Slavery In Colonial England

According to Barrette (1833) throughout the history of the British West Indies colonies, no other era had so many changes as post-emancipation decades. Within a period of a few years the entire economic system of these colonies was turned upside down. Post-emancipation led to problems in the sugar industry as the planters refuses to meet working conditions demanded by the ex-slaved persons. This resulted in the ex-slaves turning their backs on the plantation which they associated with slavery and cruelty which led to the planters could not find enough labourers to work the land and consequently had to cut production. This resulted in the loss of profit that forced them to sell sections of the land at inexpensive prices to the creoles who would

A total of 700,000 men and women were free from unpaid, forced labour but their future was uncertain. Some people with skills turned their backs on the plantation straight away. Carpenters, masons and cart builders could earn a living by working at different estates. Others stayed on the estates as wage earners. But it was not long before many felt the urge to move. Sometimes it was because estates owners cut wages and pushed up rents on their poor homes. Often it was simply because families wanted to leave the place where they had spent a lifetime in slavery. The problem was where would they go? The places with the greatest shortage of labour were Trinidad and Guyana (British Guiana). The planters responded by importing indentured labourers form densely populated agricultural communities and they petitioned the colonial governments to support the various immigration schemes. Moreover, it was felt that in the long term, immigration would lead to reduced wages for labourers when a newest form of labour was

The late 19th century they were employed on a task-based system, they were being paid on shilling four pence or two shillings per day. In the1890s in Trinidad some earned six pence and long hours as the Indian immigrants worked 15 hours a day. The Indians had made it possible for British Guiana and Trinidad to increase their sugar production through most of the nineteenth century (see appendix #