HAVANA: FROM COLONIAL CITY TO INDEPENDENT METROPOLIS

Cuba was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 and subsequently became a colony of Spain. In 1762 the city came under British rule, but it was soon returned to Spain in exchange for Florida.

Despite Spanish influence, Old Havana’s initial development did not follow the prescriptions for urban land use set out in the Laws of the Indies that were normally followed by Spanish colonies. These ‘laws’  prescribed a grid pattern of urban development emanating from a central place or Plaza Mayor. Instead, the urban structure of 17th century Havana developed according to a multi-centered system.

Activity in Old Havana revolved around several squares: the Plaza de Armas held the major military institutions; the Plaza de Catedral housed the church; commercial activities were concentrated around the Plaza Vieja; and the Plaza de San Francisco handled foreign trade.  Although lovely, almost imposing, residences had been integrated into the area, they were overshadowed by official buildings, churches, and palaces as well as by the commercial activities surrounding the port where economic activity was increasingly influenced by American investment.

Large-scale American ventures in Cuba began about 1890, reaching US $50 million in 1895.  By this time, the US was the island’s principal market for sugar exports. Direct North American investment was concentrated in the production of crude sugar for refineries in the US and, to a lesser degree, in such other enterprises as tobacco, mineral export (chiefly nickel), and transportation.

Cuba’s economy was so important to the US that when the Cuban War of Independence against Spain began in 1895 the US intervened to protect its interests.

Shortly after the US became involved in the struggle, Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris transferring sovereignty of Cuba to the US.

Cuba was occupied by American troops from the end of the war in 1898 until 1902 when the island gained its independence. Subsequently, American influence on the island was strengthened when a US sponsored amendment, the Platt Amendment (1902-1934), was  incorporated into the new Cuban constitution.

Provisions of the amendment gave the United States the right to intervene in Cuba at will, greatly restricted Cuban sovereignty, and stimulated nationalist ferment. It became the basis for expansion of US nonmilitary intervention in Cuba’s political system.

A Treaty of Commercial Reciprocity (1903) was also signed, reviving the war-damaged sugar industry and facilitating its 17 fold expansion between 1900 and 1925.

According to provisions of this agreement, Cuban sugar received a 20 percent tariff reduction in the United States in exchange for reductions of 20 to 40 percent for US goods entering Cuba.

This reciprocity agreement consolidated the Cuban mode of development which was based on monoculture and large landholdings.  As previously noted, a substantial stake in the sugar industry was held by US capital which, by 1925, owned 41 percent of all mills, and controlled 60 percent of the harvest.

In a third agreement, Cuba agreed to lease the sites of Bahia Honda and Guantanamo to the United States. Guantanamo, occupying the easternmost tip of the island, became the site of a US naval base. Bahia Honda was later ceded by the United States in exchange for larger facilities at Guantanamo.

Photograph by Lisa Reynolds Wolfe.