(clockwise from top-left)
SENOR MONTERO RIOS
President of the Spanish Peace Commission whose painful duty required him to sign away his country's colonial possessions.
GENERAL RAMON BLANCO
Who succeeded Weyler as Captain-General of Cuba in 1897. He was formerly Governor-General of the Philippine Islands.
SAGASTA
Premier of Spain during the Spanish-American War.
ADMIRAL CERVERA
Commander of Spanish Fleet at Santiago.
OUR NEW POSSESSIONS (CONTINUED).
CUBA, "THE CHILD OF OUR ADOPTION."
Although Cuba is not a part or a possession of the United States, it has since the war with Spain, in 1898, come under the protection of this government, and is, therefore, entitled to a place in this volume. In the hand of Providence, this island became the doorway to America. It was here that Columbus landed, October 28, 1492. True, he touched earlier at one of the smaller islands to the north; but it was merely a halting before pushing on to Cuba. "Juana" Columbus called the island, in honor of Isabella's infant son. Afterward it was successively known as Fernandina, Santiago, and Ave Maria; but the simple natives, who were there to the number of 350,000, called it Cooba, and this name prevailed over the Spanish titles, as the island has finally prevailed over Spanish domination, and it has come under the protection of America with its Indian name, slightly changed to Cuba, remaining as the sole and only heritage we have of the simple aborigines who have utterly perished from the face of the earth under Spanish cruelty.
TOMB OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
IN THE CATHEDRAL AT HAVANA.
The ashes of the great discoverer were
removed from this tomb to Spain
in December, 1898.
In 1494 Columbus visited Cuba a second time, and once again in 1502. In 1511 Diego Columbus, the son of the great discoverer, with a colony of between three and four hundred Spaniards, came, and in 1514 he founded the towns of Santiago and Trinidad. Five years later, in 1519, the present capital Havana, or Habana, was founded. The French reduced the city in 1538, practically demolishing the whole town. Under the governor, De Soto, it was rebuilt and fortified, the famous Morro Castle and the Punta, which are still standing, being built at that early date.
THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS.