Representatives of Spain and the United States signed a peace treaty in Paris on December 10, 1898, which established the independence of Cuba, ceded Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States, and allowed the victorious power to purchase the Philippines Islands from Spain for $20 million.

When did Cuba gain its independence from Spain?

Cuba had been a colony from 1492 until 1898 when the United States took over the territory in the Spanish–American War.

history

History

The history of Cuba is characterized by dependence on outside powers—<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Empire">Spain </a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States">US </a>, and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union">USSR </a>. The island of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba">Cuba </a>was inhabited by various <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas">Amerindian </a>cultures prior to the arrival of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Genoa">Genoese </a>explorer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus">Christopher Columbus </a>in 1492. After his arrival on a Spanish expedition, Spain conquered Cuba and appointed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colonial_governors_of_Cuba">Spanish governors </a>to rule in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havana">Havana </a>. The administrators in Cuba were subject to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viceroy_of_New_Spain">Viceroy of New Spain </a>and the local authorities in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispaniola">Hispaniola </a>. In 1762–63, Havana was briefly occupied by Britain, before being returned to Spain in exchange for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Florida">Florida </a>. A series of rebellions between 1868 and 1898, led by General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A1ximo_G%C3%B3mez">Máximo Gómez </a>, failed to end Spanish rule and claimed the lives of 49,000 Cuban guerrillas and 126,000 Spanish soldiers.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-1">[1] </a> However, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish%E2%80%93American_War">Spanish–American War </a>resulted in a Spanish withdrawal from the island in 1898, and following three-and-a-half years of subsequent <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Military_Government_in_Cuba">US military rule </a>,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-2">[2] </a> Cuba gained formal independence in 1902.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-3">[3] </a>

In the years following its independence, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Cuba_(1902%E2%80%931959)">Cuban republic </a>saw significant economic development, but also political corruption and a succession of despotic leaders, culminating in the overthrow of the dictator <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista">Fulgencio Batista </a>by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/26th_of_July_Movement">26th of July Movement </a>, led by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro">Fidel Castro </a>, during the 1953–1959 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Revolution">Cuban Revolution </a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-4">[4] </a> The new government <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba%E2%80%93Soviet_Union_relations">aligned with the Soviet Union </a>and embraced <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism">communism </a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-6">[a] </a> In the early 1960s, Castro's regime <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion">withstood invasion </a>(April 1961), faced nuclear Armageddon (October 1962),<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-7">[b] </a> and experienced a civil war (October 1960) that included Dominican support for regime opponents.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-11">[c] </a> Following the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Pact_invasion_of_Czechoslovakia">Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia </a>(1968), Castro publicly declared Cuba's support. His speech marked the start of Cuba's complete absorption into the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Bloc">Eastern Bloc </a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-12">[9] </a> During the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War">Cold War </a>, Cuba also supported Soviet policy in Afghanistan, Poland, Angola, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, and El Salvador.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-13">[10] </a> The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_intervention_in_Angola">Cuban intervention in Angola </a>contributed to Namibia gaining independence in 1990 from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid">apartheid </a>ruled South Africa.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-14">[11] </a>

The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Cuba">Cuban economy </a>was mostly supported by Soviet <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subsidies">subsidies </a>. With the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union">dissolution of the USSR </a>in 1991 the subsidies disappeared and Cuba was plunged into a severe economic crisis known as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Period">Special Period </a>that ended in 2000 when <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuela">Venezuela </a>began providing Cuba with subsidized oil. In 2019, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_D%C3%ADaz-Canel">Miguel Diaz-Canel </a>was elected President of Cuba by the national assembly.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-15">[12] </a> The country has been <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_Cuba">politically and economically isolated by the United States </a>since the Revolution, but has gradually gained access to foreign commerce and travel as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Thaw">efforts to normalise diplomatic relations </a>have progressed.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-FirstShip-16">[13] </a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Permit2012-17">[14] </a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-BBCDec2014-18">[15] </a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-CubaObama-19">[16] </a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-ReOpen2015-20">[17] </a> Domestic economic reforms are also beginning to tackle existing economic problems which arose in the aftermath of the special period (i.e. the introduction of the dual currency system).

Cuba's earliest known human inhabitants inhabitated the island in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_millennium_BC">4th millennium BC </a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-21">[18] </a> The oldest known Cuban archeological site, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaro-Levisa">Levisa </a>, dates from approximately 3100 BC.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-22">[19] </a> A wider distribution of sites date from after 2000 BC, most notably represented by the Cayo Redondo and Guayabo Blanco cultures of western Cuba. These <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neolithic">neolithic </a>cultures used <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_stone">ground stone </a>and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seashell">shell </a>tools and ornaments, including the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagger">dagger </a>-like gladiolitos , which are believed to have had a ceremonial role.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Allaire688-23">[20] </a> The Cayo Redondo and Guayabo Blanco cultures lived a subsistence lifestyle based on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter-gatherer">fishing, hunting and collecting wild plants </a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Allaire688-23">[20] </a>

Prior to Columbus' arrival, the indigenous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanajatabey">Guanajatabey </a>, who had inhabited Cuba for centuries, were driven to the far west of the island by the arrival of subsequent waves of migrants, including the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta%C3%ADno_people">Taíno </a>and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciboney">Ciboney </a>. These people had migrated north along the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribbean">Caribbean island chain </a>.

The Taíno and Siboney were part of a cultural group commonly called the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arawak_peoples">Arawak </a>, who inhabited parts of northeastern South America prior to the arrival of Europeans. Initially, they settled at the eastern end of Cuba, before expanding westward across the island. The Spanish <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Order">Dominican </a>clergyman and writer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolom%C3%A9_de_las_Casas">Bartolomé de las Casas </a>estimated that the Taíno population of Cuba had reached 350,000 by the end of the 15th century. The Taíno cultivated the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassava">yuca </a>root, harvested it and baked it to produce <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassava_bread">cassava bread </a>. They also grew <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton">cotton </a>and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco">tobacco </a>, and ate <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maize">maize </a>and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_potato">sweet potatoes </a>. According to History of the Indians , they had "everything they needed for living; they had many crops, well arranged".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-24">[21] </a>

Spanish conquest and early colonization (1492 - 1800)

Christopher Columbus, on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyages_of_Christopher_Columbus#First_voyage">his first Spanish-sponsored voyage to the Americas </a>in 1492, sailed south from what is now the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bahamas">Bahamas </a>to explore the northeast coast of Cuba and the northern coast of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispaniola">Hispaniola </a>. Columbus, who was searching for a route to India, believed the island to be a peninsula of the Asian mainland.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-25">[22] </a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-26">[23] </a> Columbus arrived at Cuba on Saturday, October 27, 1492, and he landed on Sunday, October 28, 1492 at Puerto de Nipe.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Gott-27">[24] </a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-28">[25] </a>

