Cuban culture and people were formed from a mixture of indigenous people, African slaves, and European migrants. Most often residing in Cuba meant defining oneself in relation to the foreign power that controlled Cuba, such as the Spanish Empire. The origins of a Cuban identity can be traced to the earliest debates about Cuban self-determination, and expanded more greatly with the Cuban independence movement. As more Cubans began emigrating during the Cuban exile the idea of Cuban identity began to expand to those outside Cuba and the idea of being Cuban took on a racialized definition.
