Extinction: Ideologies Against Indigeneity in the Caribbean, Essay Example

Early Slavery

Agricultural history in the English west and Indies was dominated by the formation of the plantation systems and slavery[1]. Slavery is described as the importation of large numbers of servile laborers from various parts of the world, such as Africa, Asia, and Europe Slavery was a common practice at the beginning of the seventeenth century, which is the time at which the plantations were established[2].  Colonization was also a dominant factor at the time, and it had a substantial contribution to slavery. Most slaves were unwillingly drawn from their countries by the colonial masters and subjected to hard labor on plantations. In the Caribbean where Britain was one of the colonizers, which started as early as the 1640s, it was the part of the world that was then characterized by vast Establishment of vast sugar, cocoa and other plantations in the Caribbean led to the high demand of labor which encouraged the slave trade in the region.

The settlement of colonies was highly dependent on slavery, which was practiced in the Caribbean after colonization. Black African from the region and other parts of the world provided labor, making the white Jamaicans wealthier than the Americans British   Slavery was highly institutionalized since every aspect of the slave trade was carried out in commercialized ways such that the buying and selling of slaves became a crucial factor concerning building the structures, irrigating the fields, sowing the seeds and harvesting the products when the time came.

Scholars have contributed to unraveling what it was like during this period. Trevor Burnard’s work, “Europe Migration to Jamaica 1655-1780”, examines the extent to which Europeans migrated to Jamaica from 1665 at the time when the island was taken or instead colonized by Britain until the last quarter of the eighteenth century[3]. He explains the difficulties of ascertaining accurate numbers of immigrants from Europe and Britain since it was never a formal process at the time, and there was no record maintained of the slaves moved to the Caribbean. He indicates that the only documented immigration was that of the indentured servants[4]. Those who came under no legal impediment were not documented[5]. This made it impossible to trace the number of immigrants to and from the Caribbean Islands. The first settlers, according to Burnard, were the soldiers, but upon arrival, they encountered tropical diseases that caused massive deaths of the settlers 1680, the European settlers were about 10,000 but were later significantly reduced by an earthquake[6].

Hilary Beckles, in their research ”Plantation Production and White Proto-Slavery: White Indentured Servants and the Colonization of the English West Indies, 1624-1645” describes the labor that existed in the Caribbean as ‘’Proto-Slavery’’[7]. Beckles describes ‘’Proto-Slavery’’ as a system that provided the English planters with the necessary experience in the plantation for the enslavement of black labor[8]. The effective colonization of the Caribbean islands, which consists of St. Christopher in 1624, Barbados 1967, Antigua and Montserrat 1632, and Nevis 1628, was made possible by the emergence of the early large plantations. They were designed by the white settlers to provide large scale production and distribution of commodities to the global market[9]. ‘’Proto-Slavery’’ was instrumental in ensuring that an effective, as well as a profitable culture of the agrarian nature, was developed and established an unstoppable frontier environment of the seventeenth-century Caribbean[10]. Out of the agrarian culture, a sugar industry emerged as well as the general use of African slave labor[11].

As the plantations developed, increased demand for slave labor was needed, which forced the British and European settlers to seek labor from servants, mainly black locals, Africa, and indentured servants[12]. Beckles focuses on how the demand for labor in the plantations resulted in the rise of ‘’Proto-Slavery in the Caribbean[13].  Europeans were also pressed into indentured servitude but usually served in more administrative roles such and training of the slaves[14]. Labor during this time took a turn from white to black[15]. Most of the laborers in the established plantations were black people, where the indentured servants were used as supervisors[16]. The shift happened since getting indentured servants from Europe, and Britain became costly and time-consuming; hence the British settlers and white locals had to look for alternatives[17]. One of the possibilities was to turn the black locals into slaves and buy more from Africa since it was within a more reasonable distance as compared to Europe[18]. This resulted in a rapid and unproblematic transition to large scale black slavery by the late 1640s[19]. Features of slavery were established, especially a highly developed market view of labor[20]. Such features included viewing servants primarily as capital, and worse, as a unit of investment with property value allowing buying and selling of the slaves[21].