During a second voyage in 1494, Columbus passed along the south coast of the island, landing at various inlets including what was to become <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guant%C3%A1namo_Bay">Guantánamo Bay </a>. With the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter_caetera">Papal Bull of 1493 </a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_VI">Pope Alexander VI </a>commanded Spain to conquer, colonize and convert the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paganism">pagans </a>of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World">New World </a>to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church">Catholicism </a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-29">[26] </a> On arrival, Columbus observed the Taíno dwellings, describing them as "looking like tents in a camp. All were of palm branches, beautifully constructed".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-30">[27] </a>

The Spanish began to create permanent settlements on the island of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispaniola">Hispaniola </a>, east of Cuba, soon after Columbus' arrival in the Caribbean, but the coast of Cuba was not fully mapped by Europeans until 1508, when <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebasti%C3%A1n_de_Ocampo">Sebastián de Ocampo </a>completed this task.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-historia_naval-31">[28] </a> In 1511, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Vel%C3%A1zquez_de_Cu%C3%A9llar">Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar </a>set out from Hispaniola to form the first Spanish settlement in Cuba, with orders from Spain to conquer the island. The settlement was at Baracoa, but the new settlers were greeted with stiff resistance from the local Taíno population. The Taínos were initially organized by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cacique">cacique </a> (chieftain) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatuey">Hatuey </a>, who had himself relocated from Hispaniola to escape the brutalities of Spanish rule on that island. After a prolonged <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla">guerrilla </a>campaign, Hatuey and successive chieftains were captured and burnt alive, and within three years the Spanish had gained control of the island. In 1514, a south coast settlement was founded in what was to become the first <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havana">Havana </a>location. The current city was founded in 1519.

Clergyman <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolom%C3%A9_de_las_Casas">Bartolomé de las Casas </a>observed a number of massacres initiated by the invaders as the Spanish swept over the island, notably the massacre near <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camag%C3%BCey">Camagüey </a>of the inhabitants of Caonao. According to his account, some three thousand villagers had traveled to Manzanillo to greet the Spanish with loaves, fishes and other foodstuffs, and were "without provocation, butchered".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-32">[29] </a> The surviving indigenous groups fled to the mountains or the small surrounding islands before being captured and forced into reservations. One such reservation was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanabacoa">Guanabacoa </a>, which is today a suburb of Havana.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Thomas1-33">[30] </a>

In 1513, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_II_of_Aragon">Ferdinand II of Aragon </a>issued a decree establishing the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encomienda">encomienda </a> land settlement system that was to be incorporated throughout the Spanish Americas. Velázquez, who had become Governor of Cuba relocating from Baracoa to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_de_Cuba">Santiago de Cuba </a>, was given the task of apportioning both the land and the indigenous peoples to groups throughout the new colony. The scheme was not a success, however, as the natives either succumbed to diseases brought from Spain such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measles">measles </a>and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox">smallpox </a>, or simply refused to work, preferring to slip away into the mountains.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Gott-27">[24] </a> Desperate for labor to toil the new agricultural settlements, the Conquistadors sought slaves from surrounding islands and the continental mainland. Velazquez's lieutenant <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hern%C3%A1n_Cort%C3%A9s">Hernán Cortés </a>launched the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_conquest_of_the_Aztec_Empire">Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire </a>in Cuba, sailing from Santiago to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucat%C3%A1n_Peninsula">Yucatán Peninsula </a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-34">[31] </a> However, these new arrivals followed the indigenous peoples by also dispersing into the wilderness or dying of disease.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Gott-27">[24] </a>

Despite the difficult relations between the natives and the new Europeans, some cooperation was in evidence. The Spanish were shown by the natives how to nurture <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco">tobacco </a>and consume it in the form of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigar">cigars </a>. There were also many unions between the largely male Spanish colonists and indigenous women. Modern-day studies have revealed traces of DNA that renders physical traits similar to Amazonian tribes in individuals throughout Cuba,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-35">[32] </a> although the native population was largely destroyed as a culture and civilization after 1550. Under the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Laws">Spanish New Laws </a>of 1552, indigenous Cuban were freed from encomienda , and seven towns for indigenous peoples were set up. There are indigenous descendant Cuban (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta%C3%ADno">Taíno </a>) families in several places, mostly in eastern Cuba. The indigenous community at Caridad de los Indios, Guantánamo, is one such nucleus. An association of indigenous families in Jiguani, near Santiago, is also active. The local indigenous population also left their mark on the language, with some 400 Taíno terms and place-names surviving to the present day. The name of Cuba itself, Havana , Camagüey , and many others were derived from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta%C3%ADno_language">Classic Taíno </a>, and indigenous words such as tobacco , hurricane and canoe were transferred to English and are used today.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Thomas1-33">[30] </a>

The Spanish established <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar">sugar </a>and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco">tobacco </a>as Cuba's primary products, and the island soon supplanted Hispaniola as the prime Spanish base in the Caribbean.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-36">[33] </a> Further field labor was required. African <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Latin_America">slaves </a>were then imported to work the plantations as field labor. However, restrictive Spanish trade laws made it difficult for Cubans to keep up with the 17th and 18th century advances in processing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_cane">sugar cane </a>pioneered in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Barbados">Barbados </a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_of_Jamaica">Jamaica </a>and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Domingue">Saint-Domingue </a>. Spain also restricted Cuba's access to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_slave_trade">slave trade </a>, instead issuing foreign merchants <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asiento">asientos </a> to conduct it on Spain's behalf. The advances in the system of sugar cane refinement did not reach Cuba until the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Revolution">Haitian Revolution </a>in the nearby French colony of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Domingue">Saint-Domingue </a>led to thousands of refugee French planters to flee to Cuba and other islands in the West Indies, bringing their slaves and expertise in sugar refining and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee">coffee </a>growing into eastern Cuba in the 1790s and early 19th century.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Thomas,_Hugh_p.89-37">[34] </a>

In the 19th century, Cuban sugar plantations became the most important world producer of sugar, thanks to the expansion of slavery and a relentless focus on improving the island's sugar technology. Use of modern refining techniques was especially important because the British <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_Trade_Act_1807">Slave Trade Act 1807 </a>abolished the slave trade in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire">British Empire </a>(with slavery itself being abolished in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_Abolition_Act_1833">Slavery Abolition Act 1833 </a>). The British government set about trying to eliminate the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_slave_trade">transatlantic slave trade </a>. Under British diplomatic pressure, in 1817 Spain agreed to abolish the slave trade from 1820 in exchange for a payment from London. Cubans rapidly rushed to import further slaves in the time legally left to them. Over 100,000 new slaves were imported from Africa between 1816 and 1820.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Thomas,_Hugh_p.89-37">[34] </a> In other words, 100,000 African people were kidnapped and forced into slavery. In spite of the new restrictions a large-scale illegal slave trade continued to flourish in the following years.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-38">[35] </a>

Many Cubans were torn between desire for the profits generated by sugar and a repugnance for slavery, which they saw as morally, politically, and racially dangerous to their society. By the end of the 19th century, slavery was abolished. However, prior to the abolition of slavery, Cuba gained great prosperity from its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_trade">sugar trade </a>. Originally, the Spanish had ordered regulations on trade with Cuba, which kept the island from becoming a dominant sugar producer. The Spanish were interested in keeping their trade routes and slave trade routes protected. Nevertheless, Cuba's vast size and abundance of natural resources made it an ideal place for becoming a booming sugar producer. When Spain opened the Cuban trade ports, it quickly became a popular place. New technology allowed a much more effective and efficient means of producing sugar. They began to use water mills, enclosed furnaces, and steam engines to produce higher-quality sugar at a much more efficient pace than elsewhere in the Caribbean.

