Figure 1.--The primary destination of the Atlantic slave trade was Brazil. Most of the other Africans tranported were delivered to the Caribbean sugar islands. This hand-colored print shows slave traders embarking captive Africans, here separating a family. The artist was George Morland (1763-1804). Morland never traveled to West Africa and the Caribbean, but it does not look especially unrealistic. The painting is clearly an abolitionist image. We are niot dsure ewhen it was psintedm byr we begin to see prints in 1791 just as the movement was beginning to become organized. It is one of the most important images of the early stage in the Abolistionist Movement and prints made of it weree weidely circulsated. Morland was was best known for his genre scenes, primarily of English pastoral life. Thus his images are of some interest to any student of late-18th century life. His earlier images are better than his later images when his dissolute life-style began to catch up with him. Creditors were often after him.

he Europeans also began vying over control of the Spain Main--the Caribbean. Spanish populations in the Greater Antilles made these islands a difficult target. The small islabds of the Lesser Antilles were a different matter. Not only was there little or no Spanish population, but small islands were asier to seize, especially for a country with a powerful powrful navy and Spanish naval power was declining. Thus the British and French began seizing the Spanish colonies (Jamaica and western Hispsniola--Haiti) as well as islands the Spanish had bypassed (such as Barbados, Dominica, Guadelupe, Martinique, St. Kitts, and others). The colonial powers vied for control of the smaller islands. As the sugar economies developed, a massive demand for slaves was created. Haiti became enormously valuable to France. And even small islands were extrodinarily valuable. On islands like Barbados virually all the available land was conveted into sugar cane plantations. And their populations of these island became primarily enslaved Africans. Slavery by any definition involves brutality. But the slave system on the sugar islsands was especially brutal. It was unique in history. Many of the Caribbean sugar islands had populations that were more than 90 percent slaves. The history of slavery varied with each island having its own destinct histories. The system in some colonies such as Haiti and Jamaica was one of unbelievable bruality. The slaves were virtually worked to death. The sugar profits were so great that the planters simply purchased replacemnets from Africa. This was in contrast to North America where the slave population was self sustaining. On others islands, such as Dominica, it was a milder form which allowed many slaves to purchase their freedom. We do not know much about some of the smaller islands, but we are gradually building pages on slavery for the various Caribbean islands: Barbados, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martiniue, Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), St. Kitts, Trinidad, and other colonies. Not all Cariibean islands of course were sugar islands. The Netherlands Antilles included islands that were arid and not suitable for sugar plantations. As a result the horrors of plantation slavery (Haiti, Jamaica, and other islands) was not visited on the slaves of the Dutch islands who were more humanely treated. The last important sugar industry developed in the Caribbean was on Cuba which the Spanish had managed to keep hold of after the Latin Americcan wars of independence (19th century). Sugar was also produced on Puerto Rico, but in smaller quantities because it was more mountainous.

British/English Islands

The Spanish focus after only a few years became the mainkand of Central America and South America. This and rising English naval power gave the English the avbility to seize many Caribbean islands. Despite thd great wealth of the Ameruicas meaured in gold and silver bullion, the Spanish were unable to match the groiwth of English naval power. Dutch refugees from Brazil brought sugar production technology to the Cariibean. The Europeans also began vying over control of the Spainish Main--the Caribbean. Spanish populations in the Greater Antilles made these islands a difficult target. The small islands of the Lesser Antilles were a different mater. Not only was there little or no Spanish population, but small islands were asier to seize, especially for a country with apowerful powrful navy and Spanish naval power was declining. And the Brurush prived to have the striongest navy. Thus the British seizing the Spanish colonies (Jamaica) as well as islands the Spanish had bypassed (such as Barbados, Dominica, St. Kitts, Trinidad,and others). The colonial powers vied for control of the smaller islands. As the sugar economies developed, a massive demand for slaves was created. On islands like Barbados virually all the available land was conveted into sugar cane plantations. And their populations of these island became primarily enslaved Africans. Slavery by any definition involves brutality. But the slave system on the sugar islsands was especially brutal. It was unique in history. Many of the Caribbean sugar islands had populations that were more than 90 percent slaves. The history of slavery varied with each island having its own destinct histories. The system in these colonies was one of unbelievable bruality. The slaves were virtually worked to death. The sugar profits were so great that the planters simply purchased replacemnets from Africa. This was in contrast to North America where the slave population was self sustaining. On others islands, such as Dominica, it was a milder form which allowed many slaves to purchase their freedom.