Development of a market view of labor allowed determination of the type of labor used by the market forces as well as the nature of how it should be used[22]. Market forces during the establishment of the plantations led to a shift of white to black labor regime, which was intensified by resource exploitation, which happened during the early stages of the establishment of the plantations. This was as a result of massive capital outlay as well as a high recurrent cost during the time and which is attributable to the industry.

Trevor Burnard and Kenneth Morgan’s research: ”The Dynamics of the Slave Market and Slave Purchasing Patterns in Jamaica’ ’focuses on the type of labor that transpired between 1655-1788 [23]. It is during this period that black Africans became a precious commodity[24]. Prosperity and poverty, therefore, was highly determined by the availability of the African slaves and more so how productive they were[25]. If a slave buyer was unwise and unlucky while buying them, disaster could befall them leading economic loss[26]. Jamaica had the highest demand for slaves of any British American colony, which was as a result of the plantations[27]. According to research, Jamaica received one-third of the slaves imported by Britain[28]. Between the 1720s and 1790s, Jamaica was in high demand for slaves; it received more than 40 percent of the black slaves shipped by Britain to America[29]. Massive Africans importation to Jamaica made the island a significant destination for British Americans with African origin[30]. By 1680, it was estimated that 23 percent of black people in the British Empire were residing in Jamaica as providers of forced labor[31]. By the year 1808, Jamaican life was highly characterized by African immigration[32]. All Africans on the Island had been transformed into laborers, even the locals, by the years 1808[33]. African slavery on the island was so high that the number was more than one million, excluding the number of those who died while in transit which was about 160,000[34]. Their mortality rate was so low that 200, 000 slaves would die every year due to fatal diseases, poor diet, a deliberating work regimen, malnutrition and brutal treatment[35].

Maximillian C. Forte, in his research ”Extinction: Ideologies Against Indigeneity in the Caribbean’’ asserts that slave labor completely changed the indigeneity of the islands[36]. Due to the mass migration of Africans into the Caribbean during the establishment of the plantations, the majority of the population became Africans, which led to the vanishing of indigenes[37]. The documentary on the Political History of the Sugar Industry reveals how sugar plantations in the Caribbean were the heart of slavery in the 18th century[38]. ‘’CBC Big Sugar 1 of 2 Documentary on the Political History of the Sugar Industry’’ is a documentary that explores the dark history as well as the new world power of the sugar cartels that, to date, still control the industry. Despite slavery being abolished, the documentary shows that sugar consumers continue to be slaves to a sugar-based diet[39].  Audra A. Diptee contributes to the research about the history of Early Settlement in the Caribbean[40]. She clearly explains that there was a massive demand for labor to clear large pieces of land for sugar plantations to be established. During the early settlements, the settlers of the Caribbean were European, who, at the time, had to do the work themselves until the work became untenable and they had to invent ways to access cheap labor.

Concerning capital, it was hard for the colonies to attract capital to the area until they could prove that the plantations were productive. Due to massive migration to the Caribbean, which was a result of slavery, it was hard for the indigenous people to exist due to the enormous settlement of black slaves[41]. Dr. Maximillian Forte, in an interview at the University of Concordia, shows how difficult it was for the indigenous people of the Caribbean to keep their heritage since massive amounts of nonnatives such as Indians, Britons, and Europeans all of whom intermingled giving rise to a mixed culture[42].

In conclusion, the Caribbean was therefore dominated and fueled by slavery, which was enhanced by a massive need for employment during the establishment of the sugar plantations. However, the islands became dominated by slaves from Africa. Since they were regarded as healthy and productive and more, they could be bought at a low cost, which was convenient for the slave masters at the time. The continuously growing desire for labor as other plantations such as cocoa encouraged slavery, which became a huge determining factor of how the plantations faired economically. The world’s demand for sweets provided an impetus for the slave trade to boom during the 1600s to 1700s. In an ever-expanding commercial enterprise, the demand fueled a constant need for supply, and slaves were the fodder that allowed rapid expansion.