The boom in Cuba's sugar industry in the 19th century made it necessary for the country to improve its transportation infrastructure. Planters needed safe and efficient ways to transport the sugar from the plantations to the ports, in order to maximize their returns. Many new roads were built, and old roads were quickly repaired. Railroads were built relatively early, easing the collection and transportation of perishable sugar cane. It was now possible for plantations all over this large island to have their sugar shipped quickly and easily.

Cuba failed to prosper before the 1760s, due to Spanish trade regulations. Spain had set up a trade <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly">monopoly </a>in the Caribbean, and their primary objective was to protect this, which they did by barring the islands from trading with any foreign ships. The resultant stagnation of economic growth was particularly pronounced in Cuba because of its great strategic importance in the Caribbean, and the stranglehold that Spain kept on it as a result.

As soon as Spain opened Cuba's ports up to foreign ships, a great sugar boom began that lasted until the 1880s. The island was perfect for growing sugar, being dominated by rolling plains, with rich soil and adequate rainfall. By 1860, Cuba was devoted to growing sugar, having to import all other necessary goods. Cuba was particularly dependent on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States">United States </a>, which bought 82 percent of its sugar. In 1820, Spain abolished the slave trade, hurting the Cuban economy even more and forcing planters to buy more expensive, illegal, and "troublesome" slaves (as demonstrated by the slave rebellion on the Spanish ship <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amistad_(case)">Amistad </a> in 1839).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-39">[36] </a>

Colonial Cuba was a frequent target of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buccaneer">buccaneers </a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy">pirates </a>and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_corsairs">French corsairs </a>seeking Spain's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World">New World </a>riches. In response to repeated raids, defenses were bolstered throughout the island during the 16th century. In Havana, the fortress of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castillo_de_los_Tres_Reyes_Magos_del_Morro">Castillo de los Tres Reyes Magos del Morro </a>was built to deter potential invaders, which included the English <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privateer">privateer </a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Drake">Francis Drake </a>, who sailed within sight of Havana harbor but did not disembark on the island.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Drake-40">[37] </a> Havana's inability to resist invaders was dramatically exposed in 1628, when a Dutch fleet led by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_Heyn">Piet Heyn </a>plundered the Spanish ships in the city's harbor.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Heyn_and_Myngs-41">[38] </a> In 1662, English <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy">pirate </a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Myngs">Christopher Myngs </a>captured and briefly occupied <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_de_Cuba">Santiago de Cuba </a>on the eastern part of the island, in an effort to open up Cuba's protected trade with neighboring <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_of_Jamaica">Jamaica </a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Heyn_and_Myngs-41">[38] </a>

Nearly a century later, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Navy">British Royal Navy </a>launched another invasion, capturing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guant%C3%A1namo_Bay">Guantánamo Bay </a>in 1741 during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Jenkins%27_Ear">War of Jenkins' Ear </a>with Spain. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Vernon">Edward Vernon </a>, the British admiral who devised the scheme, saw his 4,000 occupying troops capitulate to raids by Spanish troops, and more critically, an epidemic, forcing him to withdraw his fleet to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_of_Jamaica">British Jamaica </a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Vernon-42">[39] </a> In the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Austrian_Succession">War of the Austrian Succession </a>, the British carried out unsuccessful attacks against Santiago de Cuba <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Cuba_(1741)">in 1741 </a>and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Santiago_de_Cuba_(1748)">again in 1748 </a>. Additionally, a skirmish between British and Spanish naval squadrons occurred <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Havana_(1748)">near Havana in 1748 </a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Vernon-42">[39] </a>

The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Years%27_War">Seven Years' War </a>, which erupted in 1754 across three continents, eventually arrived in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_West_Indies">Spanish Caribbean </a>. Spain's alliance with the French pitched them into direct conflict with the British, and in 1762 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Havana_(1762)">a British expedition </a>of five warships and 4,000 troops set out from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth">Portsmouth </a>to capture Cuba. The British arrived on 6 June, and by August had Havana under <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege">siege </a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Siege-43">[40] </a> When Havana surrendered, the admiral of the British fleet, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Keppel,_3rd_Earl_of_Albemarle">George Keppel </a>, the 3rd <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_of_Albemarle">Earl of Albemarle </a>, entered the city as a new colonial governor and took control of the whole western part of the island. The arrival of the British immediately opened up trade with their <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_America">North American </a>and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies">Caribbean colonies </a>, causing a rapid transformation of Cuban society.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Siege-43">[40] </a>

Though Havana, which had become the third-largest city in the Americas, was to enter an era of sustained development and closening ties with North America during this period, the British occupation of the city proved short-lived. Pressure from London sugar merchants fearing a decline in sugar prices forced a series of negotiations with the Spanish over colonial territories. Less than a year after Havana was seized, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_(1763)">Peace of Paris </a>was signed by the three warring powers, ending the Seven Years' War. The treaty gave Britain <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida">Florida </a>in exchange for Cuba on France's recommendation to Spain, The French advised that declining the offer could result in Spain losing Mexico and much of the South American mainland to the British.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Siege-43">[40] </a> In 1781, General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernardo_de_G%C3%A1lvez">Bernardo de Gálvez </a>, the Spanish governor of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_(New_Spain)">Louisiana </a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Coast_campaign">reconquered Florida </a>for Spain with Mexican, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Cuban troops.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Ferreiro2016133-44">[41] </a>

In the early 19th century, three major political currents took shape in Cuba: reformism , annexation and independence . In addition, spontaneous and isolated actions carried out from time to time added a current of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolitionism">abolitionism </a> . The 1776 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence">Declaration of Independence </a>by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteen_Colonies">thirteen of the British colonies </a>of North America and the successes of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution">French Revolution </a>of 1789 influenced early Cuban liberation movements, as did the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Revolution">successful revolt </a>of black slaves in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiti">Haiti </a>in 1791. One of the first of such movements in Cuba, headed by the free <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_people">black </a>Nicolás Morales, aimed at gaining equality between "mulatto and whites" and at the abolition of sales taxes and other fiscal burdens. Morales' plot was discovered in 1795 in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayamo">Bayamo </a>, and the conspirators were jailed.

Reform, autonomy and separatist movements

As a result of the political upheavals caused by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peninsular_War">Iberian Peninsular War </a>of 1807-1814 and of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon">Napoleon </a>'s removal of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_VII_of_Spain">Ferdinand VII </a>from the Spanish throne in 1808, a western separatist rebellion emerged among the Cuban Creole aristocracy in 1809 and 1810. One of its leaders, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joaqu%C3%ADn_Infante&action=edit&redlink=1">Joaquín Infante </a>, drafted Cuba's first <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution">constitution </a>, declaring the island a sovereign state, presuming the rule of the country's wealthy, maintaining slavery as long as it was necessary for agriculture, establishing a social classification based on skin color and declaring <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholicism">Catholicism </a>the official religion. This conspiracy also failed, and the main leaders were sentenced to prison and deported to Spain.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-xrhsoz-45">[42] </a> In 1812 a mixed-race abolitionist conspiracy arose, organized by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Antonio_Aponte">José Antonio Aponte </a>, a free-black carpenter in Havana. He and others were executed.

