| In 1526, after a horrifying cross-Atlantic journey, the first African slaves arrived in Cuba. By the end 18th century, Cuba had become a slave plantation society with a mixed culture of African and European descent. By the late 1800s there were over 370,000 slaves from Africa or of African descent in Cuba and 80% of those slaves worked on sugar cane plantations. Although work in the plantations was both difficult and demoralizing for slaves and workers, music on the island was incredibly vibrant. |
