Editing History of Cuba (section)

===Antislavery and independence movements===
[[File:Vista de una vega.jpg|thumb|Tobacco fields in Cuba, 1859]]
In 1826 the first armed uprising for independence took place in [[Puerto Príncipe, Cuba|Puerto Príncipe]], led by [[Francisco Agüero Velasco]] and [[Andrés Manuel Sánchez]]. Both were executed, becoming the first popular martyrs of the Cuban independence movement.<ref>Simons, Geoff: Cuba. From Conquistador to Castro, London 1996, p. 138.</ref>

The 1830s saw a surge of activity from the reformist movement, whose main leader, [[José Antonio Saco]], stood out for his criticism of Spanish despotism and of the [[History of slavery|slave trade]]. Nevertheless, Cubans remained deprived of the right to send representatives to the Spanish parliament, and [[Madrid]] stepped up repression.

Under British diplomatic pressure, the Spanish government had pledged to abolish slavery.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Corwin |first=Arthur F. |url=https://books.google.rw/books?id=GIh8DAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_vpt_read#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=Spain and the Abolition of Slavery in Cuba, 1817–1886 |date=2014-10-23 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-1-4773-0133-3 |language=en}}</ref> In this context, Black revolts in Cuba increased, and were put down with mass executions. One of the most significant was the [[Conspiración de la Escalera]] (Ladder Conspiracy) in 1843&ndash;1844. The Ladder Conspiracy involved free Black persons and enslaved, as well as white intellectuals and professionals. It is estimated that 300 Black and mixed-race persons died from torture, 78 were executed, over 600 were imprisoned and over 400 expelled from the island.<ref name="kotrhz">Cantón Navarro, José (1998). ''History of Cuba''. La Habana. p. 40. {{ISBN|959-7054-19-1}}.</ref><ref>
{{Cite web
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</ref> [[José Antonio Saco]], one of Cuba's most prominent thinkers, was expelled.<ref>{{cite book|url= http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y03/jun03/18a8.htm|title= Algo más que un sabio maestro|language= es|publisher= Cubanet Independente|date= 18 June 2003|access-date= 30 October 2007|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071113212107/http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y03/jun03/18a8.htm|archive-date= 13 November 2007|url-status= dead}}</ref>

[[File:Entrada triunfal de Arsenio Martínez Campos en La Habana, 1878.jpg|thumb|Spanish General [[Arsenio Martínez Campos]] in Havana, [[Captaincy General of Cuba|Colonial Cuba]], 1878]]
Following the 1868–1878 rebellion of the [[Ten Years' War]], all slavery was abolished by 1886. Slave traders looked for others sources of cheap labour, such as Chinese colonists and Indians from [[Yucatán Peninsula|Yucatán]]. Another feature of the population was the number of Spanish-born colonists, known as ''[[peninsulares]]'', who were mostly adult males; they constituted between ten and twenty per cent of the population between the middle of the 19th century and the [[Great Depression|great depression of the 1930s]].