The colonial authorities caused the extermination of the local population by introducing the encomienda system (slavery and control over the Indian population).
In the first half of the 16th century, black slaves were brought to Cuba to work on plantations. From 1797, the island became a major point of the slave trade.
It borders all South American countries, except Ecuador and Chile.
It borders Uruguay to the south, Argentina and Paraguay to the southwest, Bolivia, and Peru to the west, Colombia to the northwest, and Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana to the north.
