The Aponte Rebellion of 1812 and the transformation of Cuban society: Race, slavery, and freedom in the Atlantic world

In 1812 a series of revolts known collectively as the Aponte Rebellion erupted across the island of Cuba that sought to destroy slavery and end Spanish rule. Based upon primary sources in over four countries and more than a dozen archives, this study explores the Aponte Rebellion to analyze transformations in Cuba, and more broadly, the slave societies of the Americas during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The Aponte Rebellion is situated within the Atlantic world to examine the contradictory forces landing in Cuba from the Age of Revolution that heralded individual liberty at the exact moment when racial slavery expanded across the island. The massive importation of slaves transformed Cuba from a corporate colonial hierarchy of orders into a racialized plantation society. The rise of a racialized plantation economy corroded the special niche and limited privileges that free men and women of African ancestry previously enjoyed. The dissertation explores the rebels' worlds by focusing on organizations that proved instrumental in planning the rebellion: the military and mutual aid societies. Spain fielded a free men of color militia to compensate for the lack of able-bodied white soldiers to protect the island from European rivals and pirate attacks. The issue of racial and ethnic identity is examined through the African based fraternal societies, known as cabildos de nacion that united both free people of color and slaves who shared a common linguistic, cultural, and geographic heritage rooted in Africa. The revolts that spread across the island from Bayamo and Holguin in the East, to the East-Central city of Puerto Principe, to Havana in the West, qualifies the Aponte Rebellion as one of the most extensively planned revolts in the Americas. The ideology of the Aponte Rebellion is examined through an analysis of how the Haitian Revolution served as a unifying force for the rebels. The Aponte Rebellion left a long-lasting impression on Cuban society by anchoring white creoles firmly to the protection of Spanish colonialism, diluting desires for independence while most of Latin America struggled for liberation.