Bibliography

Forte, Maximilian C. “Extinction: Ideologies against Indigeneity in the Caribbean.” Southern Quarterly 43, no. 4 (2006): 46. http://search.proquest.com/openview/a8a847df0b47642993b475542481ed4e/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=48896

Burnard, Trevor. “European migration to Jamaica, 1655-1780.” The William and Mary Quarterly 53, no. 4 (1996): 769-796. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2947143

Beckles, Hilary McD. “Plantation Production and White “Proto-slavery”: White Indentured servants and the colonization of the English West Indies, 1624-1645.” The Americas 41, no. 3 (1985): 21-45.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/americas/article/plantation-production-and-white-protoslavery-white-indentured-servants-and-the-colonisation-of-the-english-west-indies-16241645/86B4E777C5FE054DF931B07AF0E99BD8

Burnard, Trevor, and Kenneth Morgan. “The dynamics of the slave market and slave purchasing patterns in Jamaica, 1655-1788.” The William and Mary Quarterly 58, no. 1 (2001): 205-228. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2674424

Diptee, Audra A. From Africa to Jamaica: the making of an Atlantic slave society, 1775–1807. University Press of Florida, 2010. https://soundcloud.com/audra-diptee/3a_early-settlement_1550-1640-part-1/s-x1XBy

Diptee, Audra A. “African children in the British slave trade during the late eighteenth century.” Slavery and abolition 27, no. 2 (2006): 183-196. https://soundcloud.com/audra-diptee/3a_early-settlement_1550-1640-part-1/s-x1XBy.

Forte, Maximillian, and Zilkia Janer. “THE CARIBBEAN.” Revolution (1989): 138. https://soundcloud.com/audra-diptee/4c_early-settlement-1550-1640-part2/s-s1nYU

CBC,’’ Big Sugar 1 of 2 Documentary on the Political History of the Sugar Industry,’’ December 11, 2012, documentary video, 44:29. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHh5odELpi4&feature=youtu.be

[1] Beckles, Hilary McD. “Plantation Production and White “Proto-slavery”: White Indentured servants and the colonization of the English West Indies, 1624-1645.” The Americas 41, no. 3 (1985): 21-45.

[2] Ibid, 45

[3] Burnard, Trevor, and Kenneth Morgan. “The dynamics of the slave market and slave purchasing patterns in Jamaica, 1655-1788.” The William and Mary Quarterly 58, no. 1 (2001): 205-228.

[4] Ibid.,210

[5] Ibid.,213

[6] Ibid.,221

[7] Beckles, Hilary McD. “Plantation Production and White “Proto-slavery”: White Indentured servants and the colonization of the English West Indies, 1624-1645.” The Americas 41, no. 3 (1985): 21-45.

[8] Ibid.,23

[9] Ibid.,24

[10] Ibid.,27

[11] Ibid.,29

[12] Ibid.,31

[13] Ibid.,35

[14] Ibid.,36

[15] Ibid., 39.

[16] Ibid.,39

[17] Ibid.,40

[18] Ibid.,41

[19] Ibid.,42

[20] Ibid.,42

[21] Ibid.,43

[22] Ibid.,44

[23] Burnard, Trevor, and Kenneth Morgan. “The dynamics of the slave market and slave purchasing patterns in Jamaica, 1655-1788.” The William and Mary Quarterly 58, no. 1 (2001): 205-228.

[24] Ibid.,210

[25] Ibid.,215

[26] Ibid.,217

[27] Ibid.,218

[28] Ibid.,219

[29] Ibid.,220

[30] Ibid.,221

[31] Ibid.,224

[32] Ibid.,224

[33] Ibid.,224

[34] Ibid.,226

[35] Ibid.,228

[36] Forte, Maximilian C. “Extinction: Ideologies against Indigeneity in the Caribbean.” Southern Quarterly 43, no. 4 (2006): 46.

[37] Ibid.,46

[38] Ibid. 47.

[39] CBC,’’ Big Sugar 1 of 2 Documentary on the Political History of the Sugar Industry,’’ December 11, 2012, documentary video, 44:29.

[40] Diptee, Audra A. From Africa to Jamaica: the making of an Atlantic slave society, 1775–1807. University Press of Florida, 2010.

[41]   Diptee, Audra A. “African children in the British slave trade during the late eighteenth century.” Slavery and abolition 27, no. 2 (2006): 183-196.

[42] Forte, Maximillian, and Zilkia Janer. “THE CARIBBEAN.” Revolution (1989): 138.