It should be noted in passing that the greediness with which the Spanish conquerors regarded their possessions in the New World had marked effect on the difficulties of numbering the people. For too well the plantation owners had learned that a record of an increase in their possessions, an added number of slaves or signs of growing prosperity, meant that the long arm of the crown would stretch out to despoil by further taxation, added to the already heavy toll. It is no wonder, therefore, that the efforts of the census takers were impeded rather than furthered.
In 1811, when the slave trade and the consequent increase of the black population was giving great concern to the more intelligent and far-seeing of the Cuban patriots, pressure was brought to bear on the Spanish government and on March 26 of that year, Señors Alcocer and Arguelles made a motion in the Spanish Cortes against the African slave-trade and the continuation of slavery in the Spanish colonies. A little later in the same year Don Francisco de Arango, an exceedingly erudite statesman, also made a remonstrance to the Cortes upon the same subject. This was in the name of the Ayuntamiento, the Consulado and the Patriotic Society of Havana. The text of this representation or remonstrance may be found in the "Documents relative to the slave-trade, 1814."
Unfortunately in compiling the tables which were published in 1811 no new census was taken, and the increases in population from 1791 to 1811 were merely estimated. These estimates show a population of 600,000—a greater number, it is interesting to note, by many thousands than was shown by the census of 1817, with which we shall deal later. This population was distributed as follows:
| Western Part of the Island. | Whites | Free Colored | Slaves | Total |
| Surrounding Country | 118,000 | 15,000 | 119,000 | 252,000 |
| Havana and Suburbs | 43,000 | 27,000 | 28,000 | 98,000 |
| 161,000 | 42,000 | 147,000 | 350,000 | |
| Eastern Part of the Island. | ||||
| Santiago de Cuba | 40,000 | 38,000 | 32,000 | 110,000 |
| Puerto Principe | 38,000 | 14,000 | 18,000 | 70,000 |
| Cinco Villas | 35,000 | 20,000 | 15,000 | 70,000 |
| 113,000 | 72,000 | 65,000 | 250,000 | |
| Totals | 274,000 | 114,000 | 212,000 | 600,000 |
From the above we can see that at this time there were only 62,000 more white people in Cuba than there were slaves, and if we take into consideration the free blacks, then the negroes exceeded the white population by 52,000. This was perhaps inevitable when we consider that there must be labor to develop the plantations and that that labor was almost entirely provided by the slave trade. Nevertheless, the white population of Cuba lived in somewhat the same state of subconscious terror of the possibilities of a black uprising which tormented the planters in portions of the United States. But "that is another story" of which we shall hear more later.
In 1813 the Spanish Cortes passed certain measures, which, together with the necessity for as accurate as possible an enumeration of the population of the island for the purpose of an equitable establishment of electoral juntas of provinces, partidas and parishes, made a new census obligatory. This was taken in 1817. The results of this new census were as follows:
| Districts | White | Free colored | Slaves |
| Western Department: | |||
| Havana | 135,177 | 40,419 | 112,122 |
| Matanzas | 10,617 | 1,675 | 9,594 |
| Trinidad (with Sancti Spiritus, Remedios, and Villa Clara) | 51,864 | 16,411 | 14,497 |
| Eastern Department: | |||
| Santiago (with Bayamo, Holguin, and Baracoa) | 33,733 | 50,230 | 46,500 |
| Puerto Principe | 25,989 | 6,955 | 16,579 |
| 257,380 | 115,691 | 199,292 | |
| Total | 572,363 | ||
The census of 1817 was without doubt the most perfect which had up to that time been taken; but, for the reasons before given, it was far from being an accurate enumeration. To these figures, before transmitting them to Spain, the Provincial Deputation added 32,641 transients of various kinds, and 25,967 negroes imported during the year in which the census was taken. These additions made the report read as follows:
| Whites | 290,021 |
| Free Colored | 115,691 |
| Slaves | 225,259 |
| Total | 630,971 |
It would seem that these various censuses and the estimate of 1811 show great discrepancies, but on this point we have the sage observations of no less an authority than Baron Humboldt to guide us. He says: