1858 (dated)
Description
Highlighting a little-known episode in history, this is a rare 1858 broadside contract between the
Compañia Asiatica de la Habana, and a Chinese laborer arranging for his importation to Cuba to work as an indentured servant on a sugar plantation. This document and others like it, provide an invaluable and detailed record of the Chinese experience in Cuba. An illustration at top center shows a ship and a Chinese laborer working next to a Cuban farmer.
The IndentureThe indenture, printed in Spanish on one side and Chinese on the other, was singed in Macao on October 18, 1858. It commits the Chinese laborer Chy Anung (蔡昂), then 23 years old, to work for a period of eight years in Cuba, at which point he would be supposedly granted his freedom. The document is singed by Chy Anung, as well as the