Cuban Timber and Atlantic Ships: Naval Construction and Environmental Change in Cuba under the Royal Havana Company, 1740-1757

• In Event: Re-envisioning Maritime History as Environmental History

Abstract

This paper argues that eighteenth-century Cuba’s maritime industries under the Real Compañía de Comercio de la Habana (Royal Havana Company) were the product of deliberate and centralized Spanish reforms that had demonstrable and measurable consequences on the island. Havana became a major shipbuilding center after 1714. Following early Bourbon policies in the 1720s-1730s that placed an emphasis on timber and revitalizing Spain’s navy, Cuban shipbuilding began the process that led to irreversible deforestation in the nineteenth century. For much of the 1740s-1750s, these initiatives were carried out under the direction of the newly formed Royal Havana Company and led to significant changes in the social and environmental landscape. This study establishes the involvement of private subjects in the royal monopoly company that directed colonial shipbuilding through control of the environment. It further identifies the interests that competed for Cuban wood, who were responsible for implementing the policies that led to the early destruction of large tracts of timber. Harvesting crews moved farther and farther out from Havana, which in turn, altered the spatial organization of the landscape by changing the ratio of human population to natural forest. The demand for natural resources to build large vessels led to early deforestation on the island and, ultimately, strict regulation of the wood supply as the Royal Havana Company and the navy maintained a monopoly on timber for the shipyard. This paper combines two traditional approaches to maritime history, economic activity and naval warfare, and uses these themes to explore the environmental impact of such industry on the island and people of Cuba.

Author

• Jason Daniel, Florida International University