Synopses & Reviews
Engaging conventional arguments that the persistence of plantations is the cause of economic underdevelopment in the Caribbean, this book focuses on the discontinuities in the development of plantation economies in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic in the early twentieth century. CŽsar Ayala analyzes and compares the explosive growth of sugar production in the three nations following the War of 1898when the U.S. acquired Cuba and Puerto Ricoto show how closely the development of the Spanish Caribbean's modern economic and social class systems is linked to the history of the U.S. sugar industry during its greatest period of expansion and consolidation.
Ayala examines patterns of investment and principal groups of investors, interactions between U.S. capitalists and native planters, contrasts between new and old regions of sugar monoculture, the historical formation of the working class on sugar plantations, and patterns of labor migration. In contrast to most studies of the Spanish Caribbean, which focus on only one country, his account places the history of U.S. colonialism in the region, and the history of plantation agriculture across the region, in comparative perspective.
Review
An original work of tremendous interest to scholars concerned with Caribbean history, economic geography, corporate agriculture, and the political economy.
Cuban Studies
Review
As meticulous in its research as it is evocative in its approach, Ayala's book is, without doubt, a significant contribution.
Journal of American History
Review
Both a contribution to the study of the sugar industry in the Caribbean and an examination of the processes of American imperialism.
American Historical Review
Review
A very welcome addition to the historiography of the Caribbean and to development-underdevelopment theory.
Business History Review
Review
[This book] excels in providing a coherent comparative analysis of capitalist underdevelopment in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic.
Latin American Research Review
Synopsis
This comparative study of the development of plantation economies in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic in the early 20th century shows how their economic and social class systems were shaped by the explosive growth of American sugar companies.
Synopsis
An original work of tremendous interest to scholars concerned with Caribbean history, economic geography, corporate agriculture, and the political economy.
Cuban Studies As meticulous in its research as it is evocative in its approach, Ayala's book is, without doubt, a significant contribution.
Journal of American History Both a contribution to the study of the sugar industry in the Caribbean and an examination of the processes of American imperialism.
American Historical Review A very welcome addition to the historiography of the Caribbean and to development-underdevelopment theory.
Business History Review [This book] excels in providing a coherent comparative analysis of capitalist underdevelopment in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic.
Latin American Research Review
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [287]-308) and index.
About the Author
Csar J. Ayala is associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. A Caribbean Plantation System
2. The Horizontal Consolidation of the U.S. Sugar Refining Industry
3. The Sugar Tariff and Vertical Integration
4. Vertical Integration in the Colonies
5. The Colonos
6. Labor and Migration
7. The Twentieth-Century Plantation
8. Economic Collapse and Revolution
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Tables
2.1. Sugar Consumption in the United States, 1830-1930
3.1. Typical Duties on Raw Sugar
3.2. Tariff Advantage of Territorial Sugars (Hawaii, Philippines, Puerto Rico) over Cuban Sugar in the U.S. Market (cents per pound)
3.3. Crop Sources of Sugar Marketed for Consumption in the United States (in thousands of short tons)
3.4. Crop Sources of Sugar Marketed for Consumption in the United States (percentage)
3.5. Sugar Production in the American Sugar Kingdom, 1898-1934 (thousands of short tons, 2,000 pounds)
4.1. Transfer of Mill Ownership in Cuba before 1913
4.2. Interlocking Officers and Directors of the National Sugar Refining Company and Related Enterprises in Cuba (numbers)
4.3. Interlocking Officers and Directors of the National Sugar Refining Company and Related Enterprises in Cuba (names)
4.4. Cuban Centrales Controlled by the National Sugar Refining Company, 1924
4.5. Production and Value of Cuban Sugar, 1913-1920
4.6. Mills Controlled by E. Atkins and Company and the Punta Alegre Sugar Company
4.7. Important Interlocks among the Cuban Dominican, Fajardo, and Cuban American Companies:
4.8. Ownership Groups in the Sugar Industry of the Dominican Republic, 1930
4.9. Directorships of National Sugar Refining Company Officers in the Caribbean Sugar Industry, 1921
4.10. Interlocking Directors and Officers of the Aguirre, Cuban American, and Fajardo Sugar Companies, 1921
5.1. Lands in Cuba Planted by Mills and Independent Colonos, 1913
5.2. Farm Sizes of 305 Colonias of Centrales Algodones, Baragua, Ciego de Avila, JagŸeyal, Jatibonico, Pilar, Santo Tom‡s, and Stewart in Cuba, 1919
5.3. Land Use by the Francisco Sugar Company, by Type of Farm, 1917
5.4. Area and Production of Farms Growing Sugarcane, by Size of Farm, Puerto Rico, 1934-1935
6.1. Haitian Emigration to Cuba, 1915-1921
6.2. "Colored" Braceros in the Dominican Republic, 1921
6.3. Population Densities in the Spanish Caribbean
7.1. Value of Coffee and Sugar Exports from Puerto Rico as Percentage of Total Value of Exports, 1876-1925
7.2. State of the Sugar Mills of Cuba, 1900
7.3. Land Areas (acres) and Sugar Production of the Centrales of Cuba, 1900
7.4. Mills and Sugar Production in Cuba, 1900 and 1913
7.5. Land Use in Cuban Sugar Mills, by Date of Foundation of Mill, 1913
7.6. Land Use in Cuban Sugar Mills, by Nationality of Mill Owner, 1913
7.7. Sugar Production in Cuba, by Province, 1914 and 1918
7.8. U.S. Corporate Mills Built in Cuba during World War I
7.9. Number and Production of Sugar Mills in Cuba, by Province
7.10. Sugar Producing Enterprises of Puerto Rico, 1910
7.11. Centrales of Puerto Rico, 1910
8.1. Index of Sugar Production, in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, 1925-1934 (1925 = 100)
Figures
3.1. Sugar Production in the U.S. Customs Area, 1897-1932
3.2. Crop Sources of Sugar Marketed for U.S. Consumption, 1897-1932
4.1. Directorates of James Howell Post, 1921
Maps
7.1. Production of Cuban Sugar Centrales, 1928
7.2. Centrales of Puerto Rico, 1927
7.3. Centrales of the Dominican Republic, 1930