The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Constitution_of_1812">Spanish Constitution of 1812 </a>, and the legislation passed by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortes_of_C%C3%A1diz">Cortes of Cádiz </a>after it was set up in 1808, instituted a number of liberal political and commercial policies, which were welcomed in Cuba but also curtailed a number of older liberties. Between 1810 and 1814 the island elected six representatives to the Cortes, in addition to forming a locally elected Provincial Deputation.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-46">[43] </a> Nevertheless, the liberal regime and the Constitution proved ephemeral: Ferdinand VII suppressed them when he returned to the throne in 1814. Therefore, by the end of the 1810s, some Cubans were inspired by the successes of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sim%C3%B3n_Bol%C3%ADvar">Simón Bolívar </a>in South America, despite the fact that the Spanish Constitution was restored in 1820. Numerous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_society">secret-societies </a>emerged, most notably the so-called "<a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soles_y_Rayos_de_Bol%C3%ADvar">Soles y Rayos de Bolívar </a>", founded in 1821 and led by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jos%C3%A9_Francisco_Lemus&action=edit&redlink=1">José Francisco Lemus </a>. It aimed to establish the free <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Republic_of_Cubanac%C3%A1n&action=edit&redlink=1">Republic of Cubanacán </a>(a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta%C3%ADno">Taíno </a>name for the center of the island<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-47">[44] </a> ), and it had branches in five districts of the island.

In 1823 the society's leaders were arrested and condemned to exile. In the same year, King Ferdinand VII, with French help and with the approval of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintuple_Alliance">Quintuple Alliance </a>, managed to abolish constitutional rule in Spain yet again and to re-establish <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_monarchy">absolutism </a>. As a result, the national militia of Cuba, established by the Constitution and a potential instrument for liberal agitation, was dissolved, a permanent executive military commission under the orders of the governor was created, newspapers were closed, elected provincial representatives were removed and other liberties suppressed.

This suppression, and the success of independence movements in the former Spanish colonies on the North American mainland, led to a notable rise of Cuban <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalism">nationalism </a>. A number of independence conspiracies developed during the 1820s and 1830s, but all failed. Among these were the "Expedición de los Trece" (Expedition of the 13) in 1826, the "Gran Legión del Aguila Negra" (Great Legion of the Black Eagle) in 1829, the "Cadena Triangular" (Triangular Chain) and the "Soles de la Libertad" (Suns of Liberty) in 1837. Leading national figures in these years included <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Varela">Félix Varela </a>(1788-1853) and Cuba's first revolutionary poet, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mar%C3%ADa_Heredia">José María Heredia </a>(1803-1839).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-48">[45] </a>

Between 1810 and 1826, 20,000 royalist refugees from the Latin American Revolutions arrived in Cuba. They were joined by others who left Florida when Spain <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adams%E2%80%93On%C3%ADs_Treaty">ceded it to the United States </a>in 1819. These influxes strengthened loyalist pro-Spanish sentiments on the island.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-49">[46] </a>

In 1826 the first armed uprising for independence took place in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Pr%C3%ADncipe,_Cuba">Puerto Príncipe </a>(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camag%C3%BCey_Province">Camagüey Province </a>), led by Francisco de Agüero and Andrés Manuel Sánchez. Agüero, a white man, and Sánchez, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulatto">mulatto </a>, were both executed, becoming the first popular martyrs of the Cuban independence movement.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-50">[47] </a>

The 1830s saw a surge of activity from the reformist movement, whose main <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leader">leader </a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Antonio_Saco">José Antonio Saco </a>, stood out for his criticism of Spanish despotism and of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_trade">slave trade </a>. Nevertheless, this surge bore no fruit; Cubans remained deprived of the right to send representatives to the Spanish parliament, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrid">Madrid </a>stepped up repression.

Nonetheless, Spain had long been under pressure to end the slave trade. In 1817 Ferdinand VII signed a decree,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-51">[48] </a> to which the Spanish Empire did not adhere. Under British diplomatic pressure, the Spanish government signed a treaty in 1835 which pledged to eventually abolish slavery and the slave trade.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed">citation needed </a> ] In this context, Black revolts in Cuba increased, and were put down with mass executions. One of the most significant was the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conspiraci%C3%B3n_de_la_Escalera&action=edit&redlink=1">Conspiración de la Escalera </a>(Ladder Conspiracy), which started in March 1843 and continued until 1844. The conspiracy took its name from a torture method, in which Black persons were tied to a ladder and whipped until they confessed or died. The Ladder Conspiracy involved free Black persons and enslaved, as well as white intellectuals and professionals. It is estimated[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Words_to_watch#Unsupported_attributions">by whom? </a> ] that 300 Black and mixed-race persons died from torture, 78 were executed, over 600 were imprisoned and over 400 expelled from the island.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-kotrhz-52">[49] </a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-53">[50] </a> (See comments in new translation of Villaverde's "Cecilia Valdés".) The executed included the leading poet <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gabriel_de_la_Concepci%C3%B3n_Vald%C3%A9s&action=edit&redlink=1">Gabriel de la Concepción Valdés </a> [<a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_de_la_Concepci%C3%B3n_Vald%C3%A9s">es </a>] (1809-1844), now commonly known as "Plácido".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-54">[51] </a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Antonio_Saco">José Antonio Saco </a>, one of Cuba's most prominent thinkers, was expelled from Cuba.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-55">[52] </a>

Following the 1868–1878 rebellion of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Years%27_War">Ten Years' War </a>, all slavery was abolished by 1886, making Cuba the second-to-last country in the Western Hemisphere to abolish slavery, with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_Brazil">Brazil </a>being the last. Instead of Black people, slave traders looked for others sources of cheap labour, such as Chinese colonists and Indians from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucat%C3%A1n_Peninsula">Yucatán </a>. Another feature of the population was the number of Spanish-born colonists, known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peninsulares">peninsulares </a> , who were mostly adult males; they constituted between ten and twenty per cent of the population between the middle of the 19th century and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression">great depression of the 1930s </a>.

The possibility of annexation by the United States

Black unrest and attempts by the Spanish metropolis to abolish slavery motivated many Creoles to advocate Cuba's annexation by the United States, where slavery was still legal. Other Cubans supported the idea due to their desire for American-style economic development and democratic freedom. The annexation of Cuba was repeatedly proposed by government officials in the United States. In 1805, President <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson">Thomas Jefferson </a>considered annexing Cuba for strategic reasons, sending secret agents to the island to negotiate with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Jos%C3%A9_de_Muro,_2nd_Marquis_of_Someruelos">Captain General Someruelos </a>.

