Dear incredible readers, our masterclass today is learning about the whereabouts of Cuba, starting in the 1750s, until the 1900s. Our goal is to understand what was occurring on the lovely island of Juana Aragón-Castilla. Cuba was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492. It is a lovely archipelago of more than 1,600 islands, islets, and cays, with the honor of being the largest island of the Antilles. From the start, the Spaniards used the island of Cuba as a temporary sejourn, before moving into New Spain. As a port of entrance to the Caribbean, Cuba kept its position of a garrison fortification complex, a meeting place of armed fleets to protect the rest of the Spanish Atlantic territories from pirates, enemies, and unwelcome smugglers. Most of the Spanish ships leaving Veracruz, or coming from Sevilla, anchored and stocked in Cuba before moving forward to their final destination.

Cuba was part of the Spanish Empire from 1492 to 1898. Until the 1750s, the island was basically a provisional port, with the only job of meeting the port´s demands (Havana and Santiago de Cuba). Those Spaniards who resided there were probably the descendants of the military orders of the 16th century kings of Spain and considerable Dominicans. The main economic activities were livestock, ranching, tannery, and agriculture for survival. However, Cuba was a perfect place for illegal intermediary trade activities on a short-term basis. The Spanish Habsburg kings kept Cuba out of agriculturally relevant commerce until the arrival of the Bourbon kings, who changed everything with the reign of King Charles III Bourbon. Sugar became a privileged crop when French Saint Domingue was disrupted with the Slave Rebellion: Cuba took the sugar spotlight in replacing Saint Domingue´s production with a significant impetus, never seen before in any Spanish territory since the Discovery of America.

Following the latter historical background, that is how we begin our Cuban masterclass. The agenda for today is shown below:
La señorita Cuba de los siglos 18 y 19.
1. Geographic Description
2. Origin of the Plantations
3. Main Political Events
4. Demographics
5. About the slave trade to Cuba

Our material of reference, previous to the reading of the strategic reflections, is shared below. As usual, we encourage you to print the material, read it, and take notes. Prepare yourself better by chasing more information related to our bibliography on the last pages of the slides. Share this material with your friends, colleagues, peers, family members, bosses, and/or employees. It is an honor to learn together with your loved ones.

We kindly ask that you return next Monday, February 30th, 2026, to review our extra strategic reflections on this chapter.
We encourage our readers to familiarize themselves with our Friday master class by reviewing the slides over the weekend. We expect you to create ideas that are or are not strategic reflections. Every Monday, we upload our strategic inferences below. These will be discussed in the next paragraph. Only then will you be able to compare your own reflections with our introspection. We always give our students a couple of days to prepare well before our final reflection.

Additional strategic reflections on this episode. These will be in the section below on Monday, February 30th, 2026.

Strategic Reflections on “Central America: A quest for the progression of economic value. Bonus Season V. Episode 8. Sugar-Sugar America Part 8. La Señorita Cuba 18th-19th centuries.

To be uploaded on Monday.

Closing words.
With the study of Cuba´s sugar model, we are almost ready to deliver without any doubt, where we are going with our digital shift into a giga-internet massive NAIQI technological global. (NAIQI is the acronym of Nanotechnologies-Artificial Intelligence- Quantum tech-and the Internet). Today, we are reflecting on the context of Cuba during the 18th and 19th centuries. Next week, we will dig deeper into the structure of the sugar industry and its further consequences. To this day, Cuba has not been able to leave its poverty condition, after a tormentuous, agonizing 20th century. However, since our objective is to study the historical context of the Cuban sugar plantations, we suggest that our readers connect the dots of history with the current crisis of this beautiful island. Once you learn the foundations of a country´s current conflicts, you will never analyze things lightly.

Announcement. Next week, we will continue with the second episode about the sugar plantations of Cuba. It will be an economic analysis of the sugar industry, and why this case is so important to acknowledge right now. With this coming analysis, you will comprehend why our strategy house is against the rollout of the AI. It will hurt us so much, as much as Cuba´s economy has been damaged during the last century. Blessings.

Musical Section.
During our closing bonus season V, we will return to the symphonic, philharmonic, or chamber orchestra compositions. Today we have chosen Camerata Romeu. A lovely concert was played by the first all-female string orchestra in Latin America, in celebration of Cuba’s National Culture Day. The location of the concert was the Museo de la Ciudad de La Habana. The director is Zenaida Romeu. We invite you to visit their website for more information about their concerts and artists. Enjoy!

https://camerataromeu.com/

Thank you for reading http://www.eleonoraescalantestrategy.com. It is a privilege to learn. Blessings.

Sources of reference and Bibliography utilized today. All are listed in the slide document. Additional material will be added when we upload the strategic reflections.

Disclaimer: Eleonora Escalante paints Illustrations in Watercolor. Other types of illustrations or videos (which are not mine) are used for educational purposes ONLY. All are used as Illustrative and non-commercial images. Utilized only informatively for the public good. Nevertheless, most of this blog’s pictures, images, and videos are not mine. Unless otherwise stated, I do not own any lovely photos or images.