Upon discovering the Island of Cuba, Columbus named it Juana, in honor of Prince Juan, the son of Ferdinand and Isabella. On the death of Ferdinand, Velasquez substituted the name Ferdinandina. The Island was subsequently called Santiago, after the patron saint of Spain, and still later, Ave Maria. Through all these changes of official style the natives retained the name Cuba, by which their country had been known before the advent of white men, and the Indian appellation was soon adopted by the aliens.
The Indians whom Columbus found upon the Island were of gentle disposition and peaceful by inclination and practice. The nine divisions of the country were governed without friction by as many caciques, independent of one another and equal in rank. The people rendered them unquestioned obedience and were accustomed to an autocratic rule. Hospitality was an universal trait and the invaders were made free of the land without the slightest opposition. Furthermore, these Indians accepted baptism and the doctrines of Christianity more readily than any others with whom the Spaniards came into contact.
But for one condition, the factors were present for the peaceful subjugation and government of the aborigines. The obstructive element was found in the constitutional aversion of the natives to physical exertion in any unnecessary degree. Their soil responded generously to the slightest appeal in the form of casual cultivation, and the materials for their scanty clothing might be gathered without trouble. They had never experienced any need to work and their climate was conducive to careless indolence. No doubt their habit of life had produced weakness and lack of stamina. Thus disinclination grew into disability. Flaccid muscles and unused limbs caused apparently strong and robust men to faint and fall under tasks which we would consider an ordinary day’s labor.
The Spanish adventurers, who found the natives in possession of nuggets of gold and rude ornaments fashioned from the precious metal, set them the onerous task of mining. They perceived the aversion of the Indians to labor, but could not comprehend their inability. El execrable sed d’ore prompted them to the commission of pitiless barbarities in the effort to force the slaves to increased exertion.
Under this treatment the natives died in great numbers. A few feeble attempts at armed resistance hastened the end. In an incredibly short time, if we are to accept the most reliable estimates of the number of the aboriginal population, the male Indians were completely exterminated.
It is impossible to say with any degree of precision how many inhabitants the Island of Cuba contained at the time of its discovery. Las Casas and Peter Martyr are led into exaggeration by their righteous indignation at the cruelties of their countrymen. Their figures are highly improbable. If the native population at the time the Spaniards first settled in the country is estimated at half a million there is little likelihood of undershooting the mark.
Oviado declares that in 1535—less than fifty years after the discovery—there were fewer than five hundred Indians left within the borders of the Island. Among this remnant females were largely in predominence. They had not been subjected to the same extremes of hardships and cruelty as had the males, and many of the Spaniards had taken native women under their protection as concubines. This condition led to the perpetuation of the Indian blood after the last of the pure bred aborigines had disappeared. To-day, one meets, on rare occasions, a Cuban peasant whose appearance suggests Indian ancestry, but the strain practically died out long ago, and has left no impression on the Cuban character or customs.
Cases in which the aboriginal stock is suggested are more frequently encountered at the eastern end of the Island than elsewhere, and a plausible explanation might be found in the fact that its wild mountainous recesses would have afforded safe retreat to such of the Indians who may have fled there from the persecutions of the whites. In this way it is possible that a small number of the natives may have survived for a considerable period after official knowledge of their existence had ceased.
Some years ago, at Holguin, a youth was pointed out to me, who exhibited in features, skull formation, and complexion, marked resemblance to an Indian type. The padre, who had drawn my attention to the young man, scoffed at my suggestion of accident, and declared his conviction that it was a pronounced case of atavism.
The first permanent settlement of the Spaniards upon the Island of Cuba was made at Baracoa, in 1512. At its head was Captain Diego Velasquez, who, until his death in 1524, continued to rule Cuba, as Adelantado, under direct responsibility to the Governor and Andencia of Hispaniola, or Santo Domingo. He had five successors in this office. The first governor, appointed by and immediately answerable to the Crown, was Hernando de Soto. The line of captains-general began with Don Gabriel de Lujan, who assumed the post in 1581.