Orígenes: A Cuban History Podcast

In this episode we jump back to Europe in order to understand how the change of Spanish dynasties, from Trastámara to Habsburg, radically changed the trajectory of world history and foreshadowed the profound structural problems that would hamstring Cuba's colonial development for centuries to come.

Music for the episode is by Cuban musician Yaxx Castillo and art is by Cuban artist Raupa.

In this episode we finally cover the initial conquest and colonization of Cuba, from the aftermath of Christopher Columbus' death all the way to the early colonial period in the 1520s.

This is a story that you will probably not find anywhere else. Usually, when discussing the early colonial period at all, the processes of conquest and colonization are summarized in a few lines or at most a paragraph or two. This tends to leave readers with extremely vague and low resolution understandings of exactly how in the space of a few years Spain seized control of Cuba when it had taken two decades to take over Hispaniola. Instead, this episode tries to tell this story in more detail to understand how the specifics of the invasion and colonization of Cuba deeply shaped the colonial society that was to come, down to the locations of its most important cities.

This episode also covers key topics, like the massive legal slave trade in indigenous people in the Caribbean during these years as well as the key role of Cuba in the invasion and conquest of Mexico.

Perhaps most importantly, this episode finally brings us to the colonial era. It has taken a long time and a lot of work to get here. Instead of treating the pre-colonial era like something to skip over in order to get to the 16th century and beyond, I have attempted to show just how fascinating, tragic, and important it is in its own right. 

This brings an end to 'season 1' of the podcast. In the near future episodes should come out much more frequently and easily as I move into early colonial Cuban history, hopefully wrapping up the 16th century by the end of the year. Enjoy and thanks for listening.

In this episode we cover the colonization of the Caribbean from 1492-1507. 

This is a sort of 'special' episode on Columbus and his role in this key period in Cuba's history. While the episode discusses his role as a navigator, it also focuses on his role in colonizing the island of Hispaniola (modern day Haiti and Dominican Republic).

The story of how Columbus used violence to impose Spanish rule over the colony is slowly becoming better known. What seems missing from many popular accounts, however, is that this was not merely a series of brutal acts against isolated villages, but a series of wars against native kingdoms, each with their own interests and pre-existing conflicts with each other. In short, Columbus entered on the scene in the context of already existing indigenous geopolitics and rivalries. While the Spanish would eventually subject all the rest to their authority, the episode will show that this was far from a foregone conclusion.

The episode also explores how late Medieval ideas about climate and mineral wealth helped to shape Columbus' voyages of exploration and his prejudices towards native peoples that he called 'Indians'.

In this episode we learn how different Iberian Christian kingdoms expanded, explored, and colonized before Columbus ever set foot in the Americas. We also finally bring the story up to 1492.

And we're back! Continuing Episode 2's look at pre-colonial Cuba, this episode looks at the daily lives of the Taino. Here I cover their politics, town layouts, social organization, culture, food, trade, and religion.

This episode is an introduction to the world of the Taino, the largest indigenous group on the Greater Antilles. First, the sources we have for understanding it and, second, the broad cultural frontiers that define it. This is part I, with the next episode digging deeper into what daily life was like for the Taino.

This episode is a bit denser than most and in future episodes like it will be labelled as "bonus" episodes or something similar. Optional asides that are deeper dives, getting into things like historiography, methods, sources, etc. 

In this episode we look at Cuba's geography, not simply as a space where things happened but as a dynamic place, whose features would shape how Cubans interacted with it and which Cubans would shape in turn.

Welcome! Here is the official announcement of the podcast and its objectives.