Editorial Unimagdalena

Description in English: Based on the conceptual and methodological perspectives of social history, this book presents a renewed view of the Cuban native beyond the 16th century. With the establishment and consolidation of Indian towns in the first colonial centuries (16th and 18th centuries), as localities attached to the main towns in the Cuban east of Santiago de Cuba and San Salvador de Bayamo, their neighbors were enlisted to form militias that would actively participate in defense of the Crown, together with the local authorities. The formal and practical considerations for their structuring responded to political and social criteria, especially the official interest in reinforcing the power relation with these populations. Therefore, forming the militias represented the Indians’ obligation to serve the king and, to the same extent, the possibility of being recognized within the complex social fabric of the first centuries on the island. The reasons underlying their performance would allow them to reinforce the rights and prerogatives within the close Indians-official interest-colonial government relationship.