe; and on the S. shore running westward Guantanamo,
Santiago and Cienfuegos, are harbours of the first class, several of
them among the best of the world. Mariel, Cabanas, Banes, Sagua la
Grande and Baracoa on the N., and Manzanillo, Santa Cruz, Batabano and
Trinidad on the S. are also excellent ports or anchorages. The peculiar
pouch-shape of almost all the harbours named (Matanzas being a marked
exception) greatly increases their security and defensibility. These
pouch harbours are probably "drowned" drainage basins. The number of
small bays that can be utilized for coast trade traffic is
extraordinary.
[Illustration: Map of Cuba.]
In popular language the different portions of the island are
distinguished as the Vuelta Abajo ("lower turn"), W. of Havana; the
Vuelta Arriba ("upper turn"), E. of Havana to Cienfuegos--Vuelta Abajo
and Vuelta Arriba are also used colloquially at any point in the island
to mean "east" and "west"--Las Cinco Villas--i.e. Villa Clara, Trinidad,
Remedios, Cienfuegos and Sancti Spiritus--between Cienfuegos and Sancti
Spiritus; and Tierra Adentro, referring to the region between Cienfuegos
and Bayamo. These names are extremely common. The province and city of
Puerto Principe are officially known as Camaguey, their original Indian
name, which has practically supplanted the Spanish name in local usage.
Five topographic divisions of the island are fairly marked. Santiago
(now Oriente) province is high and mountainous. Camaguey is
characterized by rolling, open plains, slightly broken, especially in
the W., by low mountains. The E. part of Santa Clara province is
decidedly rough and broken. The W. part, with the provinces of Matanzas
and Havana, is flat and rolling, with occasional hills a few hundred
feet high. Finally, Pinar del Rio is dominated by a prominent mountain
range and by outlying piedmont hills and mesas. There are mountains in
Cuba from one end of the island to the other, but they are not derived
from any central mass and are not continuous. As just indicated there
are three distinctively mountainous districts, various minor groups
lying outside these. The three main systems are known in Cuba as the
occidental, central and oriental. The first, the Organ mountains, in
Pinar del Rio, rises in a sandy, marshy region near Cape San Antonio.
The crest runs near the N. shore, leaving various flanking spurs and
foothills, and a coastal plain which at its greatest breadth on the S.
is some 20 m. wide. The plain on the N. is narrower and higher. The
southern slope is smooth, and abounds in creeks and rivers. The portion
of the southern plain between the bays of Cortes and Majana is the most
famous portion of the Vuelta Abajo tobacco region. The mountain range is
capriciously broken at points, especially near Bejucal. The highest part
is the Pan de Guajaibon, near Bahia Honda, at the W. end of the chain;
its altitude has been variously estimated from 2500 to 1950 ft. The
central system has two wings, one approaching the N. coast, the other
covering the island between Sancti Spiritus and Santa Clara. It
comprehends a number of independent groups. The highest point, the Pico
Potrerillo, is about 2900 ft. in altitude. The summits are generally
well rounded, while the lower slopes are often steep. Frequent broad
intervals of low upland or low level plain extend from sea to sea
between and around the mountains. Near the coast runs a continuous belt
of plantations, while grazing, tobacco and general farm lands cover the
lower slopes of the hills, and virgin forests much of the uplands and
mountains.
The oriental mountain region includes the province of Oriente and a
portion of Camaguey. In extent, in altitude, in mass, in complexity and
in geological interest, it is much the most important of the three
systems. Almost all the mountains are very bold. They are imperfectly
known. There are two main ranges, the Sierra Maestra, and a line of
various groups along the N. shore. The former runs from Cape Santa Cruz
eastward along the coast some 125 m. to beyond the river Baconao. The
Sierra de Cobre, a part of the system in the vicinity of Santiago, has a
general elevation of about 3000 ft. Monte Turquino, 7700-8320 ft. in
altitude, is the highest peak of the island. Gran Piedra rises more than
5200 ft., the Ojo del Toro more than 3300, the Anvil de Baracoa is
somewhat lower, and Pan de Matanzas is about 1267 ft. The western
portions of the range rise abruptly from the ocean, forming a bold and
beautiful coast. A multitude of ravines and gullies, filled with
torrential streams or dry, according to the season of the year, and
characterized by many beautiful cascades, seam the narrow coastal plain
and the flanks of the mountains. The spurs of the central range are a
highly intricate complex, covered with dense forests of superb woods.
Many points are inaccessible, and the scenery is wild in the extreme.
The mountains beyond Guantanamo are locally known by a variety of names,
though topographically a continuation of the Sierra Maestra. The same is
true of the chains that coalesce with these near Cape Maisi and diverge
northwesterly along the N. coast of the island. The general character of
this northern marginal system is much the same as that of the southern,
save that the range is much less continuous. A dozen or more groups
from Nipe in the E. to the coast N. of Camaguey in the W. are known only
by individual names. The range near Baracoa is extremely wild and
broken. The region between the lines of the two coastal systems is a
much dissected plateau, imperfectly explored. The Cauto river, the only
one flowing E. or W. and the largest of Cuba, flows through it westward
to the southern coast near Manzanillo. The scenery in the oriental
portion of the island is very beautiful, with wild mountains and
tropical forests. In the central part there are extensive prairies. In
the west there are swelling hills and gentle valleys, with the royal
palm the dominating tree. The valley of the Yumuri, near Matanzas, a
small circular basin crossed by a river that issues through a glen to
the sea, is perhaps the most beautiful in Cuba.
A very peculiar feature of Cuba is the abundance of caverns in the
limestone deposits that underlie much of the island's surface. The caves
of Cotilla near Havana, of Bellamar near Matanzas, of Monte Libano near
Guantanamo, and those of San Juan de los Remedios, are the best known,
but there are scores of others. Many streams are "disappearing," part of
their course being through underground tunnels. Thus the Rio San Antonio
suddenly disappears near San Antonio de los Banos; the cascades of the
Jatibonico del Norte disappear and reappear in a surprising manner; the
Moa cascade (near Guantanamo) drops 300 ft. into a cavern and its waters
later reissue from the earth; the Jojo river disappears in a great
"sink" and later issues with violent current at the edge of the sea. The
springs of fresh water that bubble up among the keys of the S. coast are
also supposedly the outlets of underground streams.
The number of rivers is very great, but almost without exception their
courses are normal to the coast, and they are so short as to be of but
slight importance. The Cauto river in Oriente province is exceptional;
it is 250 m. long, and navigable by small vessels for about 75 m. Inside
the bar at its mouth (formed by a storm in 1616) ships of 200 tons can
still ascend to Cauto. In Camaguey province the Jatibonico del Sur; in
Oriente the Salado, a branch of the Cauto; in Santa Clara the Sagua la
Grande (which is navigable for some 20 m. and has an important traffic),
and the Damuji; in Matanzas, the Canimar; and in Pinar del Rio the
Cuyaguateje, are important streams. The water-parting in the four
central provinces is very indefinite. There are few river valleys that
are noteworthy--those of the Yumuri, the Trinidad and the Guines. At
Guantanamo and Trinidad are other valleys, and between Mariel and Havana
is the fine valley of Ariguanabo. Of lakes, there are a few on the
coast, and a very few in the mountains. The finest is Lake Ariguanabo,
near Havana, 6 sq. m. in area. Of the almost innumerable river cascades,
those of the Sierra Maestra Mountains, and in particular the Moa
cascade, have already been mentioned. The Guama cascade in Oriente
province and the Hanabanilla Fall near Cienfuegos (each more than 300
ft. high), the Rosario Fall in Pinar del Rio, and the Almendares cascade
near Havana, may also be mentioned.
_Geology._--The foundation of the island is formed of metamorphic and
igneous rocks, which appear in the Sierra Maestra and are exposed in
other parts of the island wherever the comparatively thin covering of
later beds has been worn away. A more or less continuous band of
serpentine belonging to this series forms the principal watershed,
although it nowhere rises to any great height. It is in this band that
the greater part of the mineral wealth of Cuba is situated. These
ancient rocks have hitherto yielded no fossils and their age is
therefore uncertain, but they are probably pre-Cretaceous at least.
Fossiliferous Cretaceous limestones containing _Rudistes_ have been
found in several parts of the island (Santiago de los Banos, Santa
Clara province, &c.). At the base there is often an arkose, composed
largely of fragments of serpentine and granite derived from the
ancient floor. At Esperanza and other places in the Santa Clara
province, bituminous plant-bearing beds occur beneath the Tertiary
limestones, and at Baracoa a Radiolarian earth occupies a similar
position. The latter, like the similar deposits in other West Indian
islands, is probably of Oligocene age. It is the Tertiary limestones
which form the predominant feature in the geology of Cuba. Although
they do not exceed 1000 ft. in thickness, they probably at one time
covered the whole island except the summits of the Sierra Maestra,
where they have been observed, resting upon the older rocks, up to a
height of 2300 ft. They contain corals, but are not coral reefs. The
shells which have been found in them indicate that they belong for
the most part to the Oligocene period. They are frequently very much
disturbed and often strongly folded. Around the coast there is a
raised shelf of limestone which was undoubtedly a coral reef. But it
is of recent date and does not attain an elevation of more than 40 or
50 ft.
Minerals are fairly abundant in number, but few are present in
sufficient quantity to be industrially important. Traditions of gold
and silver, dating from the time of the Spanish conquest, still
endure, but these metals are in fact extremely rare. Oriente province
is distinctively the mineral province of the island. Large copper
deposits of peculiar richness occur here in the Sierra de Cobre, near
the city of Santiago; and both iron and manganese are abundant.
Besides the deposits in Oriente province, iron is known to exist in
considerable amount in Camaguey and Santa Clara, and copper in
Camaguey and Pinar del Rio provinces. The iron ores mined at Daiquiri
near Santiago are mainly rich hematites running above 60% of iron,
with very little sulphur or phosphorus admixture. The copper deposits
are mainly in well-marked fracture planes in serpentine; the ore is
pyrrhotite, with or without chalcopyrite. Manganese occurs especially
along the coast between Santiago and Manzanillo; the best ores run
above 50%. Chromium and a number of other rare minerals are known to
exist, but probably not in commercially available quantities.
Bituminous products of every grade, from clear translucent oils
resembling petroleum and refined naphtha, to lignite-like substances,
occur in all parts of the island. Much of the bituminous deposits is
on the dividing line between asphalt and coal. There is an endless
amount of stone, very little of which is hard enough to be good for
building material, the greatest part being a soft coralline limestone.
The best buildings in Havana are constructed of a very rich white
limestone, soft and readily worked when fresh, but hardening and
slightly darkening with age. There are extensive and valuable deposits
of beautiful marbles in the Isle of Pines, and lesser ones near
Santiago. The Organ Mountains contain a hard blue limestone; and
sandstones occur on the N. coast of Pinar del Rio province. Clays of
all qualities and colours abound. Mineral waters, though not yet
important in trade, are extremely abundant, and a score of places in
Cuba and the Isle of Pines are already known as health resorts. Those
near San Diego, Guanabacoa and Santa Maria del Rosario (near Havana)
and Madruga (near Guines) are the best known.
The soil of the island is almost wholly of modern formation, mainly
alluvial, with superficial limestones as another prominent feature. In
the original formation of the island volcanic disturbances and coral
growth played some part; but there are only very slight superficial
evidences in the island of former volcanic activity. Noteworthy
earthquakes are rare. They have been most common in Oriente province.
