[1500s] [1600s TO 1900s] [the
Revolution] [Elián] [Today]
The
Spanish Rule 1500s - almost 1900
In
spite of the conspicuous absence of gold, the Spaniards decided
to stay and rule Cuba anyway. They proceeded to work the Tainos
to early graves, and those that didn't succumb to overwork, succumbed
to the weird diseases the Spaniards brought with them. In no time
at all, the Spaniards were calling the place, "Home Sweet Home"
- not a bad name for a place that grows tons of sugar cane.
One
distinct disadvantage to killing off all the Tainos was the sorry
lack of enslavable labor to work in the fields. Without gold, the
Spaniards quickly discovered the usefulness of tobacco and sugar
cane, both crops that are super labor intensive to harvest. Guess
where they went to get people to work the tobacco and sugar cane
plantations? You guessed it: Africa! And guess how much they paid
these hard-working laborers? Nothing! you guessed it, the Spaniards
killed off the Taino slaves and then imported a whole slew of new
African slaves.
By
the late 1800s, the Spaniards were still running the show, taking
orders from the monarchy in Spain. Life for the native-born Cubans
(because by now tons of people had actually been born on the island
of Cuba) was not all that great (in spite of the wonderful
beaches). They couldn't run for office, set up a business, marry
someone of a different race, take legal action against a Spaniard,
take lodgers into their homes or travel without military permission.
The Spaniards were not very popular, in general, with the Cubans.
In some ways that was OK, because, in fact, by the late 1800s, Spain
was in deep trouble around the world - losing territories right
and left as their empire floundered. Any informed Cuban could be
hopeful that Spain would jump ship, or rather jump island.
That
is, except for one new problem: The United States of America...just
a little hop, skip and a jump of 90 miles away.
At this time, tobacco and sugar cane were quite lucrative and
the USA was showing a little too much interest in the workings of
Cuba. Along came José Martî, a Cuban who felt strongly that his
country should run itself. Martî was a poet and a great speaker.
He could really get a crowd going. He raised tons of money, wrote
inspirational poems, organized, fought, and basically led the fight
for Cuban independence from Spain. Cuba did get their independence
from Spain in 1898, as a result of many efforts, including Martî's,
and he is still considered a great hero in Cuba today.
One
person, of course, can't get a country independence,
and, in fact, the United States of America was very helpful in
sending those Spaniards home. There's a story about Spain blowing
up a U.S. Navy ship called the "USS Maine" off the shores of Cuba,
which caused the USA to jump into the war. (But there is some
debate about whether that is just how it happened or whether
the U.S. used it as an excuse to enter the conflict because the U.S.
was interested in Cuba.) In fact, the USA was so interested and helpful that
the new post-Spanish Cuban constitution was drafted in Washington,
D.C., and contained the famous, or infamous, Platt Amendment which
gave, among other things, the USA rights to intervene in Cuban affairs
any time it wanted to. It also gave the USA the right to establish
permanent naval bases on the island. (Now is a good time to look
up Guantanamo Bay and see where, to this day, there is a USA naval
base full of soldiers.)
Early
1900s - 1958
We
now enter a rather icky time in the history of Cuba - that is, if
you were a regular Cuban just trying to get by - and a really fun
period of history if you were a business person with lots of capital
and an interest in making lots more without too much conscience
about how you got it.
ENTER:
gambling, prostitution and corruption. Cuba was really close to
the USA and slowly evolved into the partyland for wealthy Americans.
If you were a Cuban who owned a casino or if you were involved in
other forms of corruption, hey, it was a darn good time to be making
some money, but if you were just a good Cuban teacher or mechanic
intent on having a good, simple life, well, times were tough. Schools
were bad, health care was bad, working conditions were bad, lots
of things were bad. The presidents of the time were often called
puppets who just did what the USA businessmen told them. These presidents
found it much easier to follow the wishes of wealthy businessmen
than regular Cubans. A couple of especially famous (or infamous)
presidents were Gerardo Machado in the 1920s and Fulgencio Batista
in the 1950s.
Sometimes
Cuba was called "the whorehouse of the USA" during this time (Use
your imaginations). Americans boated to Cuba for fun and partying.
Wealthy Cubans boated to Miami to go shopping. Everyone was happy...
...well,
not everyone...
Enter:
Fidel Castro, Ché Guavara and Camilo Cienfuegos, not to mention
a cast of thousands.
Imagine
what Cuba was like for those Cubans who thought there was more to
life than just partying and buying things. Imagine all the Cubans
who thought their entire country shouldn't just be a party house
for foreigners. Imagine all the Cubans who saw all the extraordinary
wealth of these people in their country, but they themselves couldn't
afford to attend a good school. It would be maddening, don't you
think?
Hence:
to make a long story short: revolution
The
three people mentioned above, along with many others, had what was
called a "popular rebellion," which meant it wasn't the military
trying to overthrow the government, but regular people fighting
to overthrow the government. Conveniently, the three leaders
were very charismatic people who could continue to inspire people
through even the toughest times, and after years of fighting, the
administration of Fulgencio Batista fell and the people took over,
led by Fidel Castro.
[next:
1958 - present]