Bahamas

Barbados

Barbadod along with Jmica weree the premier British sugar/slave islands.

Dominica

Slavery is an importat part of Caribbean history. The slaves brought from Africa today constitute a major part of the Caribbean population. The history of each island is unique, although there are many similarities. The same is true of slavery. Here the history of slavery in Dominica is difrent than in most other Caribbean islnds. Slavery develoed differently on Dominica than many of the other Caribbean sugar islands. Dpminican slaves working on the sugar plantations were commonly allowed to establish their own provision gardens and to raise small stock. We are not sure why thispattern developed on Dominica and not many other islands. Several destictive patterns may be involved: the small French oldings, the Britis-French competition, and the Native American/Maroon resistance all may be factors. Many slaves sold their produce was at Sunday markets where slaves were allowed to leave their plantations to both socialize and trade. Some saved their earnings and bought their freedom. This practice led to the development of some of te first free black communities in the Caribbean other than the Mroons who were rebels. They became known as 'Afranchis' or 'mulatre'. Over time they purchased small estates and even slaves of their own. . Thus whgat develooped in Dominica was a unique blend of slave sugar plantations owned by Europeans and afew freed Africans which functioned side by side with garden plots and small produce farms worked by a complicated mix of escaped slaves, freed slaves, and Native Americans.

Grenada

Jamaica

Caribbean sugar islands were very valuable possessions. The English tried to take the island (1596 and 1643). After victory in the English Civil War, Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell fought a swar with Soanin (1655-60). He dispatched an expendition commanded by Admiral Penn and General Venables to seize Hispaniola (1655). The English were unable to take the well-defended port of Santo Domingo. Rather than return to England defeated, they decided to attempt to seize more lightly settled Jamaica. The Spanish resisted, but finlly had tio abandon the islkand when Maroon allies defected. The Spanish formally ceded Jamaica to Britain (1670). Jamaica was the only one of the large Caribbean islands that Britain managed to seize from the Spanish. The Maroons in the interior posed a challenge to the English. One of the most important figures in Jamaican history, Sir Thomas Modyford, arrived in Jamaicafrom Barbados (1664). He was accompained by 1,000 settlers. Modyford was a Barbadian planter who had mastered sugar cultivation. Modyford had been the governor of Barbados before being apponted governor of Jamaica. Modyford promoted agriculture, especially cocoa and the sugar-cane. The expanding planter class on the island began importing slaves in large numbers. The Spanish had begun importing some slaves, but the English imported much larger numbers. The number of slaves and sugar plantations grew rapidly and by the 18th century the number of slaves reached subsantial numbers. Jamaica became the largest and most profitable British island in the Caribbean. Planters made huge profits. The primary crop was sugar, but coffee was also of some importance. The Island's economy was almost entirely based on plantation agriculure and a slave labor force. The population came to be about 95 percent black slaves (1800). The slaves endured horendous conditoions on the island's plantations. The British planters were harassed by the Maroons, armed bands of escaped slaves attacking isolated plantations. The Maroons established communities in the mountainous interior. The fact that the population of Jamaica became so heavily slave made the colony especially vulnerable to slave revolts. The existence of the Maroon holdouts in the interior also aided these revolts. The British outlawed the slave trade during the Napoleonic Wars (1807). The British did not, however, take the step of abolishing slavery in its colonies. The abolitionist novement pushed for it, but entrenched interests benefitting from the sugarbproduction. The Great Slave Revoltis often called the Baptist War (1831-32). The British had to bring in troops to put in down. By this time the British Abolitionist movedment had made slavery comtroversial. But the Great Slave war made it clkear that Jamaica could only be held by costly military occupation. The difficuly of maintaining slavery on the island combined with Wilberforce's Christian-based crusade eventually led to Parliament's decesion to abolish slavery throughout the Empire (1834). This did not meam immediate abolitin. Jamaican slaves remained bound to their former owners' service for a few more years, although they were granted some basic rights. This was called the Apprenticeship System which continued until 1838.

