Cuban ethnography

The ethnography of Cuba is the result of miscegenation between three main groups: European whites, aboriginal Indians and African blacks.

Ethnic composition

2012 Census

In the Census carried out in 2012 by the Cuban Office of Statistics and Information, respondents were asked to self-identify according to the color of their skin. The results were as follows:

Historical censuses

In the censuses carried out on the island since 1899, the proportion of whites and blacks has gradually decreased in favor of the mulatto population:

Other sources

According to external sources, 55% of Cubans are white, 33% mixed, 11% black and 1% Asian.

Ethnic groups

Whites

Andy Garcia, a Spanish-American Cuban actor.

Most white Cubans are criollos, or descendants of Spanish conquistadors and immigrants who arrived on the island in the late 15th century and the first half of the 20th century. Christopher Columbus arrived in Cuba in 1492, and in 1511 Diego de Velázquez began the conquest in command of four ships and 300 Spanish colonists. In the first official census carried out by the Spanish authorities in 1774, whites corresponded to 56.4% of the population of the General Captaincy of Cuba.

Starting in 1791, a considerable number of Frenchmen arrived in Cuba fleeing the Haitian revolution. The French settled in the eastern part of the island, reaching its migratory peak in 1803, when more than 19,000 entered the port of Santiago de Cuba.

The largest European migration occurred at the beginning of the XX century, when thousands of workers from Andalusia, the Canary Islands, Galicia, and Asturias, Catalans and Aragonese, arrived attracted by the sugar bonanza. These Spaniards settled mainly in Havana and the central and eastern provinces of the country. Between 1902 and 1931, 774,123 Spaniards entered Cuba, which corresponds to 60.5% of the total immigrants of that period. The proportion of Spanish residents in Cuba went from 11.9% in 1899 to 13.9% in 1913 Before 1931 the growth of the white population reached an average of 3.2% per year, surpassing that of the colored population, whose growth was between 2.14% and 2.7%. By 1943, the white population reached its highest peak, at 74.3% of the total population.

Like Brazil and Argentina, Cuba was one of the largest migrant recipients from Latin America, hosting 14% of the European migrants who entered the region between 1851 and 1924. Apart from the Spanish, American immigrants (34,462 entries between 1902 and 1931), English (19,769), Italian (10,428), Syrian (10,305), Polish (8,895), Turkish (6,632), French (6,222), Russian (4,850), German (3,726), Greek (3,569), Palestinians (2,439) and Romanians (2,391), settled on the island.

After the triumph of the 1959 revolution, the majority of exiles were white, middle- or upper-class Cubans. According to the United States Census Bureau, 85% of Cuban-Americans declared themselves white in 2010.

Due to the proximity of the Castro regime to the Soviet Union, thousands of Russian advisers and soldiers settled on the island during the Cold War. It is estimated that there are currently 3,000 Russian descendants in Cuba.

The following table shows the white population by province, as of the 2012 Census:

Province	% White
Artemisa	76.5
Camagüey	75.2
Ciego de Ávila	78.8
Cienfuegos	75.8
Granma	42.2
Guantanamo	24.4
Holguín	80.0
Island of Youth	59.9
Havana	58.4
The Tunas	74.6
Matanzas	73.9
Mayabeque	78.1
Pinar del Río	78.0
Sancti Spíritus	83.7
Santiago de Cuba	25.6
Villa Clara	82.5
CubaCuba	64.1

Mulattoes and Mestizos

Mestizaje in Cuba.

Cuban miscegenation began when Spanish conquistadors mixed with indigenous women, giving rise to the group known as mestizos. With the importation of slaves from Africa, this mixture diversified, appearing other denominations such as mulatto (from a Spanish father and a black mother) or zambo (from the union of black and indigenous). During colonial times the term castes was used to designate the innumerable combinations that appeared after the coexistence of these three racial groups. Under Spanish rule their social status was intermediate, lower than that of the Spanish and Creoles, but higher than that of African slaves, depending on the amount of white blood they had. After independence, the official censuses named them as mestizos or mulattoes or simply mulattoes, due to the fact that the ancestry of this group is predominantly European and African. According to some external sources, mulattoes are the majority group in Cuba, since their birth rate is higher and they have a lower tendency to migrate.

The following table shows the mestizo or mulatto population by province, according to the 2012 Census:

Province	% Mestizo or mulato
Artemisa	14,2
Camagüey	16.8
Ciego de Ávila	14,5
Cienfuegos	16.7
Granma	54.3
Guantanamo	62.8
Holguín	16.1
Island of Youth	30.7
Havana	26.4
The Tunas	21.0
Matanzas	15.9
Mayabeque	14.0
Pinar del Río	11,2
Sancti Spíritus	10.9
Santiago de Cuba	60.2
Villa Clara	12.2
CubaCuba	26.6

Blacks

Celia Cruz, Afro-Cuban singer.

