Why did African slavery become important in colonial Cuba?

African slavery became central to colonial Cuba primarily due to the collapse of the indigenous population and the subsequent rise of the sugarcane industry.12

In the early 16th century, the indigenous population was decimated by European diseases, harsh working conditions in gold mines, and social dislocation. As the supply of indigenous laborers vanished, Spanish authorities began importing African slaves as a substitute workforce.234

The importance of slavery grew exponentially during the 18th and 19th centuries as Cuba’s economy became increasingly dependent on expansive, slave-based sugar plantations. By 1860, Cuba produced nearly one-third of the world’s sugar, a feat achieved through the labor of hundreds of thousands of enslaved people. This reliance on forced labor was so profound that plantation owners insisted on continuing the slave trade even after Spain and Great Britain agreed to end it in 1820. Ultimately, the brutal system of slavery provided the labor force necessary to fuel the island's massive agricultural exports and the development of highly mechanized sugar mills.14