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White Cubans
Ethnic group From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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White Cubans (Spanish: Cubanos blancos) are Cubans of total or predominantly European, (especially Iberian) ancestry, these stand out for having light or olive skin and self-identify as white.[3] In a more official sense, the National Office of Statistics and Information, which collects demographic data on Cubans, uses the term "white". The 2012 Cuban census reported that White Cubans are currently the largest group in Cuba representing 64.1% of the population.[4][5]
Aside from Spanish—largely Asturian, Galician, Castillian and Canarian—settlers, additional Europeans of many families from France, the United Kingdom (especially England), Portugal, Italy, among others. The Royal decree of October 21, 1817 encouraged Europeans to settle in Cuba when the island was a Captaincy General, an administrative district of the Spanish Empire. Large flows of Spanish also occurred into the early 20th century.
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European settlement
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Spain
In 1511, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar set out with three ships and an army of 300 men from Hispaniola to form the first Spanish settlement in Cuba, with orders from Spain to conquer the island. The settlement was at Baracoa, but the new settlers were to be greeted with stiff resistance from the local Taíno population. In 1514, a settlement was founded in what was to become Havana.
During the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early part of the twentieth century, large waves of Canarians, Catalans, Andalusians, Castilians, and Galicians immigrated to Cuba. Many European Jews have also immigrated there, with some of them being Sephardic.[6]
1899 - present
The first decades of the twentieth century immigration policies supported the migration of entire families. Between 1902 and 1907, nearly 128,000 Spaniards entered Cuba, and officially in 1906, Cuba created its immigration law that funded white migrants.[7]
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However, many European immigrants did not sta in Cuba and came solely for the sugar harvest, returning to their homes during the off seasons. Although some 780,000 Spaniards migrated between 1902–1931, only 250,000 stayed. By the 1920s, increasing European migration through national policy had effectively failed.[8]
In 1899 the Spanish-born represented 74.9% of the total foreign-born population,[9] increasing the share to 81.0% of those in 1907 and 72.4% in 1919.
In 1931, 274,303 were born in Europe, of these 257,596 were Spaniards composing 59% of all those born abroad and 6.5% of the total Cuban population. This gradually decreased by the mid 1950s. Spanish arrivals formed 63.9% of all foreign born in 1943 and half the population 74,561 (49.9%) in 1953.[12][13]
The 1953 census reported that 72.8% of Cubans identified as white of European descent, mainly of Spanish origin, 12.4% were Black African, 14.5% of both Black and White ancestry (mulattos), and 0.3% of the population was of Chinese and or East Asian descent (officially called "amarilla" or "yellow" in the census).[14]
Many of these and their descendants left after Castro's communist regime took power. Historically, between 1861-1887 Chinese descendants in Cuba were classified as White.[15]
According to 2020 data, the Spanish-born population in Cuba was 505 (16.7% of the total foreign-born), the next largest European groups were Italy 371 (12.2%) and Russia 343 (11.3%). Others include Ukraine 131, Germany 106, France 69, Romania 60 and United Kingdom 31.[16]
Spanish regional composition
The table shows the regions of Spanish arrivals to Cuba in 1900. The three largest groups were Galicians, Austrians and Canary Islanders which constituted 68% of all Spanish immigrants.[17]
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Royal decree of October 21, 1817
France
The first wave of French immigrants to arrive in Cuba were fleeing the Haitian Revolution and the new governmental administration of Haiti after independence was declared. This immigration reached its peak between 1800 and 1809, when more than twenty-seven thousand French of all social classes arrived in the eastern part of Cuba. Many of them emigrated to the city of Santiago de Cuba.[19] A second wave occurred in 1814, with a third wave between 1818 and 1835 prompted by a royal order from the Spanish Crown intended to increase the proportion of white Europeans in Cuba and a fourth and last between 1836 and 1868.[20]
Italy
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Demographics
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Most White Cubans are of Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian, Irish, and Russian descent.[21] White people in Cuba make up 64.1% of the total population according to the 2012 census[22] with the majority being of diverse Spanish descent.
However, after the mass exodus resulting from the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the number of white Cubans actually residing in Cuba diminished. Today various records claiming the percentage of Whites in Cuba are conflicting and uncertain; some reports (usually coming from Cuba) still report a less, but similar, pre-1959 number of 65% and others (usually from outside observers) report a 55–60%.
Other studies
The Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies at the University of Miami says the present Cuban population is 38% White and 62% Black/Mulatto.[23] The Minority Rights Group International says that "An objective assessment of the situation of Afro-Cubans remains problematic due to scant records and a paucity of systematic studies both pre- and post-revolution. Estimates of the percentage of people of African descent in the Cuban population vary enormously, ranging from 33.9 percent to 62 percent".[24][25]
Population history
Officially Cuba has had 18 population censuses, eight during the colonial period (1774-1887), six during the republic (1899-1953) and four during the revolution period. From 1861 to 1887 Asians or Chinese were counted as white, due to the low population.[26]
- Note that the 1970 census (15th) did not include data on race or ethnicity.[27]
Table shows those who identify as white in every census since 1774 to the present. Source: ONEI Cuba[28][29][30]
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Geographic distribution
2012 census
Below is the official and most recent 2012 census figures for white Cubans as a percentage of the total population and their distribution in each province.[31]
Age structure
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Diaspora
However, after the Cuban revolution, due to mainly mass exodus to Miami or Florida in general as the main destination, a drastic decrease in immigration to the island, Cuba's demography changed. During the 1960s 97% of Cubans who arrived to the United States identified as white. At a time when according to the 1953 census, 73% of Cuba’s population was white. During the 1970s, 80% of Cuban arrivals were white, 81% in the 1980s and 86% of those in the 1990s.[34]
As a result, those who identify as white and those of pure Black African ancestry have decreased, the mixed population has increased, and the Chinese (or East Asian) population has, for all intents and purposes, disappeared.[35][contradictory]
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Genetics studies
An autosomal study from 2014 found the genetic makeup in Cuba to be 72% White, 20% Black African, and 8% Native American with different proportions depending on the self-reported ancestry (White, Mixed and Black). According to this study Whites are on average 86% White, 6.7% Black African and 7.8% Native American with European ancestry ranging from 65% to 99%. 75% of whites are over 80% European and 50% are over 88% European[36] According to a study in 2011 Whites are on average 5.8% African with African ancestry ranging from 0% to 13%. 75% of whites are under 8% African and 50% are under 5% African.[37] A study from 2009 analyzed the genetic structure of the three principal ethnic groups from Havana City (209 individuals), and the contribution of parental populations to its genetic pool.
A contribution from Indigenous peoples was not detectable in the studied sample.[38]
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See also
Immigrant communities in Cuba
References
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