Those of 1776, 1842 and 1852 were particularly destructive, and of
earlier ones those of 1551 and 1624 at Bayamo and of 1578 and 1678 at
Santiago. Every year there are seismic disturbances, and though
Santiago is the point of most frequent visitation, they occur in all
parts of the island, in 1880 affecting the entire western end. Notable
seismic disturbances in Cuba have coincided with similar activity in
Central America so often as to make some connexion apparent.
_Flora._--The tropical heat and humidity of Cuba make possible a flora
of splendid richness. All the characteristic species of the West
Indies, the Central American and Mexican and southern Florida
seaboard, and nearly all the large trees of the Mexican tropic belt,
are embraced in it. As many as 3350 native flowering species were
catalogued in 1876. The total number of species of the island flora
was estimated in 1892 by a writer in the _Revista Cubana_ (vol. xv.
pp. 5-16) to be between 5000 and 6000, but hardly one-third of this
number had then been gathered into a herbarium, and all parts of the
island had not then been explored. It was estimated officially in 1904
that the wooded lands of the island comprised 3,628,434 acres, of
which one-third were in Oriente province, another third in Camaguey,
and hardly any in Havana province. Much of this area is of primeval
forest; somewhat more than a third of the total, belonging to the
government, was opened to sale (and speculative exspoliation) in 1904.
The woods are so dense over large districts as to be impenetrable,
except by cutting a path foot by foot through the close network of
vines and undergrowth. The jaguey (_Ficus_ sp.), which stifles in its
giant coils the greatest trees of the forest, and the copei (_Clusia
rosea_) are remarkable parasitic lianas. Of the palm there are more
than thirty species. The royal palm is the most characteristic tree of
Cuba. It attains a height of from 50 to 75 ft., and sometimes of more
than 100 ft. Alone, or in groups, or in long aisles, towering above
the plantations or its fellow trees of the forest, its beautiful crest
dominates every landscape. Every portion, from its roots to its
leaves, serves some useful purpose. From it the native draws lumber
for his hut, utensils for his kitchen, thatch for his roof, medicines,
preserved delicacies, and a long list of other articles. The corojo
palm (_Cocos crispa_) rivals the royal palm in beauty and utility;
oil, sugar, drink and wood are derived from it. The coco palm (_Cocos
nucifera_) is also put to varied uses. The mango is planted with the
royal palm along the avenues of the plantations. The beautiful ceiba
(_Bombax ceiba_ L., _Ceiba pentandra_) or silk cotton tree is the
giant of the Cuban forests; it often grows to a height of 100 to 150
ft. with enormous girth. The royal pinon (_Erythrina velatina_) is
remarkable for the magnificent purple flowers that cover it. The
tamarind and banyan are also noteworthy. Utilitarian trees and plants
are legion. There are at least forty choice cabinet and building
woods. Of these, ebonies, mahogany (for the bird's-eye variety such
enormous prices are paid as $1200 to $1800 per thousand board-feet),
culla (or cuya, _Bumelia retusa_), cocullo (cocuyo, _Bumelia nigra_),
ocuje (_Callophyllum viticifolia_, _Ornitrophis occidentalis_, _O.
cominia_), jigue (jique, _Lysiloma sabicu_), mahagua (_Hibiscus
tiliaceus_), granadillo (_Brya ebenus_), icaquillo (_Licania incania_)
and agua-baria (_Cordia gerascanthes_) are perhaps the most beautiful.
Other woods, beautiful and precious, include guayacan (Guaiacum
sanctum), baria (varia, _Cordia gerascanthoides_)--the fragrant,
hard-wood Spanish elm--the quiebra-hacha (_Copaifera hymenofolia_),
which three are of wonderful lasting qualities; the jiqui (_Malpighia
obovata_), acana (_Achras disecta_, _Bassia albescens_), caigaran (or
caguairan, _Hymenaea floribunda_), and the dagame (_Calicophyllum
candidissimum_), which four, like the culla, are all wonderfully
resistant to humidity; the caimatillo (_Chrysophyllum oliviforme_),
the yaya (or yayajabico, yayabito: _Erythalis fructicosa_, _Bocagea
virgata_, _Guateria virgata_, _Asimina Blaini_), a magnificent
construction wood; the maboa (_Cameraria latifolia_) and the jocuma
(jocum: _Sideroxylon mastichodendron_, _Bumelia saticifolia_), all of
individual beauties and qualities. Many species are rich in gums and
resins; the calambac, mastic, copal, cedar, &c. Many others are
oleaginous, among them, peanuts, sun-flowers, the bene seed (sesame),
corozo, almond and palmachristi. Others (in addition to some already
mentioned) are medicinal; as the palms, calabash, manchineel, pepper,
fustic and a long list of cathartics, caustics, emetics, astringents,
febrifuges, vermifuges, diuretics and tonics. Then, too, there are
various dyewoods; rosewood, logwood (or campeachy wood), indigo,
manaju (_Garcinia Morella_), Brazil-wood and saffron. Textile plants
are extremely common. The majagua tree grows as high as 40 ft.; from
its bark is made cordage of the finest quality, which is scarcely
affected by the atmosphere. Strong, fine, glossy fibres are yielded by
the exotic ramie (_Boehmeria nivea_), whose fibre, like that of the
majagua, is almost incorruptible; by the maya or rat-pineapple
(_Bromelia Pinguin_), and by the daquilla (or daiguiya--_Lagetta
lintearia_, _L. valenzuelana_), which like the maya yields a
brilliant, flexible product like silk; stronger cordage by the corojo
palms, and various henequen plants, native and exotic (especially
_Agave americana_, _A. Cubensis_); and various plantains, the exotic
_Sansevieria guineensis_, okra, jute, _Laportea_, various lianas, and
a great variety of reeds, supply varied textile materials of the best
quality. The yucca is a source of starch. For building and
miscellaneous purposes, in addition to the rare woods above named,
there are cedars (used in great quantities for cigar boxes); the pine,
found only in the W., where it gives its name to the Isle of Pines and
the province of Pinar del Rio; various palms; oaks of varying hardness
and colour, &c. The number of alimentary plants is extremely great.
Among economic plants should be mentioned the coffee, cacao, citron,
cinnamon, cocoanut and rubber tree. Wheat, Indian corn and many
vegetables, especially tuberous, are particularly important. Plantain
occurs in several varieties; it is in part a cheap and healthful
substitute for bread, which is also made from the bitter cassava,
after the poison is extracted. The sweet cassava yields tapioca.
Bread-trees are fairly common, but are little cared for. White and
sweet potatoes, yams, sweet and bitter yuccas, sago and okra, may also
be mentioned.
Fruits are varied and delicious. The pineapple is the most favoured by
Cubans. Four or five annual crops grow from one plant, but not more
than three can be marketed, unless locally, as the product
deteriorates. The better ("purple") varieties are mainly consumed in
the island, and the smaller and less juicy "white" varieties exported.
The tamarind is everywhere. Bananas are grown particularly in the
region about Nipe, Gibara and Baracoa, whence they are exported in
large quantities, though there is a tendency to lessen their culture
in these parts in favour of sugar. Mangoes, though exotic, are
extremely common, and in the E. grow wild in the forests. They are the
favourite fruit of the negroes. Oranges are little cultivated,
although they offer apparently almost unlimited possibilities; their
culture decreased steadily after 1880, but after about 1900 was again
greatly extended. Lemons yield continuously through the year, but like
oranges, not much has yet been done with them commercially.
Pomegranates are as universally used in Cuba as apples in the United.
States. Figs and grapes degenerate in Cuba. Dates grow better, but
nothing has been done with them. The coco-nut palm is most abundant in
the vicinity of Baracoa. Among the common fruits are various
anonas--the custard apple (_Anona cherimolia_), sweet-sop (_A.
squamosa_), sour-sop (_A. muricata_), mamon (_A. reticulata_), and
others,--the star-apple (_Chrysophyllum cainito_, _C. pomiferum_),
rose-apple (_Eugenia jambos_), pawpaw, the sapodilla (_Sapota
achras_), the caniste (_Sapota Elongata_), jagua (_Genipa americana_),
alligator pear (_Persea gratissima_), the yellow mammee (_Mammea
americana_) and so-called "red mammee" (_Lucuma mammosa_) and limes.
_Fauna._--The fauna of Cuba, like the flora, is still imperfectly
known. Collectively it shows long isolation from the other Antilles.
Only two land mammals are known to be indigenous. One is the hutia
(agouti) or Cuban rat, of which three species are known (_Capromys
Fournieri_, _C. melanurus_ and _C. Poey_). It lives in the most
solitary woods, especially in the eastern hills. The other is a
peculiar insectivore (_Solenodon paradoxus_), the only other
representatives of whose family are found in Madagascar. Various
animals, apparently indigenous, that are described by the early
historians of the conquest, have disappeared. An Antillean rabbit is
very abundant. Bats in prodigious numbers, and some of them of
extraordinary size, inhabit the many caves of the island; more than
twenty species are known. Rats and mice, especially the guayabita
(_Mus musculus_), an extremely destructive rodent, are very abundant.
The manatee, or sea-cow, frequents the mouths of rivers, the sargasso
drifts, and the regions of submarine fresh-water springs off the
coast. Horses, asses, cows, deer, sheep, goats, swine, cats and dogs
were introduced by the early Spaniards. The last three are common in a
wild state. Deer are not native, and are very rare; a few live in the
swamps.
Of birds there are more than 200 indigenous species, it is said, and
migratory species are also numerous. Waders are represented by more
than fifty species. Vultures are represented by only one species, the
turkey buzzard, which is the universal scavenger of the fields, and
until recent years even of the cities, and has always been protected
by custom and the Laws of the Indies. Falcons are represented by a
score of species, at least, several of them nocturnal. Kestrels are
common. The gallinaceous order is rich in _Columbidae_. Trumpeters are
notably represented, and climbers still more so. Among the latter are
species of curious habits and remarkable colouring. Woodpeckers
(_Coloptes auratus_), macaws, parrakeets and other small parrots, and
trogons, these last of beautifully resplendent plumage, deserve
particular mention. The Cuban mocking-bird is a wonderful songster. Of
humming-birds there are said to be sixty species, probably only one
indigenous. Of the other birds mere mention may be made of the wild
pigeon, raven, indigo-bird, English lady-bird and linnet.
Reptiles are numerous. Many tortoises are notable. The crocodile and
cayman occur in the swampy littoral of the south. Of lizards the
iguana (_Cyclura caudata_) is noteworthy. Chameleons are common.
Snakes are not numerous, and it is said that none is poisonous or
vicious. There is one enormous boa, the maja (_Epicrates angulifer_),
which feeds on pigs, goats and the like, but does not molest man.
Fishes are present in even greater variety than birds. Felipa Poey, in
his _Ictiologia Cubana_, listed 782 species of fish and crustaceans,
of which 105 were doubtful; but more than one-half of the remainder
were first described by Poey. The fish of Cuban waters are remarkable
for their metallic colourings. The largest species are found off the
northern coast. Food fishes are relatively not abundant, presumably
because the deep sea escarpments of the N. are unfavourable to their
life. Shell fish are unimportant. Two species of blind fish, of
extreme scientific interest, are found in the caves of the island. Of
the "percoideos" there are many genera. Among the most important are
the robalo (_Labrax_), an exquisite food fish, the tunny, eel, Spanish
sardine and mangua. Of the sharks the genus _Squalus_ is represented
by individuals that grow to a length of 26 to 30 ft. The hammer-head
attains a weight at times of 600 lb. The saw-fish is common. Of
fresh-water fish the lisa, dogro, guayacon and viajocos (_Chromis
fuscomaculatus_) are possibly the most noteworthy.
