The remains of the 19th-cen­­tu­ry cof­fee plan­ta­tions in the foothills of the Sier­ra Maes­tra are unique evi­dence of a pio­neer form of agri­cul­ture in a dif­fi­cult ter­rain. They throw con­sid­er­able light on the eco­nom­ic, social, and tech­no­log­i­cal his­to­ry of the Caribbean and Latin Amer­i­can region.