Conquest and colonization characterized this period in the history of Cuba. In the midst of attacks by corsairs and pirates with the consequent reinforcement of the fleets system and the construction of various fortifications as a defense, economic activity grew and diversified with the development of livestock, the cultivation of tobacco and the production of cane sugar. Read More...
Slavery was an important source of social instability, not only because of the frequent manifestations of rebelliousness of slaves - both individual and in groups - but also because the repudiation of this institution gave rise to abolitionist conspiracies. Other ideological currents such as Reformism, Annexationism and independence movement joined it. All this led to the start of the independence fights on October 10, 1868, led by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and a group of patriots at the Demajagua sugar mill..
The War of the Ten Years or Big War, culminated with the Pact of Zanjón, in 1878, which did not recognize the independence of Cuba or the abolition of slavery, the two essential objectives that had sustained the revolution.
Between 1879 and 1895, a period known as the Fertile Truce or Turbulent Rest, the figure of José Martí, National Hero of Cuba, who joined Cubans from inside and outside the Island to restart the struggle for independence, was highlighted..
On February 24, 1895, the colonial conflict led by Martí was resumed, and Generals Máximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo. After two years of intense struggle, the government of the United States intervenes without recognizing the organs of revolutionary leadership of the Cubans. On December 10, 1898, the Treaty of Paris was signed, which put an end to Spanish colonialism in Cuba. The Island ceased to be the jurisdiction of Spain and was being occupied militarily by the United States.