Friday, January 8, 2010: 9:50 AM
Manchester Ballroom D (Hyatt)
During the Seven Years War, British forces launched a campaign to capture Havana in 1762. This paper looks at the effects of this siege to galvanise a distinctive city identity. Through the responses of local people and accounts of observers, attitudes to their place in the Spanish empire, towards their British invaders, and towards the rest of the island can be gleaned. Havana had developed its own identity (and an identity for its residents, as Habaneros) distinctive from that of Spanish subjects, or even other Cubans.
The British held the city for six months, and correspondence from the city during this period demonstrates the level of cooperation that developed between the British forces and the local community. The siege demonstrated to the people of the city that the Spanish could not be relied upon to protect them, and helped to strengthen a local identity separate from the empire.
As an ethnically diverse city, Havana was already developing a unique culture and the challenge of the British invasion served as an opportunity to strengthen this (and weaken ties with the Spanish metropole). This paper examines the development of identity as a response to challenge and form of pragmatic cooperation and resistance.
The British held the city for six months, and correspondence from the city during this period demonstrates the level of cooperation that developed between the British forces and the local community. The siege demonstrated to the people of the city that the Spanish could not be relied upon to protect them, and helped to strengthen a local identity separate from the empire.
As an ethnically diverse city, Havana was already developing a unique culture and the challenge of the British invasion served as an opportunity to strengthen this (and weaken ties with the Spanish metropole). This paper examines the development of identity as a response to challenge and form of pragmatic cooperation and resistance.