Battle of Santiago de Cuba Battle of Santiago de Cuba The Battle of Santiago de Cuba was a naval battle that occurred on July 3, 1898, in which the United States Navy decisively defeated Spanish forces, sealing American victory in the Spanish–American War and achieving nominal independence for Cuba from Spanish rule. The battle marked the culmination of the Cuban Wars for Independence that had been waged by Cuban revolutionaries against Spanish imperial power for several decades. The United States had political, economic, cultural, and ideological interests in Cuba. Within this larger context, many American political leaders, pushed by interventionist public opinion, were outraged by
French immigration to Cuba Cuba were allowed to return to the island. They, together with new French immigrants, formed a second wave of French immigration to Santiago de Cuba. This second wave promoted an increase in economic activity in the city, and resulted in Santiago becoming a prime exporter of coffee. Sugarcane-raising expanded in the surrounding savannas, while new roads and aqueducts were built to encourage the settling of the Sierra Maestra. Between 1818 and 1835 a third wave of immigration to Santiago de Cuba occurred, prompted by a royal order from the Spanish Crown intended to increase the proportion of whites in the