Molluscs are extraordinarily numerous; and many, both of water and
land, are rarities among their kind for size and richness of colour.
Of crustaceans, land-crabs are remarkable for size and number.
Arachnids are prodigiously numerous. Insect life is abundant and
beautiful. The bite of the scorpion and of the numerous spiders
produces no serious effects. The nigua, the Cuban jigger, is a pest of
serious consequence, and the mal de nigua (jigger sickness) sometimes
causes the death of lower animals and men. Sand-flies and biting gnats
are lesser nuisances. Lepidoptera are very brilliant in colouring. The
cucujo or Cuban firefly (_Pyrophorus noctilucus_) gives out so strong
a light that a few of them serve effectively as a lantern. The
_Stegomyia_ mosquito is the agent of yellow fever inoculation. Sponges
grow in great variety.
_Climate._--The climate of Cuba is tropical and distinctively insular in
characteristics of humidity, equability and high mean temperature. There
are two distinct seasons: a "dry" season from November to April, and a
hotter, "wet" season. About two-thirds of the total precipitation falls
in the latter. Droughts, extensive in area and in duration, are by no
means uncommon. At Havana the mean temperature is about 76 deg. F., with
extreme monthly oscillations ranging on the average from 6 deg. to 12
deg. F. for different months, and with a range between the means of the
coldest and warmest months of 10 deg. (70 deg. to 80 deg.); temperatures
below 50 deg. or above 90 deg. being rare. The mean rainfall at Havana
is about 40.6 in. (sometimes over 80), and the mean absolute humidity of
different months ranges from 70 to 80%. These figures represent fairly
well the conditions of much of the northern coast. In the N.E. the
rainfall is much greater. The equability of heat throughout the day is
masked and relieved by the afternoon sea breezes. The trades are steady
through the year, and in the dry season the western part of the island
enjoys cool "northers." Despite this the interior is somewhat cooler
than the coast, and in the uplands frost is not uncommon. The southern
littoral is also (except in sheltered points such as Santiago, which is
one of the hottest cities of the island) somewhat cooler than the
northern.
More than eight or ten years rarely pass without tornadoes or hurricanes
of local severity at least. Notably destructive ones occurred in 1768,
1774, 1842, 1844, 1846, 1865, 1870, 1876, 1885 and 1894. Those of 1842
and 1844 caused extreme distress in the island. In 1846, 300 vessels and
2000 houses were destroyed at Havana; in 1896 the banana groves of the
N.E. coast were ruined and the banana industry prostrated; and in 1906
Havana suffered damage. The autumn months, particularly October and
November, are those in which such storms most frequently occur.
_Health._--Convincing evidence is offered by the qualities of the
Spanish race in Cuba that white men of temperate lands can be perfectly
acclimatized in this tropical island. As for diseases, some common to
Cuba and Europe are more frequent or severe in the island, others rarer
or milder. There are the usual malarial, bilious and intermittent
fevers, and liver, stomach and intestinal complaints prevalent in
tropical countries; but unhygienic living is, in Cuba as elsewhere,
mainly responsible for their existence. Yellow fever (which first
appeared in Cuba in 1647) was long the only epidemic disease, Havana
being an endemic focus. Aside from the recurrent loss of life, the
pecuniary loss from such epidemics was enormous, and the interference
with commerce and social intercourse with other countries extremely
vexatious. The Cuban coast was uninterruptedly full of infection, and
the danger of an outbreak in each year was never absent, until the work
of the United States army in 1901-1902 conclusively proved that this
disease, though ineradicable by the most extreme sanitary measures,
based on the accepted theory of its origin as a filth-disease, could be
eradicated entirely by removing the possibility of inoculation by the
_Stegomyia_ mosquito. Since then yellow fever has ceased to be a scourge
in Cuba. Small-pox was the cause of a greater mortality than yellow
fever even before the means of combating the latter had been
ascertained. The remarkable sanitary work begun during the American
occupation and continued by the republic of Cuba, has shown that the
ravages of this and other diseases can be greatly diminished. Leprosy is
rather common, but seemingly only slightly contagious. Consumption is
very prevalent.
_Agriculture._--Soils are of four classes: calcareous-ferruginous,
alluvial, argillous and silicious. Calcareous lands are predominant,
especially in the uplands. Deep residual clay soils derived from
underlying limestones, and coloured red or black according to the
predominance of oxides of iron or vegetable detritus, characterize the
plains. A red-black soil known as "mulatto" or tawny is perhaps the best
fitted for general cultivation. Tobacco is most generally cultivated on
loose red soils, which are rich in clays and silicates; and sugar-cane
preferably on the black and mulatto soils; but in general, contrary to
prevalent suppositions, colour is no test of quality and not a very
valuable guide in the setting of crops. Almost without exception the
lands throughout the island are of extreme fertility. The lowlands about
Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Mariel and Matanzas are noted for their richness.
The census of 1899 showed that farm lands occupied three-tenths of the
total area; the cultivated area being one-tenth of the farms or 3% of
the whole. At the end of 1905 it was officially estimated that 16% was
in cultivation. In 1902 it was officially estimated that the public land
available for permanent agrarian cultivation, including forest lands,
was only 186,967 hectares (416,995 acres), almost wholly in the province
of Oriente. The average size of a farm in 1899 was 143 acres. More than
85% of all cultivated lands were then occupied by whites; and somewhat
more than one-half (56.6%) of all occupiers were renters. Holdings of
more than 32 acres constituted only 7% of the total. As regards crops,
47% of the cultivated area was given over to sugar, 11% to sweet
potatoes, 9% to tobacco and almost 9% to bananas. But owing to the
disturbed conditions created by the war it is probable that these
figures by no means represent normal conditions. The actual sugar crop
of 1899-1900, for example, was not a quarter of that of 1894. With the
establishment of peace in 1898 and the influx of American and other
capital and of a heavy immigration, great changes took place in
agriculture as in other industrial conditions.
Sugar.
Sugar has been the dominant crop since the end of the 18th century.
Before the Civil War of 1895-1898 the capital invested in sugar estates
was greater by half than that represented by tobacco and coffee
plantations, live-stock ranches and other farms. Since that time fruit
and live-stock interests have increased. The dependence of the island on
one crop has been an artificial economic condition often of grave
momentary danger to prosperity; but generally speaking, the progress of
the industry has been steady. The competition of the sugar-beet has been
felt severely. During and after the war of 1868-1878, when many Cuban
estates were confiscated, many families emigrated, and many others were
ruined, the ownership of plantations largely passed from the hands of
Cubans to Spaniards. Under the conditions of free labour, the
development of railways abroad, the improvement of machinery both in
cane and beet producing countries, the general competition of the beet,
and the fall of prices, it was impossible for the Cuban industry to
survive without radical betterment of methods. About 1885 began an
immense development of centralization (the tendency having been evident
many years before this). Plantations have increased greatly in size (and
also diminished in number), greater capital is involved, bagasse
furnaces have been introduced, double grinding mills have increased by
more than a half the yield of juice from a given weight of cane, and
extractive operations instead of being carried on on all plantations
have been (since 1880) concentrated in comparatively few "centrals" (168
in Feb. 1908). Three-fourths of all are in the jurisdictions of
Cienfuegos, Cardenas, Havana, Matanzas and Sagua la Grande, which are
the great sugar centres of the island (three-fourths of the crop coming
from Matanzas and Santa Clara provinces). Caibarien, Guantanamo and
Manzanillo are next in importance. A comparatively low cost of labour,
the fact that labour is not, as in the days of slavery, that of
unintelligent blacks but of intelligent free labourers, the centralized
organization and modern methods that prevail on the plantations, the
remarkable fertility of the soil (which yields 5 or 6 crops on good soil
and with good management, without replanting), and the proximity of the
United States, in whose markets Cuba disposes of almost all her crop,
have long enabled her to distance her smaller West Indian rivals and to
compete with the bounty-fed beet. The methods of cultivation, however,
are still distinctly extensive, and the returns are much less than they
would be (and in some other cane countries are) under more intensive and
scientific methods of cultivation. Indeed, conditions were relatively
primitive so late as 1880, if compared with those of other
sugar-producing countries. More than four-fifths of the total area sown
to cane in the island is in the three provinces of Santa Clara, Matanzas
and Oriente (formerly Santiago), the former two representing two-thirds
of the area and three-fourths of the crop. The majority of the sugar
estates are of an area less than 3000 acres, and the most common area is
between 1500 and 2000 acres; but the extremes range from a very small
size to 60,000 acres. Only a part of the great estates is ever planted
in any one season. The most profitable unit is calculated to be a daily
consumption of 1500 tons of cane, or 150,000 in a grinding season of 100
days, which implies a feeding area not above 6000 acres. In the season
of 1904-1905, which may be taken as typical, 179 estates, with a planted
area of 431,056 acres, produced 11,576,137 tons of cane, and yielded--in
addition to alcohol, brandy and molasses--1,089,814 tons of sugar. Of
this amount 416,862 tons were produced by 24 estates yielding more than
11,000 tons each, including one (planting 28,050 acres) that yielded
33,609, and 4 others more than 22,000 tons each. The production of the
island from 1850 to 1868 averaged 469,934 tons yearly, rising from
223,145 to 749,000; from 1869 to 1886 (continuing high during the
period of the Ten Years' War), 632,003 tons; from 1887 to 1907--omitting
the five years 1896-1900 when the industry was prostrated by
war,--909,827 tons (and including the war period, 758,066); and in the
six harvests of 1901-1906, 1,016,899 tons. Prior to 1902 the million
mark, was reached only twice--in 1894 and 1895. Following the
resuscitation of the industry after the last war, the island's crop rose
steadily from one-sixth to a full quarter of the total cane sugar output
of the world, its share in the world's product of sugar of all kinds
ranging from a tenth to an eighth. Of this enormous output, from 98.3%
upward went to the United States;[1] of whose total importation of all
sugars and of cane sugar the proportion of Cuban cane--steadily
rising--was respectively 49.8 and 53.7% in the seasons of 1900-1901 and
1904-1905.
Tobacco.
If sugar is the island's greatest crop, tobacco is her most renowned in
the markets of the world. Three-fourths of the tobacco of Cuba comes
from Pinar del Rio province; the rest mainly from the provinces of
Havana and Santa Clara,--the description _de partido_ being applied to
the leaf not produced in Havana and Pinar del Rio provinces, and
sometimes to all produced outside the _vuelta abajo_. This district,
including the finest land, is on the southern slope of the Organ
Mountains between the Honda river and Mantua; bananas are cultivated
with the tobacco. "Vegas" (tobacco fields) of especially good repute are
also found near Trinidad, Remedios, Yara, Mayari and Vicana. The tobacco
industry has been uniformly prosperous, except when crippled by the
destruction of war in 1868-1878 and 1895-1898. Even in the time of
slavery tobacco was generally a white-man's crop; for it requires
intelligent labour and intensive care. In recent years the growth of the
leaf under cloth tents has greatly increased, as it has been abundantly
proved that the product thus secured is much more valuable--lighter in
colour and weight, finer in texture, with an increased proportion of
wrapper leaves, and more uniform qualities, and with lesser amounts of
cellulose, nicotine, gums and resins. In these respects the finest Cuban
tobacco crops, produced in the sun, hardly rival the finest Sumatra
product; but produced under cheese-cloth they do. "Cuban tobacco" does
not mean to-day, as a commercial fact, what the words imply; for the
original _Nicotiana Tabacum_, variety _havanensis_, can probably be
found pure to-day only in out-of-the-way corners of Pinar del Rio. After
the Ten Year's War seed of Mexican and United States tobaccos was in
great demand to re-seed the ruined vegas, and was introduced in great
quantities; and although by a later law the destruction of these exotic
species was ordered, that destruction was in fact quite impossible.
"Lusty growers and coarser than the genuine old-time Cuban ... Mexican
tobaccos (_Nicotiana Tabacum_, variety _macrophyllum_) are to-day
predominant in a large part of Cuban vegas.... Ordinary commercial Cuban
seed of to-day is largely, and often altogether, Mexican tobacco."
Though improved in the Cuban environment, the foreign tobaccos
introduced after the Ten Years' War did not lose their exotic character,
but prevailed over the indigenous forms: "Tobaccos with exactly the
character of the introduced types are now the prevalent forms"
(quotation from Bulletin of the _Estacion Central Agronomica_, Feb.
1908). In the markets of the world Cuban tobacco has always suffered
less competition than Cuban sugar, and still less has been done than in
the case of sugar cane in the study of methods of cultivation, which in
several respects are far behind those of other tobacco-growing
countries. The crop of 1907 was 201,512 bales (109,562,400 lb. Sp.).
Coffee.
Coffee-raising was once a flourishing and very promising industry. It
first attained prominence with the settlement in eastern Cuba, late in
the 18th century, of French refugee immigrants from San Domingo. Some
"cafetales" were established by the newcomers near Havana, but the
industry has always been almost exclusively one of Oriente province;
with Santa Clara as a much smaller producer. Before the war of
1868-1878 the production amounted to about 25,000,000 lb. yearly. The
war of 1895-1898 still further diminished the vitality of the industry.
In 1907 the crop was 6,595,700 lb. The berries are of fine quality, and
despite the competition of Brazil there is no (agricultural) reason why
the home market at least should not be supplied from Cuban estates.
Of other agricultural crops those of fruits are of greatest
importance--bananas (which are planted about once in three years),
pine-apples (planted about once in five years), coco-nuts, oranges,
&c. The coco-nut industry has long been largely confined to the region
about Baracoa, owing to the ruin of the trees elsewhere by a disease
not yet thoroughly understood, which, appearing finally near Baracoa,
threatened by 1908 to destroy the industry there as well. Yams and
sweet-potatoes, yuccas, malangas, cacao, rice--which is one of the
most important foods of the people, but which is not yet widely
cultivated on a profitable basis--and Indian corn, which grows
everywhere and yields two crops yearly, may be mentioned also. In very
recent years gardening has become an interest of importance,
particularly in the province of Pinar del Rio. Save on the coffee,
tobacco and sugar plantations, where competition in large markets has
compelled the adoption of adequate modern methods, agriculture in Cuba
is still very primitive. The wooden ploughstick, for instance--taking
the country as a whole--has never been displaced. A central
agricultural experiment station (founded 1904) is maintained by the
government at Santiago de las Vegas; but there is no agricultural
college, nor any special school for the scientific teaching and
improvement of sugar and tobacco farming or manufacture.
Stock-breeding is a highly important interest. It was the
all-important one in the early history of the island, down to about
the latter part of the 18th century. Grasses grow luxuriantly, and the
savannahs of central Cuba are, in this respect, excellent cattle
ranges. The droughts to which the island is recurrently subject are,
however, a not unimportant drawback to the industry; and though the
best ranges, under favourable conditions, are luxuriant, nevertheless
the pastures of the island are in general mediocre. Practically
nothing has yet been done in the study of native grasses and the
introduction of exotic species. The possibilities of the stock
interest have as yet by no means been realized. The civil wars were
probably more disastrous to it than to any other agricultural interest
of the island. It has been authoritatively estimated, for example,
that from 90 to 95% of all horses, neat cattle and hogs in the entire
island were lost in the war years of 1895-1898. In the decade after
1898 particularly great progress was made in the raising of
live-stock. The fishing and sponge industries are important. Batabano
and Caibarien are centres of the sponge fisheries.
_Manufactures._--The manufacturing industries of Cuba have never been
more than insignificant as compared with what they might be. In 1907
48.5% of all wage-earners were engaged in agriculture, fishing and
mining, 16.3 in manufactures, and 17.7 in trade and transportation. Such
manufactures as are of any consequence are mostly connected with the
sugar and tobacco industries. Forest resources have been but slightly
touched (more so since the end of Spanish rule) except mahogany, which
goes to the United States, and cedar, which is used to box the tobacco
products of the island, much going also to the United States. The value
of forest products in 1901-1902 amounted to $320,528. There are some
tanneries, some preparation of preserves and other fruit products, and
some old handicraft industries like the making of hats; but these have
been of comparatively scant importance. Despite natural advantages for
all meat industries, canned meats have generally been imported. The
leading manufactures are cigars and cigarettes, sugar, rum and whisky.
The tobacco industries are very largely concentrated in Havana, and
there are factories in Santiago de las Vegas and Bejucal. The yearly
output of cigars was locally estimated in 1908 at about 500,000,000, but
this is probably too high an estimate. In 1904-1906 the yearly average
sent to the United States was 234,063,652 cigars, 29,776,429 lb. of leaf
and 14,203,571 packages of cigarettes. The sugar industry is not
similarly centralized. With the improvement of methods the old partially
refined grades (moscobados) have disappeared.
_Mining._--Mining is of very considerable importance. The Cobre copper
mines near Santiago were once the greatest producers of the world. They
were worked from 1524 until about 1730, when they were abandoned for
almost a century, after which they were reopened and greatly developed.
In 1828-1840 about two million dollars' worth of ore was shipped yearly
to the United States alone. After 1868 the mines were again abandoned
and flooded, the mining property being ruined during the civil war.
Finally, after 1900 they again became prosperous producers. The "Cobre"
mine is only the most famous and productive of various copper
properties. The copper output has not greatly increased since 1890, and
is of slight importance in mineral exports. Iron and manganese have, on
the contrary, been greatly developed in the same period. Iron is now the
most important mineral product. The iron ores are even more accessible
than the famous ones of the Lake Superior region in the United States.
No shafts or tunnels are necessary except for exploration; the mining
consists entirely in open-cut and terrace work. The cost of exploitation
is accordingly slight. Daiquiri, near Santiago, and mines near Nipe, on
the north coast, are the chief centres of production. Nearly the entire
product goes to the United States. The first exports from the Daiquiri
district were made by an American company in 1884; the Nipe (Cagimaya)
mines became prominent in promise in 1906. The shipments from Oriente
province from 1884 to 1901 aggregated 5,053,847 long tons, almost all
going to the United States (which is true of other mineral products
also). After 1900 production was greatly increased and by 1906 had come
to exceed half a million tons annually. There are small mines in Santa
Clara and Camaguey provinces. Manganese is mined mainly near La Maya and
El Cristo in Oriente. The traditions as to gold and silver have already
been referred to. Evidences of ancient workings remain near Holguin and
Gibara, and it is possible that some of these workings are still
exploitable. Mining for the precious metals ceased at a very early date,
after rich discoveries were made on the continent. Bituminous products,
though, as already stated, widely distributed, are not as yet much
developed. The most promising deposits and the most important workings
are in Matanzas and Santa Clara provinces. Petroleum has been used to
some extent both as a fuel and as an illuminant. Small amounts of
asphalt have been sent to the United States. Locally, asphalts are used
as gas enrichers. Grahamite and glance-pitch are common, and are
exported for use in varnish and paint manufactures. The commercial
product of stones, brick and cement is of rapidly increasing importance.
The foundation of the island is in many places almost pure carbonate of
lime, and there are numerous small limekilns. The product is used to
bleach sugar, as well as for construction and disinfection purposes. The
number of small brick plants is legion, almost all very primitive.
_Commerce._--Commerce (resting largely upon specialized agriculture) is
vastly more prominent as yet than manufacturing and mining in the
island's economy. The leading articles of export are sugar, tobacco and
fruit products; of import, textiles, foodstuffs, lumber and wood
products, and machinery. Sugar and tobacco products together represent
seven-eighths (in 1904-1907 respectively 60.3 and 27.3%) of the normal
annual exports. In the quinquennial period 1890-1894 (immediately
preceding the War of Independence) the average yearly commerce of the
island in and out was $86,875,663 with the United States; and
$28,161,726 with Spain.[2] During the American military occupation of
the island in 1899-1902, of the total imports 45.9% were from the United
States, 14 from other American countries, 15 from Spain, 14 from the
United Kingdom, 6 from France and 4 from Germany; of the exports the
corresponding percentages for the same countries were 70.7, 2, 3, 10, 4
and 7. No special favours were enjoyed by the United States in this
period, and about the same percentages prevailed in the years following.
The total commercial movement of the island in the five calendar years
1902-1906 averaged $177,882,640 (for the five fiscal years 1902-1903 to
1906-1907, $185,987,020) annually, and of this the share of the United
States was $108,431,000 yearly, representing 45.8% of all imports and
81.9% of all exports. The proportion of imports taken from the United
States is greatest in foodstuffs, metals and metal manufactures, timber
and furniture, mineral oils and lard. The trade of the United States
with the island was as great in 1900-1907 as with Mexico and all the
other West Indies combined; as great as its trade with Spain, Portugal
and Italy combined; and almost as great as its trade with China and
Japan.
_Communications._--Poor means of communication have always been a great
handicap to the industries of the island. The first railroad in Cuba
(and the first in Spanish lands) was opened from Havana to Guines in
1837. In succeeding years a fairly ample system was built up between the
cities of Pinar del Rio and Santa Clara, with a number of short spurs
from the chief ports farther eastward into the interior. After the first
American occupation a private company built a line from Santa Clara to
Santiago, more than half the length of the island, finally connecting
its two ends (1902). The policy of the railways was always one rather of
extortion than of fairness or of any interest in the development of the
country, but better conditions have begun. There was ostensible
government regulation of rates after 1877, but the roads were guaranteed
outright against any loss of revenue, and in fact practically nothing
was ever done in the way of reform in the Spanish period. In 1900 the
total length of railways was 2097 m., of which 1226 were of 17 public
roads and 871 m. of 107 private roads. In August 1908 the mileage of all
railways (including electric) in Cuba was 2329.8 m. The telegraph and
telephone systems are owned by the government. Cables connect the island
with Florida, Jamaica, Haiti and San Domingo, Porto Rico, the lesser
Antilles, Panama, Venezuela and Brazil. Havana, Santiago and Cienfuegos
are cable ports. Wagon roads are still of small extent and primitive
character save in a very few localities. The peculiar two-wheeled carts
of the country, carrying enormous loads of 4 to 6 tons, destroy even the
finest road. Similar carts, slightly lighter, used in the cities,
quickly destroy any paving but stone block. The only good highways of
any considerable length in 1908 were in the two western provinces and in
the vicinity of Santiago. During the second American occupation work was
begun on a network of good rural highways.
