ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the main effects of Spain’s relationship with the world of colonial slavery (especially in Cuba), and particularly of Spain’s ties to the Atlantic slave trade. During the nineteenth century, Cuba was the primary producer of sugar in the world, and year after year, it needed to keep incorporating more laborers to keep producing ever more sugar. Despite the illegality of slave trading, which was outlawed in 1820, this activity continued on the island for almost fifty more years, allowing the arrival of more than 500,000 African captives. This reality configured a unique and specific history: the last European country to abolish slavery was Spain, and the last African slave to arrive anywhere in the Americas debarked in a Spanish colony. Of course, the history of Spain in the nineteenth century cannot be completely understood without its colonial dimension, particularly in the Antilles.
