Cuba

1837The first railroad gets on the move –the third country in the world at the time- with an aim at easing transportation for sugar export.

1827A thousand small-size sugar mills were already harvesting in Cuba, thus making the island one of the world’s top sugar producers.

1820Word had it in Havana about the restoration of the constitutional regime in Spain. At the time, voices of independence were echoing strongly from Spanish-ruled America. The first benefits of the Industrial Revolution began to be applied while the gap between Cuban natives and Spaniards was widening. These were the very underpinnings of Cuban nationality. Felix Varela was an icon of those times.

1793Trade links with the neighboring Unites States of America are officially established, though ample, off-the-cuff ties between both countries had long since existed.

1790First print of Havana’s Periodical Paper (El Papel Periódico de La Habana), a sign-of-the-times novelty that generated reforms for the Illustrated Despotism and the island nation’s economic expansion under enlightenment principles

1762Havana’s seizure by the British opened the country to more liberal practices and ideas for the local economy and trade, something that had so far been barred by the Spanish rule.English domination lasted less than one year.

1595First-ever royal aid granted to Cuba’s fledgling sugar industry.

1561Fearing ever-growing pirates and corsairs attacks, King Felipe II orders all maritime traffic between Spain and its American colonies to flow by means of convoy ships. He also sets Havana as a common docking location for all the fleets.