1868 Manuscript Requesting Jail Time for a Chinese Indentured Labourer  on a Coolie Contract Laying Brick for a Wealthy Cuban in Matanzas

On offer is a relic of the Chinese Coolie Trade, being an 1868 manuscript document written on behalf of a Cuban man who owns the contracts of several Chinese men working as bricklayers in his factory.

This document is dated August 5, 1868, and is signed by Don Jose Franco Diaz, a Cuban man who owns the contracts of Chinese people who are in Cuba laying brick to build the factory he is funding on Calzada de Estevan (possibly Esteban?). In it, Diaz informs the Governor of Matanzas that one of the Chinese men he has contracted, Justo, “has committed several breaches of subordination…” and requests that “Your Honor arrange for the said Asian Justo to be admitted to the correctional person where he will be assigned to public work for fifteen days”. A response to the request is written and signed by what appears to be a government official on August 9th, 1868.

The Chinese coolie trade, a system of indentured labor that targeted young, poor Chinese men, operated from 1847-1874. The coolie trade took place, in large part, between the shipping port in Macao (now a part of China, then under Portuguese rule) and Havana, Cuba (then under Spanish control). Coolies were transported from China on ships, many of which had formerly been used as African slave ships (Yun & Laremont, 2001). The coolie ships often had slave names (eg Africano, Mauritius) or ironic names (Dreams, Hope, Live Yankees, Wandering Jew) (Yun & Laremont, 2001, p. 110). Many did not survive the journey, with “approximately 16,400 Chinese coolies [dying] on European and American coolie ships to Cuba during a 26-year period” (Yun & Laremont, 2001, p. 111-112). This accounted for a mortality rate of 12-30%, though, on some voyages, the death rate reached 50% (as in the case of the Portuguese ship Cors in its 1857 sailing). These deaths were caused by violence, rebellions,thirst, suffocation and sickness (Yun & Laremont, 2001). To learn more about the Chinese coolie trade and its importance in world history, click here to read our in-depth research blog on the topic. 

This document provides insight into the interaction between Cuban owners of coolie contracts, the men in Cuba on coolie contracts, and the local government. 

The document measures approx 8.5x13 inches  and is in Fair condition with age toning, fraying at the edges, small rips and tears and some small defects to the centre of the document that obscures approximately four words. The ends of about 6 words are obscured due to small tears at the side of the page. Overall Fair to Poor.