HISTORY. The 'Pearl,' or 'Queen of the An tilles,' the 'Ever-Faithful Isle,' as the Spaniards used to term Cuba ( from the attitude of the Cu bans at the dine of the Napoleonic overthrow of the Spanish Bourbons), was discovered by Columbus during his first voyage, on October 28, 1492. He landed, it is supposed, on the north coast, near Nuevitas, by the river Maximo, and believed it to be a part of the mainland. until assured by the natives that it was an island; but in 1494, on his second trip, he reiterated his previous belief and called the land Juana, after Juan, the son of Fer dinand and Isabella. Subsequently he changed the name to Fernandina, in honor of Ferdinand, and still later to Sant iago, the name of the patron saint of Spain, and finally to Ave Maria, in recognition of the kind offices of the Virgin _Marc-; but the aboriginal name of Cuba (flung to the island, and was never supplanted. A pelfceable race of In dians, calling themselves Ciboneyes, were its in habitants, living under nine independent caciques, and holding to a belief in a supreme being and the immortality of the soul. In 1502 Columbus visited Cuba a third time, and in 1511 his son, Diego Columbus, fitted out a colonizing expedi tion of 300 men, under Diego Velasquez, who made their first settlement at Baracoa, and in 1514 founded Santiago and Trinidad, and also a place on the southern coast called San Cristobal de la Habana, a name soon transferred to another settlement, on the northern coast, and in 1519 to the present locality. The natives, reduced to slavery by these adventurers, and employed in the cultivation of sugar-cane and other crops, were so cruelly treated, that by 1553 their race was almost extinct, notwithstanding the appeals of Las Cases, the Roman Catholic apostle to the Indians, to the home Government in their behalf. This humane missionary having observed in Santo Domingo that the negroes seemed to pos sess a capacity for endurance superior to that of the Indians, in order to save the latter, went so far as to suggest that negroes should be im ported to take their places in the mines and cane fields. The colonists were not slow to act upon this suggestion, and thus negro slavery gained a foothold in the Western world. The Indians of Cuba. however, did not escape the extermination which Las Cases was so anxious to avert, while the negroes were subjected to cruelties that checked their natural increase and made it neces sary to recruit their numbers by constant im portations. lu 1537 Diego Columbus relinquished to the Crown his right to appoint a governor for the island, and Hernando de Soto was ap pointed, under the title of Captain-General. Havana was destroyed by the French in 153S, and again in 1554, and for a century and a half the people of the island were in almost continual fear of invasion by the French, Dutch, or Eng lish, or the pirates infesting the adjacent waters. Many laws were also made in Spain that were exceedingly disastrous to the prosperity of the island—e.g. a law prohibiting all foreigners, even Spaniards not native Castilians, from trading with or settling in the island. This led to smug gling, which was carried on largely, especially after the English captured Jamaica in 1655. Whatever importance and prosperity Cuba has attained seems to date from the Treaty of Paris, 1763, which ended the Seven Years' War during which the English had captured Havana. The island was restored to Spain, and for the rest of the century it enjoyed unusual prosperity. Las Casas. appointed Captain-General in 1790, was especially indefatigable in his efforts for the public good, removing many restrictions from commerce and promoting many useful public works. During the nineteenth century the island was ruled by a succession of Captains-General possessing almost absolute power, some of whom deserve praise for efforts to discharge their duties faithfully, while others can only be classed as oppressors, and whatever progress was made during their administrations was in spite of all obstacles mismanagement could invent—e.g. the royal decree of the Omnimodas, issued in 1825, which empowered Captains-General to rule at all times as if the island were in a state of siege. The United States made repeated efforts to pur chase the island. In 1348 President Polk au thorized the American Minister at Madrid to offer $100,000,000, and in 185S a proposal was made in the Senate to authorize an offer of $30.
