Spanish colonial furniture of the West Indies

During the great age of discovery Christopher Columbus stopped at the island of Cuba on his first voyage to the new world in 1492 (see Pl. IV). His ship anchored on the island's northeastern coast, where he recorded in his journal in October:

The banks of the rivers are embellished with lofty palm trees, whose shade gives a delicious freshness to the air; and the birds and the flowers are uncommon and beautiful. I was so delighted with the scene that I had almost come to the resolution of staying bere for the remainder of my days; for believe me, Sire, these countries far surpass all of the world in beauty and convenience. (1)

With the establishment of the Spanish viceroyalties, the era of European colonization began. The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas divided the new world between Spain and Portugal. Consequently, Spain stood at the forefront of Catholic strength and monopolized new world wealth not only in the Americas but also in Europe. With the rise of Protestantism in the sixteenth century and in efforts to erode Spain's power, the Protestant nations of England and Holland repeatedly attacked the Spanish West Indies, claiming and gradually settling their own island colonies.

After England defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588, Spain's domination of the West Indies ceased, and the Spanish concentrated their Caribbean settlements in the Greater Antilles, which comprises Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica (which came under British role in 1655), and Hispaniola. The latter, which name is a corruption of Espanola, is today made up of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The Spanish islands and their natural harbors became vital hubs of shipping and trade for the galleons that carried the wealth of the new world to Europe. The first structures the Spanish built were fortifications, many of which still stand. As directed by the mother country, the settlers adopted the grid plan around a central plaza for their island towns.

Santo Domingo, founded in 1496 on Hispaniola, was the first seat of Spanish government in the new world until 1552, when the government was moved to Havana. The cathedral of Santo Domingo was completed about 1540 and given cathedral status in 1546 by Pope Paul III, who named it Catedral Primera de America. Indigenous mahogany was used in its construction and for some of the ecclesiastical sculptures inside it, which date to as early as 1514.

In the beginning, Hispaniola's economy was based primarily on the export of gold, and it soon became the staging base for the conquistadors. From there Juan Ponce de Leon (1460--1521) sailed for Puerto Rico in 1508; Hemando Cortes (1485--1547) left to discover Mexico in 1518; and Diego Velasquez (1465--1524) departed in 1511 to colonize Cuba.

In the sixteenth century the new towns on the Spanish islands were a compilation of mixed styles dominated by the plateresque style, although there were also many Gothic and Romanesque elements. An example is the Alcazar Palace in Santo Domingo, sometimes called Alcazar de Colon, which was built between 1510 and 1514 for Christopher Columbus's son Diego Colon (c. 1480--1526), the viceroy from 1509. By the mid-seventeenth century the first buildings in the colonial Spanish baroque style were being constructed with modifications for the tropical climate--high ceilings, heavily shuttered windows and doors, and verandas (see Pl. VI). By the end of the seventeenth century Spain discovered that, even though the supply of gold and silver was disappearing, the agricultural potential of their West Indian islands was extraordinary. Coffee and sugarcane plantations and refineries were established, and houses came to be built on a more palatial scale with patios, upper galleries (see Pl. I). double arcades, and balconie s that were clearly influenced by the Mudejar style then popular in southern Spain, especially in Seville. The name is given to a fusion of Moorish and Spanish Christian influences and is characterized in architecture by arches, intricately carved woodwork, and balconies. There are also numerous examples of Mudejar style churches, cathedrals, and municipal buildings in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. Mudejar style furniture features similar ornamentation and incorporates Moorish construction methods (see Pl. III). The combination of all the elements that make up the eclectic Spanish colonial architectural style of the Caribbean islands is known as mestizaje.

In Maria Luisa Lobo Montalvo's description of Havana, exotic tropical hardwoods were an important commodity:

Around this port, shipyards became established and renowned, making shipbuilding one of the town's major economic resources. Cedar, mahogany, sabicu, and other precious timbers, felled in the island's woods, were prodigiously used in the industry and hewn into majestic, shapely galleons, destined for the various Spanish armadas. (2)

It was in these forests along Cuba's coast that mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni) was found and became the wood of choice for furniture makers throughout Europe, North America, and the West Indies. Legend has it that the first European furniture made of West Indian mahogany was crafted in the baroque style in seventeenth-century Spain from wood taken from a Spanish galleon built in the Greater Antilles.