LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Cuba: Sugar
built 657 days ago
The music of Cuba developed from a unique set of historical and social circumstances. African slaves, brought to work on the Spanish sugar plantations, soon outnumbered the European colonists. The attitude of the Spanish political and religious institutions towards African culture, while undeniably oppressive, was more open than in some other colonial societies. Catholic priests did their best to convert the Africans to Christianity, but they overlooked their worship of African deities as long as they gave them Christian names. In fact, santeria, a religion that combines Catholicism with African deities and rituals, is still a key part of Cuban spiritual life.
Source:
Historically, sugar, tobacco and (later) nickel were the main sources of foreign trade income for Cuba. In the 19th Century, until the richer ores of Chile were found, it was common to export some of Cuba’s long mined copper ore to Wales History of Swansea and England. But in the 1990s tourism saw an explosive growth.
Source:
Spanish settlers established the raising of cattle, sugarcane, and tobacco as Cuba's primary economic pursuits. As the native Indian population died out, African slaves were imported to work the ranches and plantations. Slavery was abolished in 1886.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Sugar