The economies of Cuba and Puerto Rico are very similar during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. As Spain colonized these two islands in the 16th century under the idea that gold was abundant. Thus in turn the islands became a safe port for Spain and her vessels. It also set out to be a huge migration from the Spain to the islands, because everyone was set to search for gold. . This turned out to be short lived as the mining of gold peaked in 1517 till 1819. By Spain using Cuba and Puerto Rico for mining gold they needed slave laborers as the local Indians. The Indians soon became unsatisfied with their new conditions of living, they became hostile and many not able to cope with being slaves committed suicide and genocide. By 1540 – 1550 silver was discovered in Mexico and Peru. As Spain found its’ new source of income in Mexico and Peru, it left Cuba and Puerto Rico to literally fend for themselves. By the 1590’s their economy began to prosper by cattle breeding and farming as......
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