Known as the “second discoverer” of Cuba, German geographer Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) toured the island of Cuba between 1800 and 1804. During this time, von Humboldt kept detailed records and statistics of the enslaved populations. After traveling throughout the Caribbean and later returning to Cuba, von Humboldt compared the living and working conditions of enslaved Africans in Cuba and Jamaica. Von Humboldt found that the mortality rate for enslaved people in Cuba was lower than on other islands. This essay, taken from a chapter called “Slavery” in von Humboldt’s book The Island of Cuba, describes how the conditions for enslaved people in Cuba differ from the conditions on other islands in the Caribbean.