In April 1823, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secretary_of_State">U.S. Secretary of State </a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Quincy_Adams">John Quincy Adams </a>discussed the rules of political gravitation, in a theory often referred to as the "ripe fruit theory". Adams wrote, "There are laws of political as well as physical gravitation; and if an apple severed by its native tree cannot choose but fall to the ground, Cuba, forcibly disjoined from its own unnatural connection with Spain, and incapable of self-support, can gravitate only towards the North American Union which by the same law of nature, cannot cast her off its bosom".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-56">[53] </a> He furthermore warned that "the transfer of Cuba to Great Britain would be an event unpropitious to the interest of this Union".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-57">[54] </a> Adams voiced concern that a country outside of North America would attempt to occupy Cuba upon its separation from Spain. He wrote, "The question both of our right and our power to prevent it, if necessary, by force, already obtrudes itself upon our councils, and the administration is called upon, in the performance of its duties to the nation, at least to use all the means with the competency to guard against and forfend it".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-58">[55] </a>

On 2 December 1823, U.S. President <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Monroe">James Monroe </a>specifically addressed Cuba and other European colonies in his proclamation of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe_Doctrine">Monroe Doctrine </a>. Cuba, located just 94 miles (151 km) from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_West">Key West, Florida </a>, was of interest to the doctrine's founders, as they warned European forces to leave "America for the Americans".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-59">[56] </a>

The most outstanding attempts in support of annexation were made by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuela">Venezuelan </a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filibuster_(military)">filibuster </a>General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narciso_L%C3%B3pez">Narciso López </a>, who prepared four expeditions to Cuba in the US. The first two, in 1848 and 1849, failed before departure due to U.S. opposition. The third, made up of some 600 men, managed to land in Cuba and take the central city of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A1rdenas,_Cuba">Cárdenas </a>, but failed eventually due to a lack of popular support. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lopez_Expedition">López's fourth expedition </a>landed in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinar_del_R%C3%ADo">Pinar del Río </a>province with around 400 men in August 1851; the invaders were defeated by Spanish troops and López was executed.

In the 1860s, Cuba had two more liberal-minded governors, Serrano and Dulce, who encouraged the creation of a Reformist Party, despite the fact that political parties were forbidden. But they were followed by a reactionary governor, Francisco Lersundi, who suppressed all liberties granted by the previous governors and maintained a pro-slavery regime.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-60">[57] </a> On 10 October 1868, the landowner <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Manuel_de_C%C3%A9spedes">Carlos Manuel de Céspedes </a>declared Cuban independence and freedom for his slaves. This began the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Years%27_War">Ten Years' War </a>, which lasted from 1868 to 1878. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Restoration_War">Dominican Restoration War </a>(1863–65) brought to Cuba an unemployed mass of former Dominican white and light-skinned mulattos who had served with the Spanish Army in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Republic">Dominican Republic </a>before being evacuated to Cuba and discharged from the army.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Scheina-61">[58] </a> Some of these former soldiers joined the new Revolutionary Army and provided its initial training and leadership.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Scheina-61">[58] </a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-62">[59] </a>

With reinforcements and guidance from the Dominicans, the Cuban rebels defeated Spanish detachments, cut railway lines, and gained dominance over vast sections of the eastern portion of the island.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-63">[60] </a> The Spanish government used the Voluntary Corps to commit harsh and bloody acts against the Cuban rebels, and the Spanish atrocities fuelled the growth of insurgent forces in eastern Cuba; however, they failed to export the revolution to the west. On 11 May 1873, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignacio_Agramonte">Ignacio Agramonte </a>was killed by a stray bullet; Céspedes was surprised and killed on 27 February 1874. In 1875, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A1ximo_G%C3%B3mez">Máximo Gómez </a>began an invasion of Las Villas west of a fortified military line, or trocha , bisecting the island.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-64">[61] </a> The trocha was built between 1869 and 1872; the Spanish erected it to prevent Gómez to move westward from Oriente province.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-65">[62] </a> It was the largest fortification built by the Spanish in the Americas.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-66">[63] </a>

Gómez was controversial in his calls to burn sugar plantations to harass the Spanish occupiers. After the American admiral <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Reeve_(soldier)">Henry Reeve </a>was killed in 1876, Gómez ended his campaign. By that year, the Spanish government had deployed more than 250,000 troops to Cuba, as the end of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Carlist_War">Third Carlist War </a>had freed up Spanish soldiers for the suppression of the revolt. On 10 February 1878, General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenio_Mart%C3%ADnez_Campos">Arsenio Martínez Campos </a>negotiated the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pact_of_Zanj%C3%B3n">Pact of Zanjón </a>with the Cuban rebels, and the rebel general <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Maceo_Grajales">Antonio Maceo </a>'s surrender on 28 May ended the war. Spain sustained 200,000 casualties, mostly from disease; the rebels sustained 100,000–150,000 dead and the island sustained over $300 million in property damage.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Scheina-61">[58] </a> The Pact of Zanjón promised the manumission of all slaves who had fought for Spain during the war, and slavery was legally abolished in 1880. However, dissatisfaction with the peace treaty led to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_War_(Cuba)">Little War </a>of 1879–80.

During the time of the so-called "Rewarding Truce", which encompassed the 17 years from the end of the Ten Years' War in 1878, fundamental changes took place in Cuban society. With the abolition of slavery in October 1886, former slaves joined the ranks of farmers and urban working class. Most wealthy Cubans lost their rural properties, and many of them joined the urban middle class. The number of sugar mills dropped and efficiency increased, with only companies and the most powerful plantation owners owning them. The numbers of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peasant">campesinos </a>and tenant farmers rose considerably. Furthermore, American <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_(economics)">capital </a>began flowing into Cuba, mostly into the sugar and tobacco businesses and mining. By 1895, these investments totalled $50 million. Although Cuba remained Spanish politically, economically it became increasingly dependent on the United States.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-67">[64] </a>

These changes also entailed the rise of labour movements. The first Cuban labour organization, the Cigar Makers Guild, was created in 1878, followed by the Central Board of Artisans in 1879, and many more across the island.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-68">[65] </a> Abroad, a new trend of aggressive American influence emerged, evident in Secretary of State <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_G._Blaine">James G. Blaine </a>'s expressed belief that all of Central and South America would some day fall to the US. Blaine placed particular importance on the control of Cuba. "That rich island", he wrote on 1 December 1881, "the key to the Gulf of Mexico, is, though in the hands of Spain, a part of the American commercial system…If ever ceasing to be Spanish, Cuba must necessarily become American and not fall under any other European domination".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-wqswxw-69">[66] </a> Blaine's vision did not allow the existence of an independent Cuba.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-wfbftj-70">[67] </a>

Martí's Insurrection and the start of the war

After his second deportation to Spain in 1878, the pro-independence Cuban activist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mart%C3%AD">José Martí </a>moved to the United States in 1881, where he began mobilizing the support of the Cuban exile community in Florida, especially in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ybor_City">Ybor City </a>in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampa,_Florida">Tampa </a>and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_West">Key West </a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-71">[68] </a> He sought a revolution and Cuban independence from Spain, but also lobbied to oppose U.S. annexation of Cuba, which some American and Cuban politicians desired. Propaganda efforts by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Junta">Cuban Junta </a>continued for years and intensified starting in 1895.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-72">[69] </a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-73">[70] </a>

