Especialización azucarera y crisis de la ganadería en Cuba, 1790-1868

Cuba's specialisation in sugar during the nineteenth century converted the Spanish colony into the world's principal producer and exporter of this commodity. This has meant that the majority of the research conducted into the country's agrarian history during this period has inevitably been centred on the remarkable story of sugar. On the other hand, the rearing of livestock is a sector that has inspired little academic interest. In this paper different aspects of the evolution of both activities are offered, contrasting the boom in sugar production, based on large, slave-plantations, with the decline of the livestock industry, which was more orientated to the internal market. Particular focus has been given to the effects of the commercial policies implemented by the metropolis, and the early substitution of animal power for mechanisation and rail transport. Both of these factors deepened the crisis in the livestock sector in the east-central part of the island.