_Population._--Various censuses were taken in Cuba beginning in 1774;
but the results of those preceding the abolition of slavery, at least,
are probably without exception extremely untrustworthy. The census of
1887 showed a population of 1,631,687, that of 1899 a population of
1,572,792 (the decrease of 3.6% is explained by the intervening war);
and by the census of 1907 there were 2,048,980 inhabitants, 30.3% more
than in 1899. The average of settlement per square mile varied from
169.7 in Havana province to 11.8 in Camaguey, and was 46.4 for all of
Cuba; the percentage of urban population (in cities, that is, with more
than 1000 inhabitants) in the different provinces varied from 18.2 in
Pinar del Rio to 74.7 in Havana, and was 43.9 for the entire island.
There were five cities having populations above 25,000--Havana, 297,159;
Santiago, 45,470; Matanzas, 36,009; Cienfuegos, 30,100; Puerto Principe
(or Camaguey), 29,616; and fourteen more above 8000--Cardenas,
Manzanillo, Guanabacoa, Santa Clara, Sagua la Grande, Sancti Spiritus,
Guantanamo, Trinidad, Pinar del Rio, San Antonio de los Banos,
Jovellanos, Marianao, Caibarien and Guines. The proportion of the total
population which in 1907 was in cities of 8000 or more was only 30.3%;
and the proportion in cities of 25,000 or more was 21.4%. Mainly owing
to the large element of transient foreign whites without families (long
characteristic of Cuba), males outnumber females--in 1907 as 21 to 19.
Native whites, almost everywhere in the majority, constituted 59.8% of
all inhabitants; persons of negro and mixed blood, 29.7%; foreign-born
whites, 9.9%; Chinese less than 0.6%. Foreigners constituted 25.6% of
the population in the city of Havana; only 7% in Pinar del Rio province.
Native blood is most predominant in the provinces of Oriente and Pinar
del Rio. After the end of the war of 1895-1898 a large immigration from
Spain began; the inflow from the United States was very small in
comparison. The Republic strongly encourages immigration. In 1900-1906
there were 143,122 immigrants, of whom 124,863 were Spaniards, 4557 were
from the United States, 2561 were Spanish Americans, and a few were
Italian, Syrian, Chinese, French, English, &c. The Chinese element is a
remnant of a former coolie population; their numbers in 1907 (11,217)
were less than a fourth the number in 1887. Their introduction began in
1847 and ended in 1871. Conjugal conditions in Cuba are peculiar. In
1907 only 20.7% of the total population were legally married; an
additional 8.6% were living in more or less permanent consensual unions,
these being particularly common among the negroes. Including all unions
the total is below the European proportion, but above that of Porto Rico
or Jamaica in 1899.
The negro element is strongest in the province of Oriente and weakest in
Camaguey; in the former it constituted 43.1% of the population, in the
latter 18.3%, and in Havana City 25.5%. In Guantanamo, in Santiago de
Cuba, and in seven other towns they exceeded the whites in number.
Caibarien and San Antonio de los Banos had the largest proportion of
white population. The position of the negroes in Cuba is exceptional.
Despite the long period of slavery they are decidedly below the whites
in number. The Spanish slave laws (although in practice often
frightfully abused) were always comparatively generous to the slave,
making relatively easy, among other things, the purchase of his freedom,
the number of free blacks being always great. Since the abolition of
slavery the status of the black has been made more definite, and his
rights naturally much greater. The wars of 1868-1878 and 1895-1898 and
the threatened war of 1906 all helped to give to the negro element its
high position. There is no antagonism between the divisions of the
coloured race. All hold their own with the white in industrial
usefulness to the community, and though the blacks are more backward in
education and various other tests of social advancement, still their
outlook is full of promise. There is practically no colour caste in
Cuba; politically the negro is the white man's equal; socially there is
very little ostensible inequality and almost perfect toleration. The
negro in Cuba shows promising though undeveloped traits of landlordship.
Women labour habitually in the fields. Miscegenation of blacks and
whites was extremely common before emancipation. It is sometimes said
that since then there has been a counter-tendency, but it is impossible
to prove such a statement conclusively except with the aid of future
censuses. Few of the negroes are black; some of the blackest have the
regular features of the Caucasian; and racial mixtures are everywhere
evidenced by colour of skin and by physiognomy. Its seems certain that
the African element has been holding its own in the population totals
since emancipation.
Cuba is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic in religion, but under the new
Republic there is a complete separation of church and state, and
liberalism and indifference are increasing. Illiteracy is extremely
widespread. In 1907 the census showed 56.6% (43.3 in 1899) of persons
above ten years who could read. Of the voting population 53.2% of native
white, and 37.3% of coloured Cuban citizens, and 71.6% of Spanish
citizens could read. A revolution in education was begun the first year
of the United States military occupation and continued under the
Republic.
_Constitution._--The constitution upon which the government of Cuba
rests was framed during the period of the United States military
government; it was adopted the 21st of February 1901, and certain
amendments or conditions required by the United States were accepted on
the 12th of June 1901. The constitution is republican and modelled on
the Constitution of the United States, with some marked differences of
greater centralization, due to colonial experience under the rule of
Spain, notably as regards federalism; the provinces of the island being
less important than the states of the American Union. The president of
the Republic, who is elected for four years by an electoral college, and
cannot hold office for more than two successive terms, has a cabinet
whose members he may appoint and remove freely, their number being
determined by law. He sanctions, promulgates and executes the laws, and
supplements them (partly co-ordinately with congress) by administrative
regulations in harmony with their ends; holds a veto power and pardoning
power; controls with the senate political appointments and removals; and
conducts foreign relations, submitting treaties to the senate for
ratification. Congress consists of two houses. The senate contains four
members from each province, chosen for eight years by a provincial
electoral board, which consists of the provincial councilmen plus a
double number of electors (half of them paying high taxes) who are
selected at a special election by their fellow citizens. Half of the
senators retire every four years. The senate is the court of trial for
the president, officers of the cabinet, and provincial governors when
accused of political offences. It also acts jointly with the president
in political appointments and treaty making. The house of
representatives, whose members are chosen directly by the citizens for
four years, one-half retiring every two years, has the special power of
impeaching the president and cabinet officers. Congress meets twice
annually, in April and November. Its powers are extensive, including, in
addition to ordinary legislative powers, control of financial affairs,
foreign affairs, the power to declare war and approve treaties of peace,
amnesties, electoral legislation for the provinces and municipalities,
control of the electoral vote for president and vice-president, and
designation of an acting president in case of the death or incapacity of
these officers. The subjects of legislative power are very similar to
those of the United States congress; but control of railroads, canals
and public roads is explicitly given to the federal government. Justice
is administered by courts of various grades, with a supreme court at
Havana as the head; the members of this being appointed by the president
and senate. This court passes on the constitutionality of all laws,
decrees and regulations.
There are six provinces--Pinar del Rio, Havana, Matanzas, Santa Clara,
Camaguey or Puerto Principe, and Oriente. Each has a provincial governor
and assembly chosen directly by the people, generally charged with
independent control of matters affecting the province; but the president
may interfere against an abuse of power by either the governor or the
assembly. Municipalities are administered by mayors (alcaldes) and
assemblies elected by the people, and control strictly municipal
affairs. The "termino municipal" is the chief political and
administrative civil division. It is an urban district together with
contiguous rural territory. Its divisions are "barrios." The president
may interfere if necessary in the municipality as in the province; and
so may the governor of the province. But all interference is subject to
review of claims by the courts. Both provinces and municipalities are
forbidden by the constitution to contract debts without a coincident
provision of permanent revenue for their settlement.
The franchise is granted to every male Cuban twenty-one years of age,
not mentally incapacitated, nor previously a convict of crime, nor
serving in the army or navy of the state. Foreigners may become citizens
in five years by naturalization. Church and state are completely
separated, toleration being guaranteed for the profession and practice
of all religious beliefs, and the government may not subsidize any
religion.
Education.
Primary education is declared by the constitution to be free and
compulsory; and its expenses are paid by the central government so far
as it may be beyond the power of the province or municipality to bear
them. Secondary and advanced education is controlled by the state. In
the last days of Spanish rule (1894), there were 904 public and 704
private schools, and not more than 60,000 pupils enrolled; in 1000 there
were 3550 public schools with an enrolment of 172,273 and an average
attendance of 123,362. In the four school years from 1903-1904 to
1906-1907 the figures of enrolment and average attendance were: 201,824
and 110,531; 194,657 and 105,706; 186,571 and 98,329; and 189,289 and
93,865. In 1906-1907 the percentage (31.6) of attendants to children of
school age was twice as large as in 1898-1899. Private schools, some of
very high grade, draw many pupils. Almost all schools are primary. The
university of Havana (founded 1728) was given greatly improved
facilities, especially of material equipment, by the American military
government, and seems to have begun an ambitious progress. In 1907 the
number of students was 554. Below the university there are six
provincial institutes, one in each province, in each of which there is a
preparatory department, a department of secondary education, and (this
due to peculiar local conditions) a school of surveying; and in that of
Havana commercial departments in addition. In Havana, also, there is a
school of painting and sculpture, a school of arts and trades, and a
national library, all of which are supported or subventioned by the
national government, as are also a public library in Matanzas, and the
Agricultural Experiment Station at Santiago de las Vegas. In connexion
with the university is a botanical garden; with the national sanitary
service, a biological laboratory, and special services for small-pox,
glanders and yellow fever. Independent of the government are various
schools and learned societies in Havana (q.v.). A school was established
by the government in Key West, Florida (U.S.A.), in 1905, for the
benefit of the Cuban colony there. Finally, the government sustains
about two score of penal establishments, reform schools, hospitals,
dispensaries and asylums, which are scattered all over the
island,--every town of any considerable size having one or more of these
charities.
Former government.
Under the colonial rule of Spain the head of government was a supreme
civil-military officer, the governor and captain-general. His control of
the entire administrative life of the island was practically absolute.
Originally residents at Santiago de Cuba, the captains-general resided
after 1589 at Havana. Because of the isolation of the eastern part of
the island, the dangers from pirates, and the important considerations
which had caused Santiago de Cuba (q.v.) to be the first capital of the
island, Cuba was divided in 1607 into two departments, and a governor,
subordinate in military matters to the captain-general at Havana, was
appointed to rule the territory east of Puerto Principe. In 1801, when
the audiencia--of which the captain-general was _ex officio_
president--began its functions at that point, the governor of Santiago
became subordinated in political matters as much as in military. Two
chief courts of justice (audiencias) sat at Havana (after 1832) and
Puerto Principe (1800-1853); appeals could go to Spain; below the
audiencias were "alcaldes mayores" or district judges and ordinary
"alcaldes" or local judges. The audiencias also held important political
powers under the Laws of the Indies. The captaincy-general of Cuba was
not originally, however, by any means so broad in powers as the
viceroyalties of Mexico and Peru; and by the creation in 1765 of the
office of intendant--the delegate of the national treasury--his
faculties were very greatly curtailed. The great powers of the intendant
were, however, merged in those of the governor-general in 1853; and the
captain-general having been given by royal order in 1825 (several times
later explicitly confirmed, and not revoked until 1870) the absolute
powers (to be assumed at his initiative and discretion) of the governor
of a besieged city, and by a royal order of 1834 the power to banish at
will persons supposed to be inimical to the public peace; and being by
virtue of his office the president and dominator of all the important
administrative boards of the government, held the government of the
island, and in any emergency the liberty and property of its
inhabitants, in his hand. The royal orders following 1825 developed a
system of extraordinary and extreme repression. In 1878, as the result
of the Ten Years' War, various administrative reforms, of a
decentralizing tendency, were introduced. The six provinces were
created, and had governors and assemblies ("diputaciones"); and a
municipal law was provided that in many ways was a sound basis for local
government. But centralization remained very great. In the municipality
the alcalde (mayor) was appointed by the governor-general, and the
ayuntamiento (council) was controlled by the veto of the provincial
governor and by the assembly of the province. The deputation was subject
in turn to the same veto of the provincial governor, and he controlled
by the governor-general. There was besides a provincial commission of
five lawyers named by the governor-general from the members of the
deputation, who settled election questions, and questions of eligibility
in this body, gave advice as to laws, acted for the deputation when it
was not sitting, and in general facilitated centralized control of the
administrative system. The character of this body was altered in 1890,
and in 1898, in which latter year its functions were reduced to the
essentially judicial. Despite superficial decentralization after 1878
any real growth of local self-government was rendered impossible.
