Advocating for the «soft yuke» of the «misnamed slavery»: The Círculo Hispano-Ultramarino of Barcelona (1871-1880)

Abstract

Barcelona was the place chosen by many indianos, who acquired their riches in Cuba and Puerto Rico, when they returned to Europe. During the Sexenio Democrático, indianos organised themselves in the Círculo Hispano-Ultramarino of Barcelona to lobby for the maintenance of slavery in both Spanish Antilles, first, and to undermine the Spanish Republic, later. This institution recruited, for its anti-abolitionist and pro-slavery campaigns, the leading Catalan economic organisations as well as broad sectors of the Catalonian elite. The latter publicly assumed the Circulo’s arguments, participating in broader platforms such as the Liga Nacional or the Comisión para la Defensa de los Intereses de España en Cuba. Moreover, although the pro-slave pressures could not stop the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico and Cuba, it favoured its continuity for a few more years in the island of Cuba through the institution of the Patronato. The most remarkable legacy (and also the most enduring) of the Círculo Hispano-Ultramarino of Barcelona was the Banco Hispano Colonial, a financial institution established in 1876 that would become a commercial bank that managed Cuban Customs until the end of the Spanish rule on the island in 1898.