In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa. Other settlements soon followed, including San Cristobal de la Habana, founded in 1514 (southern coast of the island) and then in 1519 (current place), which later became the capital (1607). The Indigenous Taíno were forced to work under the encomienda system,[42] which resembled the feudal system in medieval Europe.[43] Within a century, the Indigenous people faced high incidence of mortality due to multiple factors, primarily Eurasian infectious diseases, to which they had no natural resistance (immunity), aggravated by the harsh conditions of the repressive colonial subjugation.[44] In 1529, a measles outbreak killed two-thirds of those few Natives who had previously survived smallpox.[45][46] On 18 May 1539, conquistador Hernando de Soto departed from Havana with some 600 followers into a extensive expedition through the American Southeast, in search of gold, treasure, fame and power.[47] On 1 September 1548, Gonzalo Perez de Angulo was appointed governor of Cuba. He arrived in Santiago, Cuba, on 4 November 1549, and immediately declared the liberty of all Natives.[48] He became Cuba's first permanent governor to reside in Havana instead of Santiago, and he built Havana's first church made of masonry.[49][c] A map of Cuba, c. 1680 By 1570, most residents of Cuba comprised a mixture of Spanish, African, and Taíno heritages.[51] Cuba developed slowly and, unlike the plantation islands of the Caribbean, had a diversified agriculture. Most importantly, the colony developed as an urbanized society that primarily supported the Spanish colonial empire. By the mid-18th century, there were 50,000 slaves on the island. Estimates suggest that between 1790 and 1820 some 325,000 Africans were imported to Cuba as slaves, which was four times the amount that had arrived between 1760 and 1790.[52] In 1812, the Aponte Slave Rebellion took place, but it was ultimately suppressed.[53] The population of Cuba in 1817 was 630,980 (of which 291,021 were white, 115,691 were free people of color (mixed-race), and 224,268 black slaves).[54] The population in 1841 was 1,007,624 of whom 425,521 were black slaves 418,291 were white.[55] In part due to Cuban slaves working primarily in urbanized settings, by the 19th century, the practice of coartacion had developed (or "buying oneself out of slavery", a "uniquely Cuban development"), according to historian Herbert S. Klein.[56] Due to a shortage of white labor, blacks dominated urban industries "to such an extent that when whites in large numbers came to Cuba in the middle of the nineteenth century, they were unable to displace Negro workers."[57] A system of diversified agriculture, with small farms and fewer slaves, served to supply the cities with produce and other goods.[57] In the 1820s, when the rest of Spain's empire in Latin America rebelled and formed independent states, Cuba remained loyal to Spain. Its economy was based on serving the empire. By 1860, Cuba had 213,167 free people of color (39% of its non-white population of 550,000).[57] Independence movements Main article: Republic of Cuba in Arms Carlos Manuel de Céspedes is known as Father of the Homeland in Cuba, having declared its independence from Spain in 1868. Full independence from Spain was the goal of a rebellion in 1868 led by planter Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. De Céspedes, a sugar planter, freed his slaves to fight with him for an independent Cuba.[58] On 27 December 1868, he issued a decree condemning slavery in theory but accepting it in practice and declaring free any slaves whose masters present them for military service.[59] The 1868 rebellion resulted in a prolonged conflict known as the Ten Years' War.[58][60] The Cuban rebels were joined by former Dominican colonial officers and volunteers from Canada, Colombia, France, Mexico, the United States, and Chinese indentured servants,[d] but lacked support from wealthy planters and the majority of slaves.[51] Calixto García, a general of Cuban separatist rebels (right) with U.S. Brigadier General William Ludlow (Cuba, 1898) The United States declined to recognize the new Cuban government, although many European and Latin American nations did so.[63] In 1878, the Pact of Zanjón ended the conflict, with Spain promising greater autonomy to Cuba. In 1879–80, Cuban patriot Calixto García attempted to start another war known as the Little War but failed to receive enough support.[64][65][66][67]Slavery in Cuba was abolished in 1875 but the process was completed only in 1886.[68][69] An exiled dissident named José Martí founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party in New York City in 1892. The aim of the party was to achieve Cuban independence from Spain.[70] In January 1895, Martí traveled to Monte Cristi and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic to join the efforts of Máximo Gómez.[70] Martí recorded his political views in the Manifesto of Montecristi.[71] Fighting against the Spanish army began in Cuba on 24 February 1895, but Martí was unable to reach Cuba until 11 April 1895.[70] Martí was killed in the Battle of Dos Rios on 19 May 1895.[70] His death immortalized him as Cuba's national hero.[71] Cuban victims of Spanish reconcentration policies Around 200,000 Spanish troops outnumbered the much smaller rebel army, which relied mostly on guerrilla and sabotage tactics. The Spaniards began a campaign of suppression. General Valeriano Weyler, the military governor of Cuba, herded the rural population into what he called reconcentrados, described by international observers as "fortified towns". These are often considered the prototype for 20th-century concentration camps.[72] Between 200,000[73] and 400,000 Cuban civilians died from starvation and disease in the Spanish concentration camps, numbers verified by the Red Cross and United States Senator Redfield Proctor, a former Secretary of War. American and European protests against Spanish conduct on the island followed.[74][75] The U.S. battleship USS Maine was sent to protect American interests, but soon after arrival, it exploded in Havana harbor and sank quickly, killing nearly three-quarters of the crew. The cause and responsibility for the sinking of the ship remained unclear after a board of inquiry. Popular opinion in the U.S., fueled by active yellow press, concluded that the Spanish were to blame and demanded action.[76] Spain and the United States declared war on each other in late April 1898.[77][78][79] Republic (1902–1959)