After deliberations with patriotic clubs across the United States, the Antilles and Latin America, the Partido Revolucionario Cubano (Cuban Revolutionary Party) was officially proclaimed on 10 April 1892, with the purpose of gaining independence for both Cuba and Puerto Rico. Martí was elected delegate, the highest party position. By the end of 1894, the basic conditions for launching the revolution were set.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-74">[71] </a> In Foner's words, "Martí's impatience to start the revolution for independence was affected by his growing fear that the United States would succeed in annexing Cuba before the revolution could liberate the island from Spain".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-wfbftj-70">[67] </a>

On 25 December 1894, three ships, the Lagonda , the Almadis and the Baracoa , set sail for Cuba from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernandina_Beach,_Florida">Fernandina Beach, Florida </a>, loaded with armed men and supplies. Two of the ships were seized by U.S. authorities in early January, who also alerted the Spanish government, but the proceedings went ahead. The insurrection began on 24 February 1895, with uprisings all across the island. In Oriente the most important ones took place in Santiago, Guantánamo, Jiguaní, San Luis, El Cobre, El Caney, Alto Songo, Bayate and Baire. The uprisings in the central part of the island, such as Ibarra, Jagüey Grande and Aguada, suffered from poor co-ordination and failed; the leaders were captured, some of them deported and some executed. In the province of Havana the insurrection was discovered before it got off and the leaders detained. Thus, the insurgents further west in Pinar del Río were ordered to wait.

Martí, on his way to Cuba, gave the Proclamation of Montecristi in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santo_Domingo">Santo Domingo </a>, outlining the policy for Cuba's war of independence: the war was to be waged by blacks and whites alike; participation of all blacks was crucial for victory; Spaniards who did not object to the war effort should be spared, private rural properties should not be damaged; and the revolution should bring new economic life to Cuba.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-wqswxw-69">[66] </a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-75">[72] </a>

On 1 and 11 April 1895, the main rebel leaders landed on two expeditions in Oriente: Major Antonio Maceo and 22 members near <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baracoa">Baracoa </a>and Martí, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A1ximo_G%C3%B3mez">Máximo Gómez </a>and four other members in Playitas. Around that time, Spanish forces in Cuba numbered about 80,000, of which 20,000 were regular troops, and 60,000 were Spanish and Cuban volunteers. The latter were a locally enlisted force that took care of most of the guard and police duties on the island. Wealthy landowners would volunteer a number of their slaves to serve in this force, which was under local control and not under official military command. By December, 98,412 regular troops had been sent to the island and the number of volunteers had increased to 63,000 men. By the end of 1897, there were 240,000 regulars and 60,000 irregulars on the island. The revolutionaries were far outnumbered.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-wqswxw-69">[66] </a>

The rebels came to be nicknamed "Mambis" after a black Spanish officer, Juan Ethninius Mamby, who joined the Dominicans in the fight for independence in 1846.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-76">[73] </a> The Spanish soldiers referred to the Dominican insurgents as "the men of Mamby" and "Mambis".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-77">[74] </a> When the Ten Years' War broke out in 1868, some of the same soldiers were assigned to Cuba, importing what had by then become a derogatory Spanish slur. The Cubans adopted the name with pride.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-78">[75] </a>

After the Ten Years' War, possession of weapons by private individuals was prohibited in Cuba. Thus, one of the most serious and persistent problems for the rebels was a shortage of suitable weapons. This lack of arms forced them to utilise <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla">guerrilla </a>tactics, using the environment, the element of surprise, fast horses and simple weapons such as machetes. Most of their firearms were acquired in raids on the Spaniards. Between 11 June 1895 and 30 November 1897, 60 attempts were made to bring weapons and supplies to the rebels from outside Cuba, but only one succeeded, largely due to British naval protection. 28 of these resupply attempts were halted within U.S. territory, five were intercepted by the U.S. Navy, four by the Spanish Navy, two were wrecked, one was driven back to port by a storm, and the fate of another is unknown.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-wqswxw-69">[66] </a>

Martí was killed on 19 May 1895, during a reckless charge against entrenched Spanish forces, but <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A1ximo_G%C3%B3mez">Máximo Gómez </a>(a Dominican) and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Maceo_Grajales">Antonio Maceo </a>(a mulatto)<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-FOOTNOTEClodfelter2017308-79">[76] </a> fought on, taking the war to all parts of Oriente. Gómez used scorched-earth tactics, which entailed dynamiting passenger trains and burning the Spanish loyalists' property and sugar plantations—including many owned by Americans.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-80">[77] </a> By the end of June all of Camagüey was at war. Continuing west, Gómez and Maceo joined up with veterans of the 1868 war, Polish internationalists, General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Roloff">Carlos Roloff </a>and Serafín Sánchez in Las Villas, swelling their ranks and boosting their arsenal. In mid-September, representatives of the five Liberation Army Corps assembled in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimaguay%C3%BA">Jimaguayú </a>, Camagüey, to approve the Jimaguayú Constitution. This constitution established a central government, which grouped the executive and legislative powers into one entity, the Government Council, which was headed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Salvador_Cisneros&action=edit&redlink=1">Salvador Cisneros </a>and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolom%C3%A9_Mas%C3%B3">Bartolomé Masó </a>.

After a period of consolidation in the three eastern provinces, the liberation armies headed for Camagüey and then for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matanzas">Matanzas </a>, outmanoeuvring and deceiving the Spanish Army several times. The revolutionaries defeated the Spanish general <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenio_Mart%C3%ADnez_Campos">Arsenio Martínez Campos </a>, himself the victor of the Ten Years' War, and killed his most trusted general at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Peralejo&action=edit&redlink=1">Peralejo </a>. Campos tried the same strategy he had employed in the Ten Years' War, constructing a broad defensive belt across the island, about 80 kilometres (50 mi) long and 200 metres (660 ft) wide. This line, called the trocha , was intended to limit rebel activities to the eastern provinces, and consisted of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad">railroad </a>, from Jucaro in the south to Moron in the north, on which armored railcars could travel. At various points along this railroad there were fortifications, at intervals of 12 metres (39 ft) there were posts and at intervals of 400 metres (1,300 ft) there was barbed wire. In addition, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booby_trap">booby traps </a>were placed at the locations most likely to be attacked.

