User:Phawksworth/sandbox

Throughout history, hurricanes have wreaked havoc on islands and territories in the Caribbean. The Cuban economy, specifically the transatlantic economy, relied on routes and patterns of travel in the Atlantic for trading. In Cuba in the early 1800s, coffee exports competed with the emerging sugar interests. Following the Haitian Revolution, Spain was interested in utilizing another colony to center its sugar production. Cuba became that colony and the foremost producer of sugar for the modern world. The empirical rule of the Spanish over the Cubans, especially Cuban slaves, was dominant and demonstrated the increasing debasement of slaves for monetary gains. Agriculture was an important part of the Cuban economy, and it was especially vulnerable to the hurricanes that hit the Cuban island. In the 1830s, Cuba was hit by several hurricanes, including Cienfuegos in 1832, and a hurricane that devastated Havana, Matanzas, and Trinidad.

Cuba in the 1840s encountered many changes agriculturally, economically, and socially. Beginning early in the decade, through the expansion of sugar production, the institution of slavery also expanded. Slavery expanded due to the increasing demands for the production of sugar. At this point in Cuban history, the international markets were also expanding. The demand for sugar increased exponentially. Economically, while the market demanded sugar from Cuba, coffee, tobacco, and sugar continued to be grown on the island. Land, in order to cultivate these commodities, as well as a large slave population, was necessary to sustain production levels. During this decade of agricultural growth, the hurricanes that occurred in this region did not necessarily hinder the overall boom of production in the Spanish Caribbean, especially Cuba. The hurricanes has immediate impact on the island's people and ability to thrive.

While hurricanes might not have impacted the overall domination of agricultural production in the Caribbean, individual storms in the 1840s affected infrastructure and the fields for subsistence farmers and larger growers. On October 4, 1844, Hurricane San Francisco de Asis struck the island of Cuba. The storm swept through ports and towns, especially near Havana. Ships, docks, and piers near these ports were destroyed in these storms. Areas inland were also affected, including many rich agricultural zones. These storms damaged the fields and changed the geological makeup of them. Although these storms might have not affected the economy in the long term, they were significant in the immediate impact that they had. Homes were destroyed and fields were rendered useless until they regained their usable state. Before the affected areas of the island could fully recover from the damage of Hurricane San Francisco de Asis, in October 1846 Hurricane San Francisco de Borja hit half of western Cuba. All crops suffered from this hurricane and the overall harvest during the year was reduced by ¾.