After realizing the depletion of the native labor force, the Spanish began importing slaves to the island in 1513. The slaves came from various African ethnicities, including Mandinkas, Wolofs, Fulas, Yorubas, and Kongos. Slaves born in Africa were called bozales, while those born in Cuba were called criollos. In 1763 there were 60,000 slaves in Havana, however, until abolition From slavery in 1886, an additional million entered the island.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the sugar boom brought in thousands of black immigrants from the Antilles. In the period between 1902 and 1931, 190,046 Haitians and 120,959 Jamaicans immigrated to the island.

The following table shows the black population by province, according to the 2012 Census:

Province	% Black
Artemisa	9,3
Camagüey	8,0
Ciego de Ávila	6.7
Cienfuegos	7.5
Granma	3.5
Guantanamo	12.8
Holguín	3.9
Island of Youth	9.4
Havana	15.2
The Tunas	4.4
Matanzas	10.2
Mayabeque	7.9
Pinar del Río	10.8
Sancti Spíritus	5.4
Santiago de Cuba	14,2
Villa Clara	5.3
CubaCuba	9,3

Indigenous

Monument to the Taino Cacique Hatuey, in Baracoa.

It is estimated that at the arrival of Columbus there were some 300,000 aborigines in Cuba, belonging to the Siboney, Guanajatabey and Taíno groups. By 1510 the indigenous population had been reduced to around 112,000 people, becoming only 3,900 in 1555, and disappearing completely by the end of the XVIII century. This demographic debacle occurred due to diseases brought by the conquerors and to miscegenation.

During the colonial period, some indigenous people were transferred by the Spanish from the colony of La Florida and many others were bought as slaves from the Yucatan government, after being defeated in the Caste War. These groups ended up assimilated into the Cuban population.

Currently, the indigenous heritage survives in the language, gastronomy and customs of Cubans, especially those who live in the mountainous regions of the eastern part of the country. Because the initial miscegenation occurred between Spanish men and indigenous women, today it is possible to find traces of indigenous DNA among the inhabitants of the island.

Asians

Wifredo Lam, a Cuban painter of Chinese origin.

In the period between 1902 and 1931, 12,926 Chinese entered Cuba, most of them as low-cost labor. Until 1981, the official censuses counted the population of Asian origin, which that year corresponded to 0.1 % of total population. Currently there is no official information, however, external sources estimate that Asians are 1% of the population, most of them of Chinese origin.

Genetic makeup

Genetic mixture in the Cuban provinces.

A study carried out in 2014 determined that the average genetic makeup of Cubans is 72% European, 20% African and 8% indigenous.

Regions

According to a study carried out on random samples in Havana, the average genetic composition in the city is 73% European, 26% African and 1% indigenous.

An investigation carried out in the cities of Havana and Matanzas found that the average racial mix was 81% European, 16% African and 3% indigenous.

Another study from 2014 indicates that the genetic composition in the provinces is as follows:

Province	European sport	African sport	Amerindian sports
Artemisa	79%	14%	7%
Camagüey	71%	19%	10%
Ciego de Ávila	76%	16%	8%
Cienfuegos	76%	18%	6%
Granma	63%	22%	15%
Guantanamo	52%	40%	8%
Holguín	74%	14%	12%
Island of Youth	65 per cent	24 per cent	11%
Havana	70%	23%	7%
The Tunas	75%	13%	12%
Matanzas	81%	15%	4%
Mayabeque	84%	11%	5%
Pinar del Río	78%	17%	5%
Sancti Spíritus	81%	11%	8%
Santiago de Cuba	51%	39%	10%
Villa Clara	78%	15%	7%
CubaCuba	72%	20%	8%

A 2018 study finds the following genetic makeup:

Province	European sport	African sport	Amerindian sports	Asian sport
Artemisa	80.3%	16.2%	2.7%	0.7 per cent
Camagüey	68.2%	22.1%	7.7%	1.8%
Ciego de Ávila	76.3%	14.0%	6.2%	3.2%
Cienfuegos	73.3%	20.8%	4.3%	1.3%
Granma	59.6%	24.0%	13.9%	2.3%
Guantanamo	50.3%	40.1%	8.1%	1.3%
Holguín	68.9%	18.4%	10.5%	1.9%
Havana	66.0%	27.9%	4.3%	1.6%
The Tunas	73.3%	12.6%	12.3%	1.5%
Matanzas	79.8%	15.2%	2.6%	2.1%
Mayabeque	87.6%	8.0%	3.0%	1.2%
Pinar del Río	77.2%	7.4%	3.9%	1.3%
Sancti Spíritus	75.9%	14.4%	6.8%	2.7%
Santiago de Cuba	50.4%	38.7%	9.2%	1.5%
Villa Clara	77.8%	14.2%	6.2%	1.7%
CubaCuba	71.1%	20.3%	6.8%	1.6%

Ethnic groups

An investigation found that the genetic admixture by breed is as follows:

According to a study carried out in Havana, the genetic composition by racial group is as follows: