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Slavery in Cuba was associated with the sugar cane plantations and existed on the territory of the island of Cuba from the 16th century until it was abolished by royal decree on October 7, 1886. More than a million African slaves were brought to Cuba as part of the Atlantic slave trade; Cuba did not end its participation in the slave trade until 1867. As the slaves outnumbered the European Cubans, a large proportion of Cubans are descended from these African slaves, perhaps as many as 60% of the population. Slavery in Cuba was particularly profitable for its slave owners after the Haitian Revolution; after 1804 the newly independent state of Haiti retreated from the global sugar market as its residents chose to focus on subsistence farming, and Cuba took its place as the largest sugar producer. By the mid-19th century, due to the British pressure to abolish slavery, plantation owners transported more than 100,000 Chinese workers. But they were held in conditions not very different from the ones of the African slaves. ==History== In 1762, the British army led by George Keppel, 3rd Earl of Albemarle captured Havana as part of the Seven Years' War with France.〔 During the year-long occupation of Cuba (Spain regained the island in 1763 by exchange of Florida with the British), the British colonists expanded the plantation system on the island and imported 4000 African slaves as laborers, nearly 10% of all the slaves imported to the island during the previous 250 years.〔Childs, p. 24〕 The British made other changes to the institution of slavery in Cuba.〔 During the occupation, the British freed 90 slaves who had sided with them during the invasion.〔 When the island was returned to the Spanish, colonial official Julian de Arriaga realized that slaves could become partisans of enemies who offered them freedom. The Spanish gave ''cartas de libertad'' and emancipated some two dozen slaves who had defended Havana against the British.〔Childs, p. 25〕 Following the example of the British occupation, the Spanish Crown increased the imports of slaves in order to keep the loyalty of European-Cuban planters and to increase the revenues from the lucrative sugar trade, as the crop was much in demand.〔Childs, p. 26〕 In 1792 slaves of the French Saint-Domingue colony began a revolution on the nearby island of Hispaniola; they finally gained independence in 1804, declaring the new republic of Haiti, the second in the Western Hemisphere and the first founded by former slaves. Cuban slaveholders watched these events, but took comfort in thinking the rebellion was the result of the radical politics in France during the French Revolution, when the government had abolished slavery in the colonies.〔Childs, p. 30〕 As the new freedmen set up small subsistence farms in Haiti, Cuba's planters gained much of the sugar market formerly held by Saint-Domingue's large plantations.〔Childs, p. 35〕 In 1803, ships carrying refugees who were white and free people of color from Saint-Domingue reached Cuban shores, fleeing the fierce violence of the revolution. Though all the passengers onboard had been legally free for years, upon their arrival the Cubans classified those of even partial African descent as slaves. The white people on the ship were allowed entry into Cuba, but those who were primarily African or mulatto (of mixed race) were restrained on the ship, which became a type of floating prison. Some of the white passengers had already claimed some of the blacks as slaves, effectively reinstating slavery on board. The refugees had sought safety in Cuba, but some found themselves entrapped by its system. Haitian women of African descent and their children were particularly subject to being impressed into slavery.〔Freedom Papers, pp. 48–51〕 In the early 19th century, the Cuban planters, who relied almost exclusively on foreign slave traders to import slaves, closely followed the slave debates in Britain and the newly independent United States. In 1807, both Britain and the US banned the Atlantic slave trade, with the US ban taking effect in 1808.〔Childs, p. 29〕 The Cuban elites petitioned the Spanish Crown to create their own slave-trading company, and smugglers continued to ship slaves to the island when they could evade British and American patrols.〔 While slave trade ceased in other parts of the Atlantic, the Cuban slave trade continued until 1867: of the estimated million slaves that were brought from Africa, 85% were brought during the 19th century.〔 In March 1812, a series of revolts led by freed slave José Antonio Aponte erupted in the plantations of Cuba.〔Childs, p. 120〕 After the revolts were suppressed by the local militias armed by the government, hundreds of slaves were arrested and many of the leaders being tried and executed.〔Childs, p. 121〕 Unlike in the rest of the Americas, in Cuba the European-descended elite did not form an anti-colonial movement for most of the 19th century. They worried that such action would encourage the slaves to form their own revolution and were dependent on their labor at the plantations. Cuba did not gain its independence from Spain until 1898.〔Childs, pp. 177–178〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Slavery in Cuba」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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