Los vegueros canarios en Cuba durante el siglo XVIII

Abstract

El desarrollo tabacalero de la isla de Cuba, sumado al constante flujo de emigrantes canarios durante siglos, fueron factores influyentes en el devenir político, comercial, social y cultural de la “Perla del Caribe”. La fusión de las dos realidades, tabaco y emigrante isleño, crearon a lo largo de la Historia cubana la mítica figura del cultivador de tabaco, conocido como veguero. Este personaje, unido a la visión del labrador y del guajiro, formará parte del imaginario colectivo cubano. El presente trabajo pretende arrojar luz a la labor realizada por los vegueros durante el S. XVIII, personajes que desde su génesis estarán íntimamente ligados a nuestro Archipiélago Canario. Para ello, analizaremos los diferentes acontecimientos históricos en donde los denominados “isleños” tuvieron un importante papel dentro de la Historia de la isla antillana.

Tobacco development in Cuba, combined with the Canarian migrant movements for centuries, were important factors of the politics, business, society and culture in the island. Fusion of two realities, tobacco and canary emigrant made the mythical figure of the tobacco farmer, who was known as veguero along the cuban history. This subject together with the vision of “labrador” and “guajiro”, will be part of the Cuban collective imaginary. This final degree project aims to shed light to the work done by the vegueros during the 18th century, subject that since their beginning were intimately conected to Canary Islands. Therefore, we are going to analize some historical events where the “isleños” had got an important role in the History of antillean island.