For the rebels, it was essential to bring the war to the western provinces of Matanzas, Havana and Pinar del Río, where the island's government and wealth was located. The Ten Years' War failed because it had not managed to proceed beyond the eastern provinces.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-wqswxw-69">[66] </a> In a successful cavalry campaign, overcoming the trochas , the rebels invaded every province. Surrounding all the larger cities and well-fortified towns, they arrived at the westernmost tip of the island on 22 January 1896, exactly three months after the invasion near Baraguá.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-spanamwar-timeline-81">[78] </a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-82">[79] </a>

Unable to defeat the rebels with conventional military tactics,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-84">[81] </a> the Spanish government sent Gen. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valeriano_Weyler,_1st_Duke_of_Rub%C3%AD">Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau </a>(nicknamed The Butcher ), who reacted to these rebel successes by introducing terror methods: periodic executions, mass exiles, and the destruction of farms and crops. These methods reached their height on 21 October 1896, when he ordered all countryside residents and their livestock to gather in various fortified areas and towns occupied by his troops within eight days. Hundreds of thousands of people had to leave their homes, creating appalling conditions of overcrowding in the towns and cities. This was the first recorded and recognized use of concentration camps where non-combatants were removed from their land to deprive the enemy of succor and then the internees were subjected to appalling conditions. The Spanish also employed the use of concentration camps <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Revolution">in the Philippines </a>shortly after, again resulting in massive non-combatant fatalities.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-85">[82] </a> It is estimated that this measure caused the death of at least one-third of Cuba's rural population.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-86">[83] </a> The forced relocation policy was maintained until March 1898.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-wqswxw-69">[66] </a>

Since the early 1880s, Spain had also been suppressing an independence movement in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines">Philippines </a>, which was intensifying; Spain was thus now fighting two wars, which placed a heavy burden on its economy. In secret negotiations in 1896, Spain turned down the United States' offers to buy Cuba.

Maceo was killed on 7 December 1896, in Havana province, while returning from the west.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-87">[84] </a> As the war continued, the major obstacle to Cuban success was weapons supply. Although weapons and funding came from within the United States, the supply operation violated American laws, which were enforced by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Coast_Guard">U.S. Coast Guard </a>; of 71 resupply missions, only 27 got through, with 5 being stopped by the Spanish and 33 by the U.S. Coast Guard.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-88">[85] </a>

In 1897, the liberation army maintained a privileged position in Camagüey and Oriente, where the Spanish only controlled a few cities. Spanish liberal leader Praxedes Sagasta admitted in May 1897: "After having sent 200,000 men and shed so much blood, we don't own more land on the island than what our soldiers are stepping on".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-89">[86] </a> The rebel force of 3,000 defeated the Spanish in various encounters, such as the battle of La Reforma and the surrender of Las Tunas on 30 August, and the Spaniards were kept on the defensive. Las Tunas had been guarded by over 1,000 well-armed and well-supplied men.

As stipulated at the Jimaguayú Assembly two years earlier, a second Constituent Assembly met in La Yaya, Camagüey, on 10 October 1897. The newly adopted constitution decreed that a military command be subordinated to civilian rule. The government was confirmed, naming Bartolomé Masó as president and Domingo Méndez Capote as vice president. Thereafter, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrid">Madrid </a>decided to change its policy toward Cuba, replacing Weyler, drawing up a colonial constitution for Cuba and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico">Puerto Rico </a>, and installing a new government in Havana. But with half the country out of its control, and the other half in arms, the new government was powerless and rejected by the rebels.

The Cuban struggle for independence had captured the North American imagination for years and newspapers had been agitating for intervention with sensational stories of Spanish atrocities against the native Cuban population. Americans came to believe that Cuba's battle with Spain resembled United States's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolutionary_War">Revolutionary War </a>. This continued even after Spain replaced Weyler and said it changed its policies, and the North American public opinion was very much in favor of intervening in favor of the Cubans.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-90">[87] </a>

In January 1898, a riot by Cuban-Spanish loyalists against the new autonomous government broke out in Havana, leading to the destruction of the printing presses of four local newspapers which published articles critical of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Army">Spanish Army </a>. The U.S. Consul-General cabled Washington, fearing for the lives of Americans living in Havana. In response, the battleship <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Maine_(ACR-1)">USS Maine </a>was sent to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havana">Havana </a>in the last week of January. On 15 February 1898, the Maine was destroyed by an explosion, killing 268 crewmembers. The cause of the explosion has not been clearly established to this day, but the incident focused American attention on Cuba, and President <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McKinley">William McKinley </a>and his supporters could not stop Congress from declaring war to "liberate" Cuba.

In an attempt to appease the United States, the colonial government took two steps that had been demanded by President McKinley: it ended the forced relocation policy and offered negotiations with the independence fighters. However, the truce was rejected by the rebels and the concessions proved too late and too ineffective. Madrid asked other European powers for help; they refused and said Spain should back down.

On 11 April 1898, McKinley asked Congress for authority to send <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Armed_Forces">U.S. Armed Forces </a>troops to Cuba for the purpose of ending the civil war there. On 19 April, Congress passed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_resolution">joint resolutions </a>(by a vote of 311 to 6 in the House and 42 to 35 in the Senate) supporting Cuban independence and disclaiming any intention to annex Cuba, demanding Spanish withdrawal, and authorizing the president to use as much military force as he thought necessary to help Cuban patriots gain independence from Spain. This was adopted by resolution of Congress and included from Senator <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Teller">Henry Teller </a>the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teller_Amendment">Teller Amendment </a>, which passed unanimously, stipulating that "the island of Cuba is, and by right should be, free and independent".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-webhmz-91">[88] </a> The amendment disclaimed any intention on the part of the United States to exercise jurisdiction or control over Cuba for other than pacification reasons, and confirmed that the armed forces would be removed once the war is over. Senate and Congress passed the amendment on 19 April, McKinley signed the joint resolution on 20 April and the ultimatum was forwarded to Spain. War was declared on 20/21 April 1898.

"It's been suggested that a major reason for the U.S. war against Spain was the fierce competition emerging between <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Pulitzer">Joseph Pulitzer </a>'s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_World">New York World </a>and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Randolph_Hearst">William Randolph Hearst's </a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Journal">New York Journal </a>", Joseph E. Wisan wrote in an essay titled "The Cuban Crisis As Reflected in the New York Press" (1934).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-92">[89] </a> He stated that "In the opinion of the writer, the Spanish–American War would not have occurred had not the appearance of Hearst in New York journalism precipitated a bitter battle for newspaper circulation." It has also been argued that the main reason the United States entered the war was the failed secret attempt, in 1896, to purchase Cuba from a weaker, war-depleted Spain.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-wqswxw-69">[66] </a>

The Cuban Theatre of the Spanish–American War

Hostilities started hours after the declaration of war when a U.S. contingent under Admiral <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_T._Sampson">William T. Sampson </a>blockaded several Cuban ports. The Americans decided to invade Cuba and to start in Oriente where the Cubans had almost absolute control and were able to co-operate, for example, by establishing a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beachhead">beachhead </a>and protecting the U.S. landing in Daiquiri. The first U.S. objective was to capture the city of Santiago de Cuba in order to destroy Linares' army and Cervera's fleet. To reach Santiago they had to pass through concentrated Spanish defences in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Juan_Hill">San Juan Hills </a>and a small town in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Caney">El Caney </a>. Between 22 and 24 June 1898 the Americans landed under General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_R._Shafter">William R. Shafter </a>at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daiquir%C3%AD">Daiquirí </a>and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siboney,_Cuba">Siboney </a>, east of Santiago, and established a base. The port of Santiago became the main target of U.S. naval operations, and the American fleet attacking Santiago needed shelter from the summer hurricane season. Nearby <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guant%C3%A1namo_Bay">Guantánamo Bay </a>, with its excellent harbour, was chosen for this purpose and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1898_invasion_of_Guant%C3%A1namo_Bay">attacked on 6 June </a>. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Santiago_de_Cuba">Battle of Santiago de Cuba </a>, on 3 July 1898, was the largest naval engagement during the Spanish–American War, and resulted in the destruction of the Spanish Caribbean Squadron.

