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Cuban Independence Struggle of 19th Century

Cuba had one of the longest histories of European colonial rule of any place in the world. Claimed for Spain by Christopher Columbus in 1492, it remained under Spanish rule until 1898, a period of just over 400 years. For much of that period, Cuba was a relative backwater, important for its strategic position on the sea route between Europe and the rest of Spanish America, but of little value or importance for itself.

Only in the 19th century did it become a jewel in the crown of the Spanish Empire, the "Ever-Faithful Colony" that did not break away when the mainland possessions did. By the later part of the century, however, a Cuban independence movement emerged, and the island was in a state of near-continuous insurgency from 1868 on. The remainder of this essay will explore the circumstances in which the Cuban independence movement arose, its peculiar fate, and its consequences.

Through the mid-19th century, tensions grew steadily between the Spanish government (itself unstable) and the Creole elite, Cubans of Spanish descent. Spain's monopolistic policies drained off much of the profits of sugar plantations, and the slave owning growers feared that Spain would give in to British pressure to ban slavery. Prior to the United States Civil War, many of the Cuban elite had favored annexation by the United States, whose neighboring southern states shared a slave economy.

After the end of slavery in the United States their sentiment shifted to independence, a sentiment shared somewhat paradoxically by reformists who wished to see a more equable social order in Cuba. Some planters, notably Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, saw their own interests as lying in reform as well as independence. In 1868, Cespedes proclaimed independence and raised an insurgent army [Suchlicki 66-68]. For the next decade, a civil war raged and no sooner did the Spanish suppress the initial insurgency in 1878 than another broke out in 1879-80 [S...

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Cuban Independence Struggle of 19th Century. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 00:40, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1694269.html