Alternative History
Cuba
— State of Confederate States
Timeline: Differently
Flag of Cuba
Flag of Cuba
Location of Cuba
Location of Cuba
Capital
(and largest city)
Havana
Governor Albio Sires
Area
 - Total  109,884 km2 
42,426 sq mi 
Population 3,741,869 

Cuba, officially the Free State of Cuba (Estado Libre de Cuba), is one of the fourteen states of the Confederate States of America. An insular state comprising the island of Cuba, Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos, it is located where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean meet, south of Florida and west of Puerto Rico. Its capital and largest city is Havana. Alongside Puerto Rico, it is one of the two Confederate states were Spanish is the main language spoken. In 2021 Cuba had a fertility rate of 2.

History[]

Pre-colonization[]

The territory that is now Cuba was inhabited from the 4th millennium BC. Before the arrival of the Spanish, two distinct tribes of indigenous peoples populated the island: the Taíno (including the Ciboney people), and the Guanahatabey. The Taíno arrived from Hispaniola sometime in the 3rd century A.D. When Columbus arrived, they were the dominant culture in Cuba, having an estimated population of 150,000 and being farmers, as well as fishers and hunter-gatherers.

European discovery[]

Christopher Columbus commanded his three ships: La Pinta, La Niña and the Santa María, discovering Cuba on 27 October 1492, and landing in the northeastern coast on 28 October.

Spanish colony (1511–1898)[]

In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa. Other settlements soon followed, including San Cristobal de la Habana, founded in 1515, which later became the capital. The indigenous Taíno were forced to work under the encomienda system, which resembled the feudal system in medieval Europe. Within a century, the indigenous people were virtually wiped out due to multiple factors, primarily Eurasian infectious diseases, to which they had no natural resistance (immunity), aggravated by the harsh conditions of the repressive colonial subjugation.

By 1570, most residents of Cuba comprised a mixture of Spanish, African, and Taíno heritages. Cuba developed slowly and, unlike the plantation islands of the Caribbean, had a diversified agriculture. Most importantly, the colony developed as an urbanized society that primarily supported the Spanish colonial empire. By the mid-18th century, there were 50,000 slaves on the island, compared to 60,000 in Barbados and 300,000 in Virginia; as well as 450,000 in Saint-Domingue, all of which had large-scale sugarcane plantations.

The Seven Years' War, which erupted in 1754 across three continents, eventually arrived in the Spanish Caribbean. Spain's alliance with the French pitched them into direct conflict with the British, and in 1762, a British expedition consisting of dozens of ships and thousands of troops set out from Portsmouth to capture Cuba. The British arrived on 6 June, and by August, had placed Havana under siege. When Havana surrendered, the British took control of the western part of the island.

British occupation opened up trade with their North American and Caribbean colonies, causing a rapid transformation of Cuban society. Though Havana, which had become the third-largest city in the Americas, was to enter an era of sustained development and increasing ties with North America during this period, the British occupation of the city proved short-lived. Pressure from London to sugar merchants, fearing a decline in sugar prices, forced negotiations with the Spanish over the captured territories. Less than a year after Britain captured Havana, it signed the 1763 Treaty of Paris together with France and Spain, ending the Seven Years' War. The treaty gave Britain Florida in exchange for Cuba. Cubans constituted one of the many diverse units which fought alongside Spanish forces during the conquest of British West Florida (1779–81).

The largest factor for the growth of Cuba's commerce in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century was the Haitian Revolution. When the enslaved peoples of what had been the Caribbean's richest colony freed themselves through violent revolt, Cuban planters perceived the region's changing circumstances with both a sense of fear and opportunity. They were afraid because of the prospect that slaves might revolt in Cuba as well, and numerous prohibitions during the 1790s of the sale of slaves in Cuba who had previously been enslaved in French colonies underscored this anxiety. The planters saw opportunity, however, because they thought that they could exploit the situation by transforming Cuba into the slave society and sugar-producing "pearl of the Antilles" that Haiti had been before the revolution.

In 1817, the population of Cuba was 630,980, of which 291,021 were white, 115,691 were free people of color (mixed-race), and 224,268 black slaves.

In the 1820s, when the rest of Spain's empire in Latin America rebelled and formed independent states, Cuba remained loyal to Spain. Its economy was based on serving the empire. By 1860, Cuba had 213,167 free people of color (39% of its non-white population of 550,000).

Full independence from Spain was the goal of a rebellion in 1868 led by planter Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. De Céspedes, a sugar planter, freed his slaves to fight with him for an independent Cuba. On 27 December 1868, he issued a decree condemning slavery in theory but accepting it in practice and declaring free any slaves whose masters present them for military service. The 1868 rebellion resulted in a prolonged conflict known as the Ten Years' War (1868–78). A great number of the rebels were volunteers from the Dominican Republic, and other countries, as well as numerous Chinese indentured servants.

The final three months of the last conflict escalated with involvement of the newly established Confederate States. The conflict ended with Spain promising more autonomy to Cuba.

Slavery in Cuba was abolished in 1875, but the process was only completed by 1886.

In 1892, an exiled dissident named José Martí founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party in Atlanta, whose aim was to achieve Cuban independence from Spain. He would later die a national hero fighting for Cuban independence in 1895.

In the 1890s, Confederate public opinion was agitated by anti-Spanish propaganda put out by both the Dixiecrat and the Readjuster parties during the 1896 presidential election. Leadership of the Dixiecrats and the Readjusters hoped to expand Confederate influence in the region.

The C.S. battleship CSS Lee was sent to protect American interests, but soon after arrival, it exploded in Havana harbor and sank quickly, killing nearly three-quarters of the crew. The cause and responsibility for the sinking of the ship remained unclear after a board of inquiry. Popular opinion in the C.S., fueled by an active press, concluded that the Spanish were to blame and demanded action.

Following the call for intervention in the war by C.S newspaper publishers Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, newly-elected Readjuster President David Gardiner Tyler signed a joint Congressional resolution demanding Spanish withdrawal and authorizing the President to use military force to help Cuba gain independence on May 2, 1898.

The resulting conflict, Spanish-Confederate War, lasted until September 25, concluding with the Treaty of Philadelphia, negotiated by a neutral power, the United States, under President McKinley. The terms were favorable to the Confederacy allowing it control of Cuba and Puerto Rico. Both Cubans and Puerto Ricans were convinced that joining the C.S. as autonomous states would be more beneficial than full independence because it allowed for a full integration of culture and economy with a powerful ally while retaining their well-deserved autonomy.

C.S. territory (1898–1903)[]

Cuba remained as a C.S. territory for five years before being admitted as the 13th state.

C.S. state (1903–35)[]

With the onset of the Confederate Civil War, Cuba became part of the Socialist Confederacy.

C.A.S.S. state (1935–78)[]

The last chairman of the C.A.S.S., Fidel Castro, was a native Cuban, and particularly fond of his native state. He gradually tried to reestablish relations with Latin American countries as a last resort to save the Socialist Confederacy. After the regime was defeated in the American War, Cuba returned to regular Confederate control.

Reestablished C.S. state (since 1978)[]