Resistance in Santiago consolidated around Fort Canosa,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-93">[90] </a> while major battles between Spaniards and Americans took place at Las Guasimas on 24 June, and at El Caney and San Juan Hill on 1 July,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-94">[91] </a> after which the American advance ground to a halt. American losses at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Las_Guasimas">Battle of Las Guasimas </a>were 16 killed and 52 wounded; the Spanish lost 12 dead and 24 wounded.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-FOOTNOTEClodfelter2017255-95">[92] </a> The Americans lost 81 killed in action and 360 wounded in action at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_El_Caney">Battle of El Caney </a>, where the outnumbered Spanish defenders lost 38 killed, 138 wounded and 160 captured.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-FOOTNOTEClodfelter2017255-95">[92] </a> At the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_San_Juan_Hill">Battle of San Juan Hill </a>, the Americans lost 144 dead, 1,024 wounded, and 72 missing; Spanish losses were 58 killed, 170 wounded, and 39 captured.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-FOOTNOTEClodfelter2017255-95">[92] </a> Spanish troops successfully defended Fort Canosa, allowing them to stabilize their line and bar the entry to Santiago. The Americans and Cubans began a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Santiago">siege of the city </a>,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-96">[93] </a> which surrendered on 16 July after the defeat of the Spanish Caribbean Squadron. Thus, Oriente fell under the control of Americans and the Cubans, but U.S. General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_A._Miles">Nelson A. Miles </a>would not allow Cuban troops to enter Santiago, claiming that he wanted to prevent clashes between Cubans and Spaniards. Thus, Cuban General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calixto_Garc%C3%ADa">Calixto García </a>, head of the mambi forces in the Eastern department, ordered his troops to hold their respective areas and resigned, writing a letter of protest to General Shafter.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-webhmz-91">[88] </a>

After losing the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_East_Indies">Philippines </a>and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captaincy_General_of_Puerto_Rico">Puerto Rico </a>, which had also been invaded by the United States, and with no hope of holding on to Cuba, Spain sued for peace on 17 July 1898.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-97">[94] </a> On 12 August, the U.S. and Spain signed a protocol of peace, in which Spain agreed to relinquish all claim of sovereignty over and title of Cuba.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-98">[95] </a> On 10 December 1898, the U.S. and Spain signed the formal <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_(1898)">Treaty of Paris </a>, recognizing continuing U. S. military occupation.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-ToP-99">[96] </a> Although the Cubans had participated in the liberation efforts, the United States prevented Cuba from sending representatives to the Paris peace talks or signing the treaty, which set no time limit for U.S. occupation and excluded the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isla_de_la_Juventud">Isle of Pines </a>from Cuba.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Cant%C3%B3n_Navarro_p._77-100">[97] </a> Although the U.S. president had no objection to Cuba's eventual independence, U.S. General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rufus_Shafter">William R. Shafter </a>refused to allow Cuban General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calixto_Garc%C3%ADa">Calixto García </a>and his rebel forces to participate in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_Surrender_Tree">surrender ceremonies </a>in Santiago de Cuba.

After the last Spanish troops left the island in December 1898, the government of Cuba was temporarily handed over to the United States on 1 January 1899. The first governor was General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_R._Brooke">John R. Brooke </a>. Unlike <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guam">Guam </a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico">Puerto Rico </a>, and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines">Philippines </a>, the United States did not annex Cuba because of the restrictions imposed in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teller_Amendment">Teller Amendment </a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-101">[98] </a>

The U.S. administration was undecided on Cuba's future status. Once it had been pried away from the Spaniards it was to be assured that it moved and remained in the U.S. sphere. How this was to be achieved was a matter of intense discussion and annexation was an option, not only on the mainland but also in Cuba. McKinley spoke about the links that should exist between the two nations.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-102">[99] </a>

Brooke set up a civilian government, placed U.S. governors in seven newly created departments, and named civilian governors for the provinces as well as mayors and representatives for the municipalities. Many Spanish colonial government officials were kept in their posts. The population were ordered to disarm and, ignoring the Mambi Army, Brooke created the Rural Guard and municipal police corps at the service of the occupation forces. Cuba's judicial powers and courts remained legally based on the codes of the Spanish government. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom%C3%A1s_Estrada_Palma">Tomás Estrada Palma </a>, Martí's successor as delegate of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partido_Aut%C3%A9ntico">Cuban Revolutionary Party </a>, dissolved the party a few days after the signing of the Paris Treaty in December 1898, claiming that the objectives of the party had been met. The revolutionary Assembly of Representatives was also dissolved. Thus, the three representative institutions of the national liberation movement disappeared.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-103">[100] </a>

Before the United States officially took over the government, it had already begun cutting tariffs on American goods entering Cuba, without granting the same rights to Cuban goods going to the United States.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Cant%C3%B3n_Navarro_p._75-104">[101] </a> Government payments had to be made in U.S. dollars.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Cant%C3%B3n_Navarro_p._77-100">[97] </a> In spite of the Foraker Amendment, which prohibited the U.S. occupation government from granting privileges and concessions to American investors, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Cuba">Cuban economy </a>was soon dominated by American capital.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-Cant%C3%B3n_Navarro_p._75-104">[101] </a> The growth of American sugar estates was so quick that in 1905 nearly 10% of Cuba's total land area belonged to American citizens. By 1902, American companies controlled 80% of Cuba's ore exports and owned most of the sugar and cigarette factories.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-105">[102] </a>

Immediately after the war, there were several serious barriers for foreign businesses attempting to operate in Cuba. Three separate pieces of legislation—the Joint Resolution of 1898, the Teller Amendment, and the Foraker Amendment—threatened foreign investment. The Joint Resolution of 1898 stated that the Cuban people are by right free and independent, while the Teller Amendment further declared that the United States could not annex Cuba. These two pieces of legislation were crucial in appeasing anti-imperialists as the United States intervened in the war in Cuba. Similarly, the Foraker Amendment, which prohibited the U.S. military government from granting concessions to American companies, was passed to appease <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-imperialism">anti-imperialists </a>during the occupational period. Although these three statutes enabled the United States to gain a foothold in Cuba, they presented obstacles for American businesses to acquire land and permits. Eventually, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cornelius_Van_Horne">Cornelius Van Horne </a>of the Cuba Company, an early railroad company in Cuba, found a loophole in "revocable permits" justified by preexisting Spanish legislation that effectively allowed railroads to be built in Cuba. General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Wood">Leonard Wood </a>, the governor of Cuba and a noted annexationist, used this loophole to grant hundreds of franchises, permits, and other concessions to American businesses.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuba#cite_note-106">[103] </a>

History of Cuba - Wikipedia

When did Cuba gain its independence from Spain?

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