St. Kitts

The first important crop grown by the settkers was tobacco, but was soon replaced by sugar. French Govenor Phillippe de Longvilliers de Poincy introduced sugar as a more profitable crop than tobacco (1640). This was in part a result of the Dutch Portuguese War (1601-63). The Dutch invaded Brazil and develoed expertise in sugar cultivation and production. It was the Dutch that introduced plantation sugar agriculture based on slave labor to the Caribbean. While small, St. Kitts and Nevis were ideal for growing sugar, a fabulously proftable crop making St Kitts and other small Caribbean islands a target of great power rivalry. Sugar plantations were established by the English and French using enslaved Africans. The first group of enslaved Africans was arrived on St. Kitts almost immeduiately after English and French settlement began. It is believed that they came from a Spanish vessel involved in the slave trade (1625). The Spanish had found on Hispaniola (their first Caribbean colony) that enslaved Amerindians rapidly perished. They turned to captive Africans for labor, launching the Atltanic slave trade. The enslaved Africans on St. Kitts and other Caribbean sugar islands labored under horific, brutal conditions. Sugar cultivation at the time was only possible with slave labor. Sugar was labor intensive and necesitated very difficult work which is why slave labor was required. The Act for the Better Government of Negroes and Other Slaves was passed (1711). It was designed to discourage slaves running away and ro prevent free persons did not aid them or hiring them. Similar acts were promulgated on other islands. These settlements were subject to attack by the English, French, and Spanish, mostly on St Kitts with condiderable damage to the economy, meaning the sugar operations. Tiny Nevis became increadably for a short time the most valuable possession in the British Empire. English and French planters made great fortunes, One example was the English Marsham family. The British Abolitionist Movement began to grow in the late-18th century. Another slave act was passed on the Islands -- the Act to Prevent Mutilatiomn of Enslaved (1783). The Act prohibited the mutilation of enslaved workers. Violations could be punished by fines of £500 and 6 months imprisonment. Planters who could not pay the fine were liable to 12 months imprisonment. The mutilated slaves were to be forfieted. They were used by Island authorities and publicly sold at auction. One Abolitionist activist reports that this was the first law in the British West Indies that afforded enslved people a measure of legal protection against their ownerss. [Stephen] And there were actual procecutions. Jordan Burke was indicted for wounding a slave named Clarissa. He was fined £50. Wadham Strode was fined £100 for injuring another slave named Peter. Notice that this did not mean terriblepounishment like whipping were orohibited--only mutalations. The British Abolitionist movement finally achieved the end of the Slave Trade (1807). This meant that planters could no longer import captive Africans. The Act immediately affected British colonies like St Kitts, but it would take years for the British Royal Navy aided at times by the fledling United States Navy to actually end the international slave trade. The first register (census) of slaves on the islands was conducted (1817). The free coloureds (term at the time for peoole of African ancestry) of St. Kitts petitioned the Island authoriies for the end of the legal 'disabilities' to which they were subject. Act 524 granted the free coloureds the right to civil rights, privileges and immunities of other free citizens (1830). The British Parlimment at long last passed the Emancipation Act (1833). Emancipation was declared on the Islands (1834). The gradual nature of the Act resulted in disturbances on St. Kitts. Plantation workers refused to work in pprotest against Apprenticeship schemes. Rhe Apprecteships were unwirkabke and ebded (1838). The Masters and Servants Acts was passed (1849). This finally ended slavery on St. Kitts.

