Havana and the Atlantic in the Sixteenth Century (review)

In his latest contribution to The University of North Carolina Press's Envisioning Cuba series, University of Pittsburgh professor Alejandro de la Fuente moves backward in time from his study of race in the twentieth century (de la Fuente 2001) to address Havana during the sixteenth century. He details how Havana changed from a small town in 1550 to "an impregnable port city and one of the most important shipping and trading entrepôts of the Spanish Atlantic..." by 1610 (p. 6). De la Fuente examines this transformation, and argues that viewing Havana merely as a service and military center undermines the complexity of the port city and its role in the early Atlantic world.

Nearly two decades ago, renowned historian of Cuba Louis A. Pérez, Jr. described Cuban historical research as "an uncertain pursuit," noting the many difficulties in accessing archives and their materials including lack of "easy access[,]...travel to Cuba..." and "entry to record depositories..." (Pérez Jr. 1991:ix). Using a variety of primary sources, including a treasure trove of valuable Cuban archival materials including notarial, parish, town council and treasury records compiled with the assistance of César García del Pino and Bernardo Iglesias Delgado, de la Fuente reconstructs Havana's place in the sixteenth-century Atlantic world from a local perspective. As he persuasively argues, a study based on these local sources produces a very different perspective than one reconstructed almost exclusively from imperial records housed in Spain. Havana and the Atlantic in the Sixteenth Century helps to close the historiographical gap of pre-eighteenth-century Cuba, adding to the few but notable works on this period (see, Wright 1916 and Marrero 1972-1979, for example) Equally important, this work gives further depth to understanding later periods in Cuban history found in existing studies of the eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century by Matt D. Childs (2006), María Elena Díaz (2001), Sherry Johnson (2001), Allan J. Kuethe (1986), and John Robert McNeill (1985), for example.

Founded around the time when Spanish attention began to shift from the island to the rich mainland with its Aztec and Incan empires' vast mineral and demographic wealth, Havana's geographic importance became evident as Spain transported New World treasure back to Europe. Stopping in Havana's protected harbor on their way to and from the Caribbean and Spanish mainland became standard practice as early as 1532. This regular gathering of the fleet in Havana also attracted others, such as French corsair Jacques de Sorés who sacked and burned the port town in 1555, leaving its future in question. Spain had the foresight to see Havana's value, however, and determined that additional fortifications and people were needed to keep the town secure. In the wake of the French attack Havana literally rose from the ashes, rebuilt by African slaves.

Although de la Fuente argues that Havana's role in the Atlantic world was more than just a "service stations for the fleets, a 'factory' or a transient point in the Spanish system of communications and trade" (p. 7), he does not overlook these important functions. In Chapter 2, "The Port: Shipping and Trade," he studies imports and exports to and from as well as through Havana to demonstrate that the port had strong ties to Europe, and the rest of Spanish America via inter-colonial trade, for example. He even extends the reach of the Atlantic world to include Asia as he examines the various textiles including silk imported into Havana, stating that the "social significance of this fabric was clear" (p. 32). Another import which helped shape Havana's early and future history were enslaved Africans, with an estimated 1,300-1,500 slaves brought to Havana in the 1590s alone. It was the slave trade, de la Fuente argues, that "made...