Archaeological Landscape of the First Coffee Plantations in the South-East of Cuba
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How it came to be
French colonists grew coffee on Hispaniola in the 18th century. When the Haitian Revolution broke out, many fled with the people they enslaved to Spanish-ruled eastern Cuba, where they cleared the foothills of the Sierra Maestra for coffee.
The property covers 171 plantations, or cafetales, from the 19th and early 20th centuries, spread over 81,475 ha in Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo provinces. Each follows a similar plan: the owner's house at the centre, surrounded by slave quarters of wood and leaves, terraced drying floors called secaderos, and buildings for milling and roasting. UNESCO highlights the wet-processing method that the French developed in this area.
In the early 20th century the plantations could not compete with those of Brazil, Colombia and Costa Rica and slowly declined. About fifty archaeological sites were excavated for the nomination, and Cafetal La Isabelica has been fully restored. UNESCO listed the landscape in 2000.
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