The archaeological landscape of the first coffee plantations in southeast Cuba

At the beginning of the period of Spanish settlement of Cuba, the Spaniards preferred cocoa coffee. The first deliveries of coffee to Cuba began in 1748 by merchants from Santo Domingo (modern Dominican Republic ). Coffee cultivation in Cuba did not begin until the end of the 18th century, when French families who fled from Haiti after the slave uprising, which had developed into the Haitian revolution , began to establish coffee plantations in Cuba.

By 1827, there were already 2,000 coffee plantations in Cuba, most of them at the foot of the Sierra Maestra Mountains; despite the harsh climate and dense forest cover, which created numerous difficulties in the development of these places, the coffee industry soon began to flourish almost as much as sugar; plantation management methods were consistent with those adopted in pre-revolutionary Haiti. Towards the end of the 19th century, however, the coffee industry in Cuba declined slightly due to fierce competition from Brazil , Venezuela and Costa Rica and low investment income compared to profit from sugar production, which led to a gradual decrease in the number of coffee plantations. The ten-year war of 1868-1878, during which the Cubans tried to gain independence from Spain , led to significant destruction in the eastern part of Cuba, including wreaking havoc on the coffee industry of the Sierra Maestra. Many plantations were abandoned and overgrown with natural vegetation.

At the end of the 20s of the 20th century, the independent Cuban government set high import tariffs, which led to a revival of the country's coffee production culture. This increase has led to the emergence of new plantations and the revival of plantations in the Sierra Maestra area.

In 2000, UNESCO included an area of ​​814.75 km² with the remains of 171 coffee plantations in the list of World Heritage Sites ^[1] . The resolution noted that plantations are a unique example of agricultural development in remote areas and shed light on the economic, social and technological history of Latin America and the Caribbean .

In the center of the plantation, the owner’s estate was most often located, surrounded by the modest houses of slaves who worked on the plantation. The planter’s house was built of wood or stone in Basque architectural style and taking into account the tropical climate, often surrounded by a moat in order to provide protection. The kitchen was located in a separate room. The homes of the slaves were very poor, built of wood and twigs and covered with brushwood and leaves.

In front of the planter’s house, as a rule, there was a place for drying coffee beans ( secadero ), surrounded by canals and wells, and next to it were other industrial buildings where coffee beans were cleaned and roasted. Large plantations also had workshops for working wood and metals. The roads between the fields on the plantation itself were maintained in good condition. Roads outside the plantation were not maintained with the same diligence, but allowed the delivery of coffee in mules to Santiago de Cuba - for further processing or for export. Stone or wooden bridges, often in the form of aqueducts , were built over the streams and tributaries of irrigation canals, sometimes laid for plantation irrigation and for production processes. The open spaces of the plantation were planted with citrus trees , guava and other tropical fruit crops that were used for the needs of the inhabitants of the plantation. On the land adjacent to the house there were also vegetable and fruit orchards, and sometimes corn fields. Sometimes flower gardens in the French style were arranged, which were used as a place of rest by the owners of plantations and members of their families.