St. Lucia

St. Vincent

St. Vincent was claimed by both the British and French. The British claim was settled by the Treaty of Paris which ended the Seven Years War (1763). St. Vincent as well as Grenada and the Grenidines between them along with Dominica abd Tobago, substantially increasing Britain's preesence in the Caribben and potential for sugar production. Britain took administrative steps, but did not fully control the island until after the American Revolution (1776-1783). After the Seven Years War, Britain created an imperial possession known as the the Windward Islands. This included of Grenada, Saint Vincent, Dominica, Tobago, and the Grenadines. A representative assembly royal givernor was created in in Grenada. Voting for respresentives was restructed to the white poropertied class. This efoirt at union quickly collapsed and each of the islands were authorized to establish separate representative assemblies. St. Vincent was, however, different becuse the British did not have full control. The Caribs continued to hold out. Negotiations between the British and Caribs resulted in a division of the Islands (1773). This did not prevent conflicts. The Caribs revolted and were defeated by the British (1772-73). (Disrtractions in the Cariibean were a major problem the British faced in comcentrating their forces to fight the American Revolutionary War.) There was still Crib resistabce and a second war ensued (1796-96). The British as a result deported most of the surviving Caribs to the Bay Islands in the Gulf of Honduras. The British introduced the sugar industry. Sugar cane plabtations expanded and captive Africans were imported to work as slaves on the sugar plantations under brutal conditions. Portuguese and East Indian laborers were also brought to the Islands. The island thus began the sad pattern of other Caribbean islands, although over a much shorter time frame than many other Caribbean islands. This meant at the time of emancipatuion, many freed slaves actually had menories of Africa, something that was unusual in the United States. Britain using the powerful Royal Navy began to supress the slave trade (1807) and emancipated the slaves (1835). The Islands were part of the West Indies Federation (1958-62). Britain granted home rule as part of the West Indies Associated States (1969). Britain granted full indepensence (1979). The country faced some terrible natural disasters. Mount Soufrière eerupted (April 1979) and the norther part of the Island had to be evacuated. The result was a total disruption of the economy. Prime Minister Milton Cato had to deal with a rebellion (December 8, 1979). This was followed by Hurricane Allen (1980) which futher damaged the fragil economy--destroying the important banana harvest.

