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April 22, 2017

View of the Plantations near Havana, Cuba, 1859

Sugar and coffee drove the 19th c. Cuban economy. Slaves and wage workers worked large plantations. The plantation owners opposed the abolition movement. Wary of the political power of the planter class Spain was reluctant to end slavery. Slavery in Cuba was abolished in 1886.
The Illustrated London News, 19 March 1859. Courtesy of University of Missouri Libraries.

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