El Higüey en el siglo XVIII. Los inicios de la industria maderera en Santo Domingo

The boom of both the cattte and the tobacco industry in the Gibao valley and in the region bordering with the neighboring French colony from 1740 onwards bring about the end of a still prevailing communal tradition of property in the Spanish part of the Hispaniola. throwing therewith a dispossessed population loose upon the island. The cattle ranchers in the East, in an unfavorable geographical position to participate in this boom, retain part of this f10ating population, paying off their debts and giving them shelter from justice, in arder to open profitable mahogany felling sites. The article abounds in details on the occupancy of communal lands and on the labor relations in the lumbering sites.