was found that the naval power had sunk from the proud Armada
which had challenged England in the time of Queen Elizabeth to no more
than thirteen galleys. Ship-building practically ceased. To bring the
tobacco crop from Havana to Spain, French and British vessels had to be
hired. Nothing was done to keep up the military strength of the kingdom
which had once ranked as Europe's greatest military power and had as
such been feared by other nations. The army was composed either of
inexperienced youths or of nerveless old men. The magazines and arsenals
stood empty. With no ships patrolling the seas and protecting the
coasts, the predatory outlaws of the ocean, sailing under various flags,
soon recognized in the Spanish overseas possessions a territory which
upon slight effort promised to yield rich booty. Cuba, Santo Domingo,
Jamaica and other West Indian Islands were repeatedly ravaged by them.
They established settlements on St. Christopher's Island, called St.
Kitts, and on one of the Bahamas, and from these bases carried on their
destructive operations.

Notwithstanding the great progress which navigation had made during the
previous century, news between the Eastern and the Western continent
traveled slowly. This proved a serious drawback to an efficient
management of the colonies which European powers had established in
America. It was responsible for a great deal of confusion and for the
dilatory policy which characterized the government of the Spanish West
Indies. Communication between the mother country and Cuba was so
irregular and unreliable that Philip III, the new king, was not
proclaimed in Cuba until the spring of the year 1599. Yet at no time was
the fate of the island more closely linked with that of Spain, whose
decline profoundly affected Cuba's political and economic conditions
during the seventeenth century.

In that most critical period for Spain, when the fate of the Kingdom
passed from the hands of Philip the Great into those of his incapable
successor, Cuba had the good fortune of being under the administration
of strong and able governors. D. Juan Maldonado Barrienuevo, who entered
upon his office in the year 1596, did a great deal towards the
improvement of the capital, starting the erection of a government house
and a public prison. He recognized the great value of sugar as one of
the staple products of the island and by every measure possible
encouraged the cultivation of sugar cane. He obtain