As we learned in our post about the contributions of the indigenous Taino Indians who were the first inhabitants of Cuba, many of the native people died of disease,
were enslaved by the Spanish or died in the subsequent genocide. Violent colonization threatened the survival of natural medicine.
The Spanish did however, painstakingly document the plants and the methodology used by the Taino to heal their sick. Thus, much of their knowledge has been preserved.
Natural Traditional Medicine (NTM) in Cuba has been greatly influenced by each new culture that arrived on its shores with each group likely modifying what they learned from the Taino customs that were still being passed down by the surviving Taino themselves.
Over time, the use of medicinal herbs in Cuba was impacted by the practices of the many new ethnic groups who found themselves there. These groups included the enslaved Africans and the Chinese. The Africans became the custodians of the Amerindians botanical knowledge.
It is the Africans, in particular who are said to have contributed the most to Cuban medicinal plant practices. During the time of subjugation, the enslaved frequently oversaw medical treatment on the plantations for all of its inhabitants. Referred to as “root doctors” due to their experience in using plants to heal wounds, they were known to treat lacerations with a compress of tobacco leaves, urine and salt. Of course, the tobacco of that time contained fewer toxins than that of today.
A medicinal plant that was brought to the Americas in part, by way of the slave trade is cannabis. Cannabis/Marijuana is of ancient Asian origin. In fact, the use of cannabis in Asia began in Neolithic times. In time it spread west through India and then into Africa where it was used as a medicinal plant. Later, the seeds for planting hemp were among the seeds that the African enslaved brought with them for medicinal use, while traveling across the Atlantic during the Middle Passage.
Conversely, cannabis was brought to the Caribbean and to the island of Jamaica in particular, by Indian indentured servants in the 1850’s.
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