000,000, but this was finally withdrawn. In 1854 what is known as the 'Ostend Manifesto' (q.v.), drawn up in the interest of the slave holding South by Buchanan, Mason, and Soul(', United States Ministers to Great Britain, France, and Spain, respectively, claimed the right of this country to annex Cuba if Spain refused to sell. Various attempts were made to secure the independence of the island and the abolition of slavery. The insurrections of 1849 51, under Lopez (q.v.), and of 1854 failed to ac complish anything. aml were suppressed by the most cruel measures. The rebellion of 1868-78, however, induced the Spanish Government to promise the representation of Cuba in the Cortes by her OW4.1 deputies.. and a liberal party was formed to secure the fulfillment of this pledge, to encourage white immigration, and to promote free trade. In 1880 the Spanish Cortes passed an act for the abolition of slavery. The general discon tent remained, however, and in 1895 led to a new and formidable revolt, to suppress which Spain sent General Martinez Campos. The insurgents, under Generals Gomez, Maceo, and Garcia, suc ceeded in keeping the field in spite of every effort to exterminate them; and became so bold as in February. 1896, to approach so near to Havana that the sound of their firing was heard within the capital. In the same month General Campos was recalled by the home Government, and General Weyler, a soldier reputed to be savage in his measures, succeeded him. The revolutionists were able to maintain the semblance of a government, and their conduct, as well as that of Spain, aroused for them much sympathy throughout the United States. Before the close of 1897 General Weyler was recalled and superseded by General Blanco. In the United States the criticism of Spanish methods suddenly developed into wide spread and outspoken hostility to Spain upon the mysterious destruction of the American war-ship Maine in the harbor of Havana on February 15, 1S9S. Diplomatic relations became strained. and in April, 1898, owing to the apparent success of the insurrection, and justified by that. President McKinley called the attention of Congress to the situation in such words that Congress, on April 19, declared that the people of Cuba were "and of right ought to be free and independent." War fol lowed, and by the treaty of December 10, 1893, Spain relinquished all right and sovereignty over Cuba. and the United States took temporary pos session of the island and assumed all the interna tional obligations arising from such occupation. For three years thereafter the affairs of the island were administered exclusively by the War De partment of the United States, and extensive public improvements were effected. In December, 1901, after the people had adopted a constitu tion, a President of the Republic was elected, in the person of Estrada Palma. On May 20, 1902, the United States formally withdrew from the is land, and Governor-General Wood NV:1S replaced by President Palma. See SPAIN ; UNITED STATES; SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Poey. Gcoyrafia fisica y poliBibliography. Poey. Gcoyrafia fisica y poli- tica de la isto de Cuba (Havana, 1858) ; Cuba, Die Perle der Antillen ( Leipzig, 1861) : Pezuela, Diecionario gcogrdfreo. estadistiro y historic() de la isla de Cuba (Madrid, 1S63-671; Landeira, Estudio sabre la geografra de in isla de. Cuba (Saragossa. 1897) ; Luz5n, Estoril° yea gnifieo de la isla de Cuba (Toledo. 1897) ; Cabrera, Cuba and the Cubans, trans. by Guiteras, revised and edited by Louis E. Levy (Philadelphia, 1896) ; Rowan and Ramsay, The Island of Cuba (New York, 1396) ; Hill, Cuba and Porto Rico (ib., 1898) ; 'Morris, Our Island Empire (Phila delphia, 1899) ; Davey, Cuba, Past and Prescnt (London, 1898) ; Clark, Commercial Cuba ( New York, 1898) ; Porter, hodustrin/ Cuba (ib., 1899) ; Matthews, The Nor-Bwm Cuba (ib., 1899) : Canini, lone Centuries of Spanish. Rule in Cuba (Chicago, 1898) ; Clark, Cuba and the Eight for Freedom (Philadelphia, 1896) ; Hal stead, The Story of Cuba (New York, 1898) ; Pepper, To-Marrow in Cuba (ib., 1899) ; Griffin and Phillips, A List of Books Relating to Cuba (Washington, 1898).