By the 19th century, the sugar cane
cultivation areas on the island became the most important source
of sugar production on the world thanks to tens of thousands of
Africans employed as slaves in these cultivation areas. The
Spanish Cubans relied entirely on African slaves who were
brought to the island for the cultivation of fertile land, but
in 1807 an important development occurred and the United Kingdom
and the US which had recently gained independence from the
United Kingdom, banned the slave trade in the Atlantic Ocean.
Although the slavery was banned in the United Kingdom, it
continued until 1833.
The period between 1850 and 1860 witnessed
the social and economic reform demands of farmers and business
owners from the Spanish Crown. The slave trade had been banned,
but due to the lack of supervision, the slave trade to Cuba
peaked in the period from 1850 to 1860. Only in the 4-year
period between 1856 and 1860, the number of slaves brought to
the island illegally was 90.000. While the slave entry to the
island increased continuously, the increase in costs especially
in the agricultural areas on the east of the island, and the
introduction of new techniques and methods that operate sugar
cane with fewer people, eliminated the need for slaves and even
created a strong demand for the prohibition of slave trade on
the island to stop the increasing African population.
Even though between 1850 and 1868, Cuban
sugar production tripled, by 1857, many sugar cane cultivation
areas and refineries had to lock their doors on the island,
which was struggling with an excess of slaves. The plantation
owners were scared of the concentration of the African slaves in
large numbers. A bloody revolt like the Haitian Revolution
(1791-1804) was imminent. As the economic crisis deepened, a
strong political movement emerged and found supporters in the
island to give the slaves gradually their freedom in order to
get rid of the expenses, such as sheltering and nutrition, and
to request Spain to cover their current financial losses.
On the other hand, after the First
(1839-1842) and the Second (1856-1860) Opium Wars, the
socioeconomic crisis in China due to the relentless increase in
the population, the political discontentment, changes in the
farming system, robbery, and natural disasters led many farmers
and peasants to look for work outside of the country. Thus, they
constituted a labor source also for the sugar cane plantation
owners in Cuba. Some farm owners started to employ contracted
Chinese instead of the African slaves. In this way, it was hoped
that slavery would end on the island.
The Chinese first arrived in Cuba in
significant numbers in 1857. About 200 Chinese workers that had
signed a contract to work for eight years on the sugar cane
plantations, arrived in the island to replace or work
alongside the African slaves. They hoped to have work
conditions better than in their country. However, these coolies
found themselves sharing the same difficult conditions as
African slaves.
Between 1830 and 1855, the price of an adult
male slave in Cuba roughly tripled, from 300-400 pesos to 1.000
or more due to the increasing costs of the banned slave trade
that required faster sailing ships. On the other hand, a
contracted Chinese coolie costed the plantation owner less than
400 pesos, with another 384 pesos in wages spread out over eight
years. The new situation offered an excellent opportunity to the
landowners to drive down the labor costs, but it costed to the
Chinese dear, as during the first 25 years of the coolie trade,
about 16.000 Chinese died before even reaching the shores of
Cuba.
Apart from the poor working conditions, the
Chinese had many difficulties in carrying out their worship and
maintaining their traditions. In addition, many Chinese remained
in between the current Spanish administration and those that
were fighting for Cuba's independence. Many landowners were
forcing the Chinese to fight against the rebels. It is estimated
that half of the coolies, landed in the island, could not
complete the eight years of their contract.
According to official records, the Chinese
population in Cuba reached about 60.000 in 1869.
In 1873, the Chinese government sent Ch’en
Lan Pin to the island to investigate the situation of the
Chinese coolies, as suicides among the Chinese workers had
increased, and landowners were complaining that the Chinese
workers did not abide by the contract or even abused. Another
task of Ch’en Lan Pin was to remove the discontent of the
Spanish government on the island about the rapidly increasing
number of the Chinese workers joining the rebels by assuring the
Spanish government that the Chinese workers were neutral in the
conflict between Spain and the rebels on the island.
In fact, the registry of the Chinese
population on the island, made by the Spanish in 1872, shows
that about 20% of the Chinese coolies fled the plantations and
joined the mambises. It is estimated that about 2.000 Chinese
fought for the rebels during the Ten Years’ War from 1868 to
1878. Subsequently, in 1871, the Spanish government suspended
further introduction of Chinese contract labor in the island to
stanch the flow of the coolies to the liberation army.
In 1873 a group of rebels, consisting of
many Chinese under the command of Antonio Maceo, infiltrated the
city Manzanillo to attack the Spanish garrison. In this famous
battle, known as the Chinese attack in the history, the Chinese
proved their skill in breaching the defense lines, as if they
know them like the back of their hand. They were among the
fiercest and most courageous of the fighters, as well as the
best spies behind the enemy lines.
When the Zanjón Pact was signed at the end
of the first Cuban war of independence in 1878, all Asian
contract laborers joined the rebels, were granted their freedom.
Lieutenant Colonel José Bu Tack and Captain José Tolón (Lai Wa)
were the two outstanding figures that fought in all three
liberation wars.
A monument in Havana, erected in 1946,
honors the Cuban Chinese who fell in the independence war. It is
located in a small park bordered by the Linea, street L and 15.
Street. On the granite monument, the famous words of the
independence leader General Gonzalo de Quesada are carved: “Ningún chino
cubano fue traidor, ningún chino cubano fue desertor
(There was not one Chinese-Cuban traitor, there was
not one Chinese-Cuban deserter.)”
In 1874, shortly after Ch’en Lan Pin left the island, a treaty was signed between Spain and China, and the hiring of Chinese coolies to work on the plantations in the island was forbidden. Thus, the last ship carrying Chinese laborers reached Cuba in 1874. However, this agreement was not restricting the Chinese migration to the island. It is estimated that about 150.000 Chinese from China (the large majority from Guangdong province, with a much smaller number from Fujian), Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, almost all men, arrived in Havana from 1847 to 1874.
