Humboldt visited Cuba in 1800 and again in 1804, as part of a five-year scientific exploration of the Americas, which he undertook with the French naturalist Aimé Bonpland. This essay gives a detailed account of Cuba's geographical position, population, agricultural and commerce. Humboldt's controversial chapter on slavery, which caused the book to be banned in Cuba, argues that: "slavery is the greatest of all evils to have plagued mankind" (I, 309). Comparing Jamaican and Cuban plantation regimes, Humboldt suggests that the latter was less harsh, but he points that any comparison of the death tolls in the colonies of these two "Christian and civilized nations" was a shameful exercise (I, 174). He calls for an end to slavery, but suggests this would only be effective if colonial assemblies would cooperate in making the legislative changes needed.