Cuba and Her People of To-Day (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: successes in the Spanish American War are described as brilliant victories. In short, the most distorted impression of the facts is conveyed. This condition is regrettable because a true understanding of any people and their country must be based upon intelligent knowledge of their history, and this is peculiarly so in the case of Cuba and the Cubans. Even though he had the ability to remedy the defect, the limits and design of the present volume would preclude the writer from making the attempt in its pages. The brief historical sketch given here, must be made entirely secondary to the main purpose of presenting a picture of the Island and its inhabitants as they are to-day, and of taking a survey of the economic conditions affecting them. The following account is restricted mainly to such phases of the country's history as have had permanent influence on the character, customs and welfare of the people. Upon discovering the Island of Cuba, Columbus named it Juana, in honor of Prince Juan, the son of Ferdinand and Isabella. On the death of Ferdinand, Velasquez substituted the name Ferdinandina. The Island was subsequently called Santiago, after the patron saint of Spain, and still later, Ave Maria. Through all these changes of official style the natives retained the name Cuba, by which their country had been known before the advent of white men, and the Indian appellation was soon adopted by the aliens. The Indians whom Columbus found upon the Island were of gentle disposition and peaceful by inclination and practice. The nine divisions of the country were governed without friction by as many caciques, independent of one another and equal in rank. The people rendered them unquestioned obedience and were accustomed to an autocratic rule. Hospitality was an universal tr...