Moreover, no great reforms were made in the abuses naturally incident to
the old personal system. Exile and imprisonment at the will of the
government and without trial were common. Personal liberty, liberty of
conscience, speech, assembly, petition, association, press, liberty of
movement and security of home, were without real guarantee even within
the extremely small limits in which they nominally existed. Under the
constitution of the Republic the sphere of individual liberty is large
and constitutionally protected against the government.
_Finance._--There has been a great change in the budget of Cuba since
the advent of the Republic. In 1891-1896 the average annual income was
$20,738,930, the annual average expenditure $25,967,139. More than half
of the revenue was derived from customs duties (two-thirds of the total
being collected at Havana). Of the expenditure more than ten million
dollars annually went for the public debt, 5.5 to 6 millions for the
army and navy, as much more for civil administration (including more
than two millions for purely Peninsular services with which the colony
was burdened); and on an average probably one million more went for
sinecures. Every Cuban paid about twice as heavy taxes as a Spaniard of
the Peninsula. Very little was spent on sanitation, roads, other public
works and education. The revenue receipts under the Republic have
increased especially over those of the old regime in the item of customs
duties; and the expenditure is very differently distributed. Lotteries
which were an important source of revenue under Spain were abolished
under the Republic. The debt resting on the colony in 1895 (a large part
of it as a result of the war of 1868-1878, the entire cost of which was
laid upon the island, but a part as the result of Spain's war adventures
in Mexico and San Domingo, home loans, &c.) was officially stated at
$168,500,000. The attainment of independence freed the island from this
debt, and from enormous contemplated additions to cover the expense
incurred by Spain during the last insurrection. The debt of the Republic
in April 1908 was $48,146,585, including twenty-seven millions which
were assumed in 1902 for the payment of the army of independence, four
for agriculture, and four for the payment of revolutionary debts, and
$2,196,585, representing obligations assumed by the revolution's
representative in the United States during the War of Independence.
United States and British investments, always important in the
agriculture and manufactures of the island, greatly increased following
1898, and by 1908 those of each nation were supposed to exceed
considerably $100,000,000.
_Archaeology._--Archaeological study in Cuba has been limited, and has
not produced results of great importance. Almost nothing is actually
known of prehistoric Cuba; and a few skulls and implements are the only
basis existing for conjecture. Very little also is known as to the
natives who inhabited the island at the time of the discovery. They were
a tall race of copper hue; fairly intelligent, mild in temperament, who
lived in poor huts and practised a limited and primitive agriculture.
How numerous they were when the Spaniards first came among them cannot
be said; undoubtedly tradition has greatly exaggerated their number.
They are supposed to have been practically extinct by 1550. Even in the
19th century reports were spread of communities in which Indian blood
was supposedly still plainly dominant; but the conclusion of the
competent scientists who have investigated such rumours has been that at
least absolutely nothing of the language and traditions of the
aborigines has survived.
_History._--Cuba was discovered by Columbus in the course of his first
voyage, on the 27th of October 1492. He died believing Cuba was part of
a continent. In 1508 Sebastian de Ocampo circumnavigated it. In 1511
Diego Velazquez began the conquest of the island. Baracoa (the landing
point), Bayamo, Santiago de Cuba, Puerto Principe, Sancti Spiritus,
Trinidad and the original Havana were all founded by 1515. Velazquez's
reputation and legends of wealth drew many immigrants to the island.
From Cuba went the expeditions that discovered Yucatan (1517), and
explored the shores of Mexico, Hernando Cortes's expedition for the
invasion of Mexico, and de Soto's for the exploration of Florida. The
last two had a pernicious effect on Cuba, draining it of horses, money
and of men. At least as early as 1523 the African slave trade was begun.
In 1544 the Indians, so far as they had not succumbed to the labour of
the mines and fields to which they were put by the Spaniards, were
proclaimed emancipated. The administration in the 16th century was loose
and violent. The local authorities were divided among themselves by
bitter feuds--the ecclesiastical against the civil, the _ayuntamiento_
against the governors, the administrative officers among themselves;
brigandage, mutinies and intestinal struggles disturbed the peace. As a
result of the transfer of Jamaica to England, the population of Cuba was
greatly augmented by Jamaican immigrants to about 30,000 in the middle
of the 17th century.
The activity of English and French pirates began in the 16th century,
and reached its climax in the middle of the 17th century. So early also
began dissatisfaction with the economic regulations of the colonial
system, even grave resistance to their enforcement; and illicit trade
with privateers and foreign colonies had begun long before, and in the
17th and 18th centuries was the basis of the island's wealth. In 1762
Havana was captured after a long resistance by a British force under
Admiral Sir George Pocock and the earl of Albemarle, with heavy loss to
the besiegers. It was returned to Spain the next year in exchange for
the Floridas. From this date begins the modern history of the island.
The British opened the port to commerce and the slave trade and revealed
its possibilities. The government of Spain, beginning in 1764, made
notable breaches in the old monopolistic system of colonial trade
throughout America; and Cuba received special privileges, also, that
were a basis for real prosperity. Spain paid increasing attention to the
island, and in harmony with the policy of the Laws of the Indies many
decrees intended to stimulate agriculture and commerce were issued by
the crown, first in the form of monopolies, then with increased freedom
and with bounties. Various colonial products and the slave trade were
favoured in this way. After the cession of the Spanish portion of San
Domingo to France hundreds of Spanish families emigrated to Cuba, and
many thousand more immigrants, mainly French, followed them from the
entire island during the revolution of the blacks. Most of them settled
in Oriente province, where their names and blood are still apparent, and
with their cafetales and sugar plantations converted that region from
neglect and poverty to high prosperity.
Under a succession of liberal governors (especially Luis de las Casas,
1790-1796, and the marques de Someruelos, 1799-1813), at the end of the
18th century and the first part of the 19th, when the wars in Europe cut
off Spain almost entirely from the colony, Cuba was practically
independent. Trade was comparatively free, and worked a revolution in
culture and material conditions. General Las Casas, in particular, left
behind him in Cuba an undying memory of good efforts. Free commerce with
foreigners--a fact after 1809--was definitely legalized in 1818
(confirmed in 1824). The state tobacco monopoly was abolished in 1817.
The reported populations by the (untrustworthy) censuses of 1774, 1792
and 1817 were 161,670, 273,301 and 553,033. Something of political
freedom was enjoyed during the two terms of Spanish constitutional
government under the constitution of 1812. The sharp division between
creoles and peninsulars (i.e. between those born in Cuba and those born
in Spain), the question of annexation to the United States or possibly
to some other power, the plotting for independence, all go back to the
early years of the century.
Partly because of political and social divisions thus revealed,
conspiracies being rife in the decade 1820-1830, and partly as
preparation for the defence against Mexico and Colombia, who throughout
these same years were threatening the island with invasion, the
captains-general, in 1825, received the powers above referred to; which
became, as time passed, monstrously in disaccord with the general
tendencies of colonial government and with increasing liberties in
Spain, but continued to be the spiritual basis of Spanish rule in the
island. Among the governors of the 19th century Miguel Tacon, governor
in 1834-1839, a forceful and high-handed soldier, deserves mention,
especially in the annals of Havana; he ruled as a tyrant, made many
reforms as regarded law and order, and left Havana, in particular, full
of municipal improvements. The good he did was limited to the spheres of
public works and police; in other respects his rule was a pernicious
influence for Cuba. Politically his rule was marked by the proclamation
at Santiago in 1836, without his consent, of the Spanish constitution of
1834; he repressed the movement, and in 1837 the deputies of Cuba to the
Cortes of Spain (to which they were admitted in the two earlier
constitutional periods) were excluded from that body, and it was
declared in the national constitution that Cuba (and Porto Rico) should
be governed by "special laws." The inapplicability of many laws passed
for the Peninsula--all of which under a constitutional system would
apply to Cuba as to any other province, unless that system be
modified--was indeed notorious; and Cuban opinion had repeatedly,
through official bodies, protested against laws thus imposed that worked
injustice, and had pleaded for special consideration of colonial
conditions. The promise of "special laws" based upon such consideration
was therefore not, in itself, unjust, nor unwelcome. But as the colony
had no voice in the Cortes, while the "special laws" were never passed
(Cuba expected special fundamental laws, reforming her government, and
the government regarded the old Laws of the Indies as satisfying the
obligation of the constitution) the arbitrary rule of the
captains-general remained quite supreme, under the will of the crown,
and colonial discontent became stronger and stronger. The rule of
Leopoldo O'Donnell was marked in 1844 by a cruel and bloody persecution
of negroes for a supposed plot of servile war; O'Donnell's actions being
partly due to the inquietude that had prevailed for some years over the
supposed machinations of English abolitionists and even of English
official residents in the island, and also over the mutual jealousies
and supposed annexation ambitions of Great Britain and the United
States.
A Cuban international question had arisen before 1820. Spain, the United
States, England, France, Colombia and Mexico were all involved in it,
the first four continually. In the eighteen-fifties a strong pro-slavery
interest in the United States advocated the acquisition of the island.
One feature of this was the "Ostend Manifesto" (see Buchanan, James), in
which the ministers of the United States at London, Paris and Madrid
declared that if Spain refused a money offer for the colony the United
States should seize it. Their government gave this document publicity.
The Cuban policy of Presidents Pierce and Buchanan (during 1853-1861)
was vainly directed to acquiring the island. From 1849 to 1851 there
were three abortive filibustering expeditions from the United States,
two being under a Spanish general, Narciso Lopez (1798-1851). The
domestic problem, the problem of discontent in the island, had become
acute by 1850, and from this time on to 1868 the years were full of
conflict between liberal and reactionary sentiment in the colony,
centreing about the asserted connivance of the captains-general in the
illegal slave trade (declared illegal after 1820 by the treaties of 1817
and 1835 between Great Britain and Spain), the notorious immorality and
prodigal wastefulness of the government, and the selfish exploitation of
the colony by Spaniards and the Spanish government. From early in the
19th century there had always been separatists, reformists and
repressionists in the island, but they were individuals rather than
groups. The last were peninsulars, the others mainly creoles, and among
the wealthy classes of the latter the separatists gradually gained
increasing support.