Trinidad

Columbus claimed Trinidad for Spain (1498). The Spanish established the first settlement (1532), but an English force commanded by Sir Walter Raleigh destroyed the settlement (1595). The English were, however, unable to hold on to the Island and the Spanish reestablished control. The Spanish colonial epoch lasted three centuries and is reflected in the name of the capital--Port of Spain. Spain unlike ther British and French did not found a sugar industry, but during the late-8th cenbtury did invite French plabters to settle in Trinidad. Prior to 1776 the population of the island was small, and until the 1780s there were very few African slaves living on the island. In 1783, in an effort to increase the population, and by extension the prosperity of the island, the Spanish government, which ruled Trinidad, decided to invite French planters to settle in Trinidad. A law, called the Cedula of Population, was passed to encourage migration to the island. Under this law, incentives such as free land and exemption from paying most taxes were granted. Many French settlers were willing to migrate to Trinidad. The Haitian revolution and the unrest in other French territories acted as additional incentives. Planters in Martinique, Guadeloupe and other French territories feared that what happened in Haiti could happen in those islands, and so they became afraid. They saw the opportunity to migrate to Trinidad as a blessing. As a result large numbers of French immigrants came to Trinidad complete with all their possessions, slaves and way of life. In the beginning they planted cotton, cocoa and coffee. However, by 1797 when the British conquered Trinidad, sugar had become the most important crop. The British took cotrol of the island again as a result of the European wars initiated by the French Revolution during the Naspooleonic Wars. Spain ceded the island under the terms of the Treaty of Amiens (1802). The history of the smaller island of Tobago is a little more complicated. The Dutch who were a major naval power at the time raided and then seized Tobago from the Spanish (1630s). They introduced sugar cane there. The French who were allied with the Spanish during the American War for Independence seized Tobago (1781). They greatly expnded the sugar planttions importing more Africans to work as slaves. The British who had seized Trinidad took possession of Tobago after the Napoleonic wars (1814). Trinidad was thus a late starter in the sugar Plantation system. The British granted full freedomto slaves (1838). Most of the ex-slaves on both Trinidad and Tobago moved off the plantations. They wanted to end any relationship with their former masters. They organized villages close to the sugar estates, but off the estates. The villages of Belmont, Arouca, and Laventille were formed at this time. There was land availble and the ex-slaves prchased or rented it. They engsaged in subsistence sgriculture. Other ex-slaves gravitated toward the urban neigborhoods of Port of Spain and San Fernando where they became artisans, craftsmen, builders, and domestics. After slavery was abolished there was a severe shortage of labor in the Caribbean islands like Trinidad. The former slves no longer wanted to woirk on plantations. The British introduced the Coolie Labor System, importing indentured labor from Asia, primarily China and India.

Dutch Islands

The Dutch seized Brazil during the Dutch-Portuguese Wars (1602-71). They helped spread the technology to the planters on the Caribbean islands. And it soon became the primary commodity produced in the Caribbedan. Because of the the Dutch War of Indepence aginst Spain, Dutch sugar production technology did not at first spread to the Spanish islands. The Dutch did not, however, have the naval power to sdeize and hang on to islands which could support a major sugar island. <>br>

French Islands

The French seized western Hispaniola from the Spanish and turned it into the single most important sugar producing colony. Haiti became enormously valuable to France. And even small islands were extrodinarily valuable. TYhe tratment of the frican workers was unbelievably brutal. These iuslbnds were so vakuable that France chose to relinquish Canada rather than Guadelupe which the British has seized. This only changed with the French Revolution (1789) and the abolition of slavery (1794). When the plnters omn the oslabnd resisted, the slaves rebelled. This left Frabce wiuth ionly the two small islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique.

Guadeloupe

Martinique

Martinique was the first French colony in the Caribbeam. The colony at first relied on indentured French labor. The colony at first did not prove very popular growing tobacco and cotton. The introduction of sugar as the principal crop changed this. It also required the importation of African slaves for the much more labor intensive sugar plantations. This generated great wealth ahd made the plantations enormously profitable. The French slughtered or drive the indigenou Caribs off the island. Theimportstion of large numbers of Africans affected the demographicv balance with slaves becoming the majority of the population. The slave system began to decline with the amerucan Revolution. Slaves were recruited to the militia with a promise of slavery. The French Revolution began to move against slvery. And the Royal Navy affected shioments to abd from the island. Slaves had to begin griwing their own food, weakning the authotrity of the slave masters. The Convention ablodhed slvery, but the planters resisted. British occupation and the Bourbon Restoration meant a return of slavery. Slkavery was not finally abolished until the Revolution of 1848.

