The Historic Archives of Santiago de Cuba
The Santiago de Cuba-based Provincial Historic Archive stores different texts and other kinds of documents that reflect moments of slavery and cimarronaje (runaway slaves) and the eastern-most region of the country.
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The institution treasures Notarial Protocols, Court of First Instance and Eastern Provincial Government, valuable testimonies that provide detailed information on the social history in the region.
These documents are very important in terms of national historiography and other sort of researches, as they establish comparative studies of the demographic origin of slaveholders and slaves, as well as their denomination: bozales, criollos, mulattos, pardos and Chinese.
They also shed light on interesting pieces of information, such as the castes of slaves, marks, ages, roles, diseases, defects, their relation with mortgage or tax and price, by specifying the currency used at the time.
There are also pieces of news related to remarkable events or developments that were registered at clerk’s offices, such as the protest established by Mr. José Esteban Alsina, captain of Spanish schooner "La Caridad", alias "La Eloisa", for the damage caused by the uprising of slaves in Arabais, African coast.
People usually think that the African race was practically put down without any resistance against the slavery system faced in Cuba, due to the system applied in Africa or the prevailing ignorance that kept them away from the world and stop them from thinking of improving their situation; the isolation and surveillance were obstacles to organize a joint rebellion.
Despite of these opinions, numerous reports have been found and reveal the rebelliousness spirit of the slaves at the eastern region, who never passively accepted their condition. Many of them managed to run away from foremen, handcuffs, chains and whiplashes. There are bills of sale that show numbers of slaves that had escaped from their masters.
Although in his Chronicles of Santiago de Cuba, Emilio Bacardí didn’t mention slave rebelliousness at the eastern region in the 17th century, running away was the first expression and the mines were rebellion spots for coppersmiths between 1677 and 1801, as a result of the brutality and exploitation they suffered.
In an effort to deal with this untenable situation, King Carlos 4th freed the slaves, not only the 1,800 working down the mines, but their descendants.
The Historic Archive of Santiago de Cuba features one of the most important documental sources when it comes to reconstructing and assessing this problem: the operation diaries of captains of quadrilles that spent years tracking fugitives in rural areas.
The Eastern Provincial Government Fund includes valuable reflections and narrations on palenques at Cuba’s eastern-most region.
"El Fríjol" was one of the most famous palenques at the time, nestled in Sierra de Moa, Baracoa, with 70 or 100 former slaves living there, 20 of which were women.
Generally, when they were found by the quadrilles they were destroyed or abandoned, but sometimes the positions were so advantageous that some Spanish and French families moved to those areas in order to cultivate coffee or tobacco.
Cimarronaje, in the profound content of the clash of classes, refers to the pro-slavery period in Cuba and America as a whole. The African people and their descendants fought against this phenomenon, so they not only became a threat to the colonial socio-economic structure, but they undermined it from the very bases.