An ineffective and extremely corrupt administration, a grave economic
condition, new and heavy taxes, military repression, recurring heavy
deficits in the budget, adding to a debt (about $150,000,000 in 1868)
already very large and burdensome, and the complete fiasco of the
_junta_ of inquiry of Cuban and Porto Rican representatives which met in
Madrid in 1866-1867--all were important influences favouring the
outbreak of the Ten Years' War. Among those who waged the war were men
who fought to compel reforms, others who fought for annexation to the
United States, others who fought for independence. The reformists
demanded, besides the correction of the above evils, action against
slavery, assimilation of rights between peninsulars and creoles and the
practical recognition of equality, e.g. in the matter of office-holding,
a grievance centuries old in Cuba as in other Spanish colonies, and
guarantees of personal liberties. The separatists, headed by Carlos
Manuel de Cespedes (1819-1874), a wealthy planter who proclaimed the
revolution at Yara on the 10th of October, demanded the same reforms,
including gradual emancipation of the slaves with indemnity to owners,
and the grant of free and universal suffrage. War was confined
throughout the ten years almost wholly to the E. provinces. The policy
of successive captains-general was alternately uncompromisingly
repressive and conciliatory. The Spanish volunteers committed horrible
excesses in Havana and other places; the rebels also burned and killed
indiscriminatingly, and the war became increasingly cruel and
sanguinary. Intervention by the United States seemed probable, but did
not come, and after alternations in the fortunes of war, Martinez Campos
in January 1878 secured the acceptance by the rebels of the convention
(pacto) of Zanjon, which promised amnesty for the war, liberty to slaves
in the rebel ranks, the abolition of slavery, reforms in government, and
colonial autonomy. A small rising after peace (the "Little War" of
1879-1880) was easily repressed. Gradual abolition of slavery was
declared by a law of the 13th of February 1880; definitive abolition in
1886; and in 1893 the equal civil status of blacks and whites in all
respects was proclaimed by General Calleja. There is no more evidence to
warrant the wholly erroneous statement sometimes made that emancipation
was an economic set-back to Cuba than could be gathered to support a
similar statement regarding the United States. Coolie importation from
China had been stopped in 1871.
As for autonomy and political reforms it has already been remarked that
the change from the old regime was only superficial. The Spanish
constitution of 1876 was proclaimed in Cuba in 1881. In 1878-1895
political parties had a complex development. The Liberal party was of
growing radicalism, the Union Constitutional party of growing
conservatism; and after 1893 a Reformist party was launched that drew
the compromisers and the waverers. The demands of the Liberals were as
in 1868; those for personal and property rights were much more
definitely stated, and among explicit reforms demanded were the
separation of civil and military power, general recognition of
administrative responsibility under a colonial autonomous constitutional
regime; also among economic matters, customs reforms and reciprocity
with the United States were demanded. As for the representation accorded
Cuba in the Spanish Cortes, as a rule about a quarter of her deputies
were Cuban-born, and the choice of only a few autonomists was allowed by
those who controlled the elections. Reciprocity with the United States
was in force from 1891 to 1894 and was extremely beneficial to Cuba. Its
cessation greatly increased disaffection.
Discontent grew, and another war was prepared for. On the 23rd of
February 1895 General Calleja suspended the constitutional guarantees.
The leading chiefs of the Ten Years' War took the field again--Maximo
Gomez, Antonio Maceo, Jose Marti, Calixto Garcia and others. Unlike that
war, this was carried to the western provinces, and indeed was fiercest
there. Among the military means adopted by the Spaniards to isolate
their foe were "trochas" (i.e. entrenchments, barbwire fences, and lines
of block-houses) across the narrow parts of the island, and
"reconcentracion" of non-combatants in camps guarded by the Spanish
forces. The latter measure produced extreme suffering and much
starvation (as the reconcentrados were largely thrown upon the charity
of the beggared communities in which they were huddled). In October 1897
the Spanish premier, P. M. Sagasta, announced the policy of autonomy,
and the new dispensation was proclaimed in Cuba in December. But again
all final authority was reserved to the captain-general. The system was
never to have a practical trial, although a full government was quickly
organized under it. The American people had sent food to the
reconcentrados; President McKinley, while opposing recognition of the
rebels, affirmed the possibility of intervention; Spain resented this
attitude; and finally, in February 1898, the United States battleship
"Maine" was blown up--by whom will probably never be known--in the
harbour of Havana.
On the 20th of April the United States demanded the withdrawal of
Spanish troops from the island. War followed immediately. A fine Spanish
squadron seeking to escape from Santiago harbour was utterly destroyed
by the American blockading force on the 3rd of July; Santiago was
invested by land forces, and on the 15th of July the city surrendered.
Other operations in Cuba were slight. By the treaty of Paris, signed on
the 10th of December, Spain "relinquished" the island to the United
States in trust for its inhabitants; the temporary character of American
occupation being recognized throughout the treaty, in accord with the
terms of the American declaration of war, in which the United States
disclaimed any intention to control the island except for its
pacification, and expressed the determination to leave the island
thereupon to the control of its people. Spanish authority ceased on the
1st of January 1899, and was followed by American "military" rule
(January 1, 1899-May 20, 1902). During these three years the great
majority of offices were filled by Cubans, and the government was made
as different as possible from the military control to which the colony
had been accustomed. Very much was done for public works, sanitation,
the reform of administration, civil service and education. Most notable
of all, yellow fever was eradicated where it had been endemic for
centuries. A constitutional convention sat at Havana from the 5th of
November 1900 to the 21st of February 1901. The provisions of the
document thus formed have already been referred to. In the determination
of the relations that should subsist between the new republic and the
United States certain definite conditions known as the Platt Amendment
were finally imposed by the United States, and accepted by Cuba (12th of
June 1901) as a part of her constitution. By these Cuba was bound not to
incur debts her current revenues will not bear; to continue the sanitary
administration undertaken by the military government of intervention; to
lease naval stations (since located at Bahia Honda and Guantanamo) to
the United States; and finally, the right of the United States to
intervene, if necessary, in the affairs of the island was explicitly
affirmed in the provision, "That the government of Cuba consents that
the United States may exercise the right to intervene for the protection
of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the
protection of life, property and individual liberty, and for discharging
the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the treaty of Paris on
the United States, now to be assumed and undertaken by the government of
Cuba." The status thus created is very exceptional in the history of
international relations. The status of the Isle of Pines was left an
open question by the treaty of Paris, but a decision of the Supreme
Court of the United States has declared it (in a question of customs
duties) to be a part of Cuba, and though a treaty to the same end did
not secure ratification (1908) by the United States Senate, repeated
efforts by American residents thereon to secure annexation to the United
States were ignored by the United States government.
The first Cuban congress met on the 5th of May 1902, prepared to take
over the government from the American military authorities, which it did
on the 20th of May. Tomas Estrada Palma (1835-1908) became the first
president of the Republic. In material prosperity the progress of the
island from 1902 to 1906 was very great; but in its politics, various
social and economic elements, and political habits and examples of
Spanish provenience that ill befit a democracy, led once more to
revolution. Congress neglected to pass certain laws which were required
by the constitution, and which, as regards municipal autonomy,
independence of the judiciary, and congressional representation of
minority parties, were intended to make impossible the abuses of
centralized government that had characterized Spanish administration.
Political parties were forming without very evident basis for
differences outside questions of political patronage and the good or ill
use of power; and, in the absence of the laws just mentioned, the
Moderates, being in power, used every instrument of government to
strengthen their hold on office. The preliminaries of the elections of
December 1905 and March 1906 being marked by frauds and injustice, the
Liberals deserted the polls at those elections, and instead of appealing
to judicial tribunals controlled by the Moderates, issued a manifesto of
revolution on the 28th of July 1906.[3] This insurrection rapidly
assumed large proportions. The government was weak and lacked moral
support in the whole island. After repeated petitions from President
Palma for intervention by the United States, commissioners (William H.
Taft, Secretary of War, and Robert Bacon, Acting Secretary of State)
were sent from Washington to act as peace mediators.
All possible efforts to secure a compromise that would preserve the
Republic failed. The president resigned (on the 28th of September),
Congress dispersed without choosing a successor, and as an alternative
to anarchy the United States was compelled to proclaim on the 29th of
September 1906 a provisional government,--to last "long enough to
restore order and peace and public confidence," and hold new elections.
The insurrectionists promptly disbanded. Government was maintained under
the Cuban flag,--the diplomatic and consular relations with even the
United States remaining in outward forms unchanged; and the regular
forms of the constitution were scrupulously maintained so far as
possible. No use was made of American military force save as a passive
background to the government. The government of intervention at first
directed its main effort simply to holding the country together, without
undertaking much that could divide public opinion or seem of unpalatably
foreign impulse; and later to the establishment of a few fundamental
laws which, when intervention ceased, should give greater simplicity,
strength and stability to a new native government. These laws strictly
defined the powers of the president; more clearly separated the
executive departments, so as to lessen friction and jealousies; reformed
the courts; reformed administrative routine; and increased the strength
of the provinces at the expense of the municipalities. On the 28th of
January 1909 the American administration ceased, and the Republic was a
second time inaugurated, with General Jose Miguel Gomez (b. 1856), the
leader of the Miguelista faction of the Liberal party, as president, and
Alfredo Zayas, the leader of the Zayista faction of the same party, as
vice-president. The last American troops were withdrawn from the island
on the 1st of April 1909.
AUTHORITIES.--General Description.--There is no trustworthy recent
description. The best books are E. Pechardo, _Geografia de la isla de
Cuba_ (4 tom., Havana, 1854); M. Rodriguez-Ferrer, _Naturaleza y
civilizacion de ... Cuba_, vol. i. (Madrid, 1876). See also _United
States Geological Survey, Bulletin 192_ (1902), H. Gannett, "A
Gazetteer of Cuba." Of general descriptions in English, in addition to
travels cited below, may be cited R. T. Hill, _Cuba and Porto Rico
with the other West Indies_ (New York, 1898).
Fauna and Flora.--A. H. R. Grisebach, _Catalogus plantarum Cubensium_
(Leipzig, 1866), and F. A. Sauvalle, _Flora Cubana: revisio catalogi
Grisebachiani_ (Havana, 1868); and _Flora Cubana: enumeratio nova
plantarum Cubensium_ (Havana, 1873); F. Poey et al., _Repertorio
fisico-natural de la isla de Cuba_ (2 vols., Havana, 1865-1868), and
F. Poey, _Memorias sobre la historia natural de ... Cuba_ (3 tom.,
Havana, 1851-1860); Ramon de la Sagra, with many collaborators,
_Historia fisica, politica y natural de ... Cuba_ (Paris, 1842-1851,
12 vols.; issued also in French; vols. 3-12 being the "Historia
Natural"); _Anales_ of the Academia de Ciencias (Havana, 1863- ,
annual); M. Gomez de la Maza, _Flora Habanera_ (Havana, 1897); S. A.
de Morales, _Flora arboricola de Cuba aplicada_ (Havana, 1887, only
part published); D. H. Segui, _Ojeado sobre la flora medica y toxica
de Cuba_ (Havana, 1900); J. Gundlach, _Contribucion a la entomologia
Cubana_ (Havana, 1881); J. M. Fernandez y Jimenez, _Tratado de la
arboricultura Cubana_ (Havana, 1867).
