Enslaved Africans were first brought to Cuba in the 16th century by the early Spanish settlers. Due to the significance of sugar as an export during the late 18th and early 19th century, even greater numbers of people from Africa were enslaved, brought to Cuba, and forced to work on the sugar plantations. Where large populations of enslaved Africans lived, African religion, dance, and drumming were clandestinely preserved through the generations. Cultural retention among the Bantu, Yoruba, Fon (Arará), and Efik (Abakuá) had the most significant impact in western Cuba, where rumba was born. The consistent interaction of Africans and Europeans on the island brought about what today is known as Afro-Cuban culture. This is a process known as transculturation, an idea that Cuban scholar Fernando Ortiz brought to the forefront in cultural studies like "Cuban Counterpoint: Tobacco and Sugar." Cuban transculturation melds Spanish culture with African cultures, as with the seamless merging found in rumba. Ortiz saw transculturation as a positive social force: "consecrating the need for mutual understanding on an objective grounding of truth to move toward achieving the definitive integrity of the nation."