Captaincy General of Cuba
The Captaincy General of Cuba (Spanish: Capitanía General de Cuba) was an administrative district of the Spanish Empire created in 1607 as part of Habsburg Spain attempt to better defend and administer its Caribbean possessions. The reform also established captaincies general in Puerto Rico, Guatemala and Yucatán.
Captaincy General of CubaCapitanía General de Cuba (Spanish)
The restructuring of the Captaincy General in 1764 was the first example of the Bourbon Reforms in America. The changes included adding the provinces of Florida and Louisiana and granting more autonomy to these provinces. This later change was carried out by the Count of Floridablanca under Charles III to strengthen the Spanish position vis-a-vis the British in the Caribbean. A new governor-captain general based in Havana oversaw the administration of the new district. The local governors of the larger Captaincy General had previously been overseen in political and military matters by the president of the Audiencia of Santo Domingo. This audiencia retained oversight of judicial affairs until the establishment of new audiencias in Puerto Príncipe (1800) and Havana (1838).
In 1825, as a result of the loss of the mainland possessions, the Spanish government granted the governors-captain generals of Cuba extraordinary powers in matters of administration, justice and the treasury and in the second half of the 19th century gave them the title of Governor General.
History[edit]
Antecedents[edit]
Since the 16th century the island of Cuba had been under the control of the governor-captain general of Santo Domingo, who was at the same time, president of the audiencia there. He oversaw the local governor and the Santo Domingo Audiencia heard appeals from the island.
The conquest of Cuba was organized in 1510 by the recently restored Viceroy of the Indies, Diego Colón, under the command of Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, who became Cuba's first governor until his death in 1524. The new settlers did not wish to be under the personal authority of Colón, so Velázquez founded the city of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Baracoa in 1511 and convoked a general cabildo (a local government council), which was duly authorized to deal directly with Spain. This legal move removed Velázquez and the settlers from under the authority of Colón, their nominal superior. It was a precedent that would come back to haunt Velázquez during Hernán Cortés's conquest of the Aztec Empire. Other cities were later founded under Velázquez: Bayamo in 1513; Santísima Trinidad, Sancti Spíritus and San Cristóbal de La Habana in 1514; Puerto Príncipe and Santiago de Cuba in 1515. After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Cuba experienced an exodus of settlers, and its population remained small for the next two centuries.
In 1565 the Adelantado Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, who was also Captain General of the Spanish treasure fleet which rendezvoused in Havana, established the first permanent Spanish settlement in Florida, San Agustín, initially bringing the province under the administrative control of Cuba, although due to distance and sea currents, Florida's government was granted the right to correspond directly with the Council of the Indies.
The Church played an important role in the Spanish settlement of the Americas. Furthermore, since governors, as representatives of the King, oversaw church administration due to the crown's right of patronage, the church and state were tightly intertwined in Spanish America. The first diocese was established in 1518 in Baracoa and was made suffragan to the Diocese of Seville. The seat of the Diocese was transferred to Santiago de Cuba in 1522. In 1520 Pope Leo X established the short-lived Diocese of Santiago de la Florida (or "Santiago de la Tierra Florida"). In 1546 the Diocese of Santo Domingo was elevated to an Archdiocese and the Diocese of Santiago de Cuba was made suffragan to it.
Establishment[edit]
In 1607 Philip III created the Captaincy General of Cuba as part of larger plans to defend the Caribbean against foreign threats. The first captain general was Pedro Valdés. Around the same time other captaincies general were established in Puerto Rico (1580) and Central America (1609). Cuba was divided into two governorships with capitals in Havana and Santiago de Cuba. The governor of Havana was Captain General of the island. In 1650 Cuba received a large influx of refugees when the English captured Jamaica and expelled the Spanish settlers in the colony.
In 1756 the construction of ships for the Spanish Navy began with the establishment of an Intendancy of the Navy in Havana, which functioned as a royal shipyard.
Social dynamics[edit]
Population[edit]
The population of Cuba in 1899 when the Spanish rule had ended was 1,572,797 which was 9.2 times larger than the population in 1775 and during that year 171,620 people were reported living on the island.[3]
In Cuba, the western part of the island became the most developed due to Havana's port traffic and its ensuing commerce.[3] By 1763, Havana had a population of around 50,000 which made it comparable to Lima.[4] By the year 1790, Havana and the area surrounding it had a population close to 100,000 which made it the 3rd largest urban area in the Americas and was bigger than other cities in the Caribbean.[5]
Slavery and economics[edit]
Between 1790 and 1821, 240,721 slaves were imported to Cuba from Africa.[6] By the mid-19th century the slave population in Cuba was close to a half of a million with most working in the sugar industry.[7] Slavery in Cuba existed until being abolished in 1886.[8]
Cuba's sugar trade in the 19th century dramatically grew and along with it so did the usage of slavery and number of slaves on the island. By 1830, Cuba was the world's largest producer of sugar. Also in 1830 the United States became Cuba's biggest trading partner as the US was cut off from its previous supply in the British West Indies and Hispaniola. Initially, sugar plantations were built around ports and in particular Havana because overland transport was costly, slow and difficult taking the form of large ox-cart trains transporting sugar. A railroad network was developed as a result of overland limitations with the first railroad line being built in 1837 between Havana and Güines spanning 82 kilometres (51 mi). The railroad allowed for the sugar industry to grow farther. The length of Cuba's railroad network grew from 618 kilometres (384 mi) in the 1850s to 1,218 kilometres (757 mi) by 1860.[7]
With the elimination of the slave trade, imported Chinese Chinese contract laborers functioned as a replacement similar to other locations in the Caribbean. These laborers were exclusively male and recruited between the ages of 16 and 40 to serve for contracts ranging from 4 to 10 years. When Chinese laborers arrived in Cuba starting in 1847 they found themselves practically bound to the plantations and working under similar conditions to slaves whom previously worked their. When completing their contracts, some opted to stay in Cuba while others decided to return home to China. The practice of importing Chinese laborers lasted until the 1880s and 1890s.[5]
The telegraph was introduced to Cuba in 1851 and a telegraph network was soon made covering the whole island.[7] An underwater telegraph cable was installed between Florida and Cuba in 1867.[9]
Havana functioned as a port city and military outpost with several thousand soldiers and sailors being stationed there permanently.[5]
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