Geology and Minerals.--M. F. de Castro, "Pruebas paleontologicas de
que la isla de Cuba ha estado unida al continento americano y breve
idea de su constitucion geologica," _Bol. Com. Mapa Geol. de Esp._
vol. viii. (1881), pp. 357-372; M. F. de Castro and P. Salterain y
Legarra, "Croquis geologico de la isla de Cuba," ibid. vol. viii. pl.
vi. (published with vol. xi., 1884). Many articles in _Anales_ of the
Academy; also, R. T. Hill in _Harvard College Museum of Comparative
Zoology, Bulletin_, vol. 16, pp. 243-288 (1895); _United States
Geological Survey_, 22nd Annual Report, 1901, C. W. Hayes _et al._,
"Geological Reconnaissance of Cuba"; _Civil Report of General Leonard
Wood_, governor of Cuba (1902), vol. v., H. C. Brown, "Report on
Mineral Resources of Cuba."
Climate.--See the _Boletin Oficial de la Secretaria de Agricultura_,
and publications of the observatory of Havana. Sanitation.--For
conditions 1899-1902, see _Civil Reports_ of American military
governors. For conditions since 1902 consult the _Informe Mensual_
(1903- ) of the Junta Superior de Sanidad.
Agriculture.--Consult the _Boletin_ above mentioned, publications of
the Estacion Central Agronomica, and current statistical serial
reports of the treasury department (Hacienda) on natural resources,
live-stock interests, the sugar industry (annual), &c.
Industries, Commerce, Communications.--See the works of Sagra and
Pezuela. For conditions about 1899 consult R. P. Porter (Special
Commissioner of the United States government), _Industrial Cuba_ (New
York, 1899); W. J. Clark, _Commercial Cuba_ (New York, 1898); reports
of foreign consular agents in Cuba; and the statistical annuals of the
Hacienda on foreign commerce and railways.
Population.--The early censuses were extremely unreliable.
Illuminating discussions of them can be found in Humboldt's _Essay_,
Saco's _Papeles_ and Pezuela's _Diccionario_. See _United States
Department of War, Report on the Census of Cuba 1899_ (Washington,
1899); _U.S. Bureau of the Census, Cuba: Population, History and
Resources, 1907_ (1909).
Education.--See _Civil Reports_ of the American military government,
1899-1902; United States commissioner of education, _Report,
1897-1898_; current reports in _Informe del superintendente de
escuelas de Cuba ..._ (Havana, 1903- ). On Letters and Culture.--E.
Pechardo y Tapia, _Diccionario ... de voces Cubanas_ (Havana, 1836,
4th ed., 1875; all editions with many errors); Antonio Bachiller y
Morales, _Apuntes para la historia de las letras y de la instruccion
publica de Cuba_ (3 tom., Havana, 1859-1861); J. M. Mestre, _De la
filosofia en la Habana_ (Havana, 1862); A. Mitjans, _Estudio sobre el
movimiento cientifico y literario de Cuba_ (Havana, 1890); biographies
of Varela and Luz Caballero by Rodriguez (see below); files of _La
Revista de Cuba_ (16 vols., Havana, 1877-1884) and _La Revista Cubana_
(21 vols., Havana, 1885-1895). The literature of TRAVEL is rich. It
suffices to mention _Letters from the Havannah_, by the English consul
(London, 1821); E. M. Masse, _L'Ile de Cuba_ (Paris, 1825); D.
Turnbull, _Travels in the West_ (London, 1840), and R. R. Madden, _The
Island of Cuba_ (London, 1853)--two very important books regarding
slavery; J. B. Rosemond de Beauvallon, _L'Ile de Cuba_ (Paris, 1844);
J. G. Taylor, _The United States and Cuba_ (London, 1851); F. Bremer,
_The Homes of the New World_ (2 vols., New York, 1853); M. M. Ballou,
_History of Cuba, or Notes of a Traveller_ (Boston, 1854); R. H. Dana,
_To Cuba and Back_ (Boston, 1859); J. von Sivers, _Die Perle der
Antillen_ (Leipzig, 1861); A. C. N. Gallenga, _The Pearl of the
Antilles_ (London, 1873); S. Hazard, _Cuba with Pen and Pencil_
(Hartford, Conn., 1873); H. Piron, _L'Ile de Cuba_ (Paris, 1876). Of
later books, F. Matthews, _The New-Born Cuba_ (New York, 1899); R.
Davey, _Cuba Past and Present_ (London, 1898). Among the writers who
have left short impressions are A. Granier de Cassagnac (1844), J. J.
A. Ampere (1855), A. Trollope (1860), J. A. Froude (1888).
Administration.--Consult the literature of history and colonial reform
given below. Also: Leandro Garcia y Gragitena, _Guia del empleado de
hacienda_ (Havana, 1860), with very valuable historical data; Carlos
de Sedano y Cruzat, _Cuba desde 1850 a 1873_. _Coleccion de informes,
memorias, proyectos y antecedentes sobre el gobierno de la isla de
Cuba_ (Madrid, 1875); Vicente Vasquez Queipo, _Informe fiscal sobre
fomento de la poblacion blanca_ (Madrid, 1845); _Informacion sobre
reformas en Cuba y Puerto Rico celebrada en Madrid en 1866 y 67 por
los representantes de ambas islas_ (2 tom., New York, 1867; 2nd ed.,
New York, 1877); and the _Diccionario_ of Pezuela. These, with the
works of Saco, Sagra, Arango and Alexander von Humboldt's work, _Essai
politique sur l'ile de Cuba_ (2 vols., Paris 1826; Spanish editions, 1
vol., Paris, 1827 and 1840; English translation by J. S. Thrasher,
with interpolations, New York, 1856), are indispensable. For
conditions at the end of the 18th century, Fran. de Arango y Parreno,
_Obras_ (2 tom., Havana, 1888). For later conditions, E. Valdes
Dominguez, _Los Antiguos Diputados de Cuba_ (Havana, 1879); B. Huber,
_Apercu statistique de l'ile de Cuba_ (Paris, 1826); Humboldt; Sagra,
vols. 1-2 of the book cited above, being the _Historia fisica y
politica_, and also the earlier work on which they are based,
_Historia economica-politica y estadistica de ... Cuba_ (Havana,
1831); treatises on administrative law in Cuba by J. M. Morilla
(Havana, 1847; 2nd ed., 1865, 2 vols.) and A. Govin (3 vols., Havana,
1882-1883); A. S. Rowan and M. M. Ramsay, _The Island of Cuba_ (New
York, 1896); _Coleccion de reales ordenes, decretos y disposiciones_
(Havana, serial, 1857-1898); _Spanish Rule in Cuba_. _Laws Governing
the Island. Reviews Published by the Colonial Office in Madrid ..._
(New York, for the Spanish legation, 1896); and compilations of
Spanish colonial laws listed under article INDIES, LAWS OF THE. On the
new Republican regime: _Gaceta Oficial_ (Havana, 1903- ); reports of
departments of government; M. Romero Palafox, _Agenda de la republica
de Cuba_ (Havana, 1905). See also the _Civil Reports_ of the United
States military governors, J. R. Brooke (2 vols., 1899; Havana and
Washington, 1900), L. Wood (33 vols., 1900-1902; Washington,
1901-1902).
History.--The works (see above) of Sagra, Humboldt and Arango are
indispensable; also those of Francisco Calcagno, _Diccionario
biografico Cubano_ (ostensibly, New York, 1878); Vidal Morales y
Morales, _Iniciadores y primeros martires de la revolucion Cubana_
(Havana, 1901); Jose Ahumada y Centurion, _Memoria historica politica
de ... Cuba_ (Havana, 1874); Jacobo de la Pezuela, _Diccionario
geografico-estadistico-historico de ... Cuba_ (4 tom., Madrid,
1863-1866); _Historia de ... Cuba_, (4 tom., Madrid, 1868-1878;
supplanting his _Ensayo historico de ... Cuba_, Madrid and New York,
1842); and Jose Antonio Saco, _Obras_ (2 vols., New York, 1853),
_Papeles_ (3 tom., Paris, 1858-1859), and _Coleccion postuma de
Papeles_ (Havana, 1881). Also: Rodriguez Ferrer, _op. cit._ above,
vol. 2 (Madrid, 1888); P. G. Guiteras, _Historia de ... Cuba_ (2
vols., New York, 1865-1866). Of great value is J. Zaragoza, _Las
Insurrecciones en Cuba_. _Apuntes para la historia politica_ (2 tom.,
Madrid, 1872-1873); also J. I. Rodriguez, _Vida de ... Felix Varela_
(New York, 1878), and _Vida de D. Jose de la Luz_ (New York, 1874; 2nd
ed., 1879). On early history see _Coleccion de documentos ineditos
relativos al descubrimiento ... de ultramar_ (series 2, vols. 1, 4, 6,
Madrid, 1885-1890). On archaeology, N. Fort y Roldan, _Cuba indigena_
(Madrid, 1881); M. Rodriguez Ferrer (see above); and especially A.
Bachiller y Morales, _Cuba primitiva_ (Havana, 1883). For the history
of the Cuban international problem consult Jose Ignacio Rodriguez,
_Idea de la anexion de la isla de Cuba a los Estados Unidos de
America_ (Havana, 1900), and J. M. Callahan, Cuba and International
Relations (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 1898), which
supplement each other. On the domestic reform problem there is an
enormous literature, from which may be selected (see general histories
above and works cited under S Administration of this bibliography): M.
Torrente, _Bosquejo economico-politico_ (2 tom., Madrid-Havana,
1852-1853); D. A. Galiano, _Cuba en 1858_ (Madrid, 1859); Jose de la
Concha, twice Captain-General of Cuba, _Memorias sobre el estado
politico, gobierno y administracion de ... Cuba_ (Madrid, 1853); A.
Lopez de Letona, _Isla de Cuba, reflexiones_ (Madrid, 1856); F. A.
Conte, _Aspiraciones del partido liberal de Cuba_ (Havana, 1892); P.
Valiente, _Reformes dans les iles de Cuba et de Porto Rico_ (Paris,
1869); C. de Sedano, _Cuba: Estudios politicos_ (Madrid, 1872); H. H.
S. Aimes, _History of Slavery in Cuba, 1511-1868_ (New York, 1907); F.
Armas y Cespedes, _De la esclavitud en Cuba_ (Madrid, 1866), and
_Regimen politico de las Antillas Espanolas_ (Palma, 1882); R.
Cabrera, _Cuba y sus Jueces_ (Havana, 1887; 9th ed., Philadelphia,
1895; 8th ed., in English, _Cuba and the Cubans_, Philadelphia, 1896);
P. de Alzola y Minondo, _El Problema Cubano_ (Bilbao, 1898); various
works by R. M. de Labra, including _La Cuestion social en las Antillas
Espanolas_ (Madrid, 1874), _Sistemas coloniales_ (Madrid, 1874), &c.;
R. Montoro, _Discursos ... 1878-1893_ (Philadelphia, 1894); Labra _et
al._, _El Problema colonial contemporanea_ (2 vols., Madrid, 1894);
articles by Em. Castelar _et al._, in Spanish reviews (1895-1898). On
the period since 1899 the best two books in English are C. M. Pepper,
_To-morrow in Cuba_ (New York, 1899); A. G. Robinson, _Cuba and the
Intervention_ (New York, 1905). (F. S. P.)