St. Domingue (Haiti)

The success of Spain in the New World attracted the notice of the other European powers. France not only colonized North America (Canada), but wanbted Caribbean colonies as well. The French dispatched colonists to settle Tortuga and the northwestern coast of Hispaniola. The Spanish with only a small population on Hispaniola, decided to abandon the troublesome west. The King issued a royal mandate (1603). Governor Osorio ordered Spanish subjects to move to a line south and east of what is now San Juan de Maguana). This left it to the French to 'domesticate' the pirates. Recalitrant pirates were hanged. Tobthose willingv to change their ways, the French offered enducements. Women in French jails, mostly accused of prositution or thief, were deported to the island. As a result the western third of Hispaniola became a defacto French colony. The French subsequently began exploring and settling on the mainland and succeeded in largely displacing the Spanish from western Hispaniola. The small Spanish population on the island was not in a position to effectively resist the French intrussion. A series of military engagements followed. As a result by the late 17th century, the French had defacto control of western Hispaniola. The minor importance of the island meant that Spain was not willing to fight a long costly war over it. Treaty of Ryswick (1697) Defacto French control and one of Louis XIV's wars in Europe eventually persuaded the Spanish to cede western Hispaniola to the French under the Treaty of Ryswick (1697).

Spanish Islands

The Portuguese began vouages of discovery to the south (1420s). This led to both both began the Atlantic slave trade and the production of sugar in Brazil. As a result of Columbus' First Voyage west (1492), Spain petioned the Spanish-born PopeAlexander VI for a decison on a line of demarkation to avoid conflict between the two Catholic Iberian powers. The Pope issued a bull, Inter caetera, to divide the newly discovered territories between Spain and Portugal. The Pope decreed that all lands west and south of a meridian line 100 leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde islands rightfully belonged to Spain. This did not, however, resolve the developing tensions between the two colonising nations. The major problem was that the Pope failed to specify the lands on the other side of this line as Portuguese possessions and the Portugese had aldo rounded the Cape of Good Hipe (1492). A Portuguese demand for changing the line to 370 leagues west suggests that they had already discovered Brazil and were keeping it secret. This led to Spain and Portugal clarifying the delimitation in the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494). As a result, the Caribbean became the Spanish Maine. Without the Dutch, Vuba and Purto Rico became backwaters. Cuba would, however, become the major sugar prodyucer (19th century).

Cuba

One of the consequences of the French Revolution was the Haitain slave rebellion (1790s) and eventual independence of Haiti. Cuba had not been a major sugar profucer during the Caribbean sugar boom (18th century). After the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815), Cuba emerged as the main sugar producer in the Caribbean. The industry grew very rapidly in the 1820s abd 30s. Large numbers of captive Africans were need to work o\all the new plantations. Slavers thus shipped to Cuba to work the plantations. The profitabilty of sugar and the Spanish ability to hold the islands as independence movements swept the mainland, allowed the industry to develop rapidly. Cuba became the last non-Muslim country to outlaw slavery. After Castro seized control of Cuba (1959), Cuban sugar played a role in the Cold War.

Puerto Rico

Hispaniola/Dominican Republic

French adventurers landed on the island of La Tortue (Tortuga Island) off the northwestern arm of Hispaniola. The French subsequently began exploring and settling on the mainland and succeeded in largely displacing the Spanish from western Hispaniola. A series of military engagements followed. As a result by the late 17th century, the French had defacto control of western Hispaniola. This and one of Louis XIV's wars in Europe eventually persuaded the Spanish to cede western Hispaniola to the French under the Treaty of Ryswick (1697). The French named their new colony Saint Domingue. And they began transforming the colony into a vast sugar plantation. The French began importing large numbers of African slaves to work the plabtations under the most apauling conditions. The destruction of the Taino and importation of Africans changed the demographics of St Domingue. African slavery was an important economic institition by the 18th century, especially important for the Caribbean sugar islands which were a major element in Western European economies. Saint Domingue in the 18th century became the richest colony in the America. The capital, Cap Français, becomes known as the Paris of the New World. It becomes as slave colony sedicated to the production of sugar--a commodity of unprecedented value. The French operated Saint Domingue with unprecedented cruelty even in an age in which slavery played an important role. The 0.5 million slaves were ruled by terror into submission. Floggings were common place. Slaves were punished for minor offences with starvation or even being buried alive.

Created: 3:59 AM 10/26/2013
Last updated: 3:01 AM 3/22/2022