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The Caribbean Slave Revolution In The Caribbean

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The history of the expansion of sugarcane plantations by the Europeans to the Caribbean islands between the 17th and 18th century was not always a sweet one. The beginnings of sugarcane production in the Caribbean began in Barbados in the 17th century when it was brought over by the Dutch from Brazil due to the high demand for sugar in Europe. Furthermore, the Dutch, British and Spanish colonies continued to expand sugar production over to various other Caribbean islands such as Jamaica, Antigua, Bahamas and Haiti. Consequently, large numbers of West African slaves were sent to these islands via the transatlantic slave trade to serve as manual labourers in the production of sugar. However, these slaves were subjected to harsh treatment and …show more content…

With the advent of Europeans expanding the sugar plantations to the Caribbean islands, their dominant influence consequently created social stratification within the Caribbean society through the implementation of slave codes (laws), the division in class and the consequential creation of an Afro-Caribbean slave culture. In this way, we are able to see how the encounters and exchanges of sugar and slaves in the Caribbean between Europeans and Africans came to form the Caribbean society within the 17th and 18th century.

Caribbean slave society consisted of a small minority of white Europeans who held unprecedented rule, with the majority of the population belonging to the African slaves. In the 1700s, there were almost 1,150,000 African slaves in the Caribbean. As a result, the Europeans needed to create and implement slave codes as a way to control the slave population and also inhibit their progression. The first slave codes were created in Barbados in the sixteenth century. Many of these laws were based upon the laws in Europe that controlled the use of slaves over there. To begin, slave registration laws were mandatory for slave owners to …show more content…

It is a representation of how they managed to turn something so horrible into something of invaluable measure. Afro-Caribbean culture in the 17th and 18th century was a manifestation of the mix of social oppression with a free, unchained spirit. Many slaves who came from Africa came with “country marks” on their bodies, which were essentially marks on their skin to identify which tribe they belonged too. This practice subsisted for some time but started to diminish in the mid 1800s. Furthermore, during slavery, slave masters deliberately forbade schooling for slaves in fear that if they were too educated, they would rebel. They were unable to read and write in English. Only 6.4% of slaves in the Caribbean were literate in English, thus creating a psychosocial difference amongst the population. As a result, slaves created their own methods of communicating with each other. Creole was a highly used form of pidgin English that was created amongst the new Afro-Caribbean society. Furthermore, Christianity was usually employed through forced conversion amongst the slaves. However, the religious practice of obeah was developed. Obeah is a spiritual practice that aims to heal individuals of misfortune. The obeah rituals are reminiscent of trance dancing practices in West Africa, with influences of the violence enforced on

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The manufacturers were faced with maintaining a high crop yield, but luckily the Caribbean islands provided an ideal location for growing cane sugar. Once plantations were constructed yet another issue confronted the owners, cheap labor. For the plantations to produce large enough quantities of sugar to fulfill the demand, many slaves were necessary; thus, a successful slave industry arose with the aid of these wealthy entrepreneurs who hoped to own successful plantations. The absentee owners in England, Spain, and France became increasingly wealthy as the demand and industry for sugar

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This difference is a prime example of the prejudice and unfair treatment that Caribbean immigrants endured, which undermined their sense of identity and exacerbated their relocation. Levy also examines the historical background of British colonialism, emphasizing the economic importance of the sugar business, which was highly dependent on the horrific exploitation of black Africans held as slaves. “Sugar was the main crop, as important to Britain then as oil is today. It was planted, harvested, and processed by the slave labor of black Africans” (Levy 696). By calling attention to this exploitation, Levy highlights the tremendous effect that England's colonial policies had on the Caribbean and the long-lasting effects they had on Caribbean immigrants' conceptions of

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Stuart gave well historical accounts of how the much mixing of people from different cultural background and race conglomerate to form cultural setting currently present in the Caribbean islands. The literature from this novel can be successfully applied in learning institution teach race and ethnic relation courses to assist students in gaining a significant understanding the Barbados inhabitants history. Though the author of the book speaks of the assimilation race in a very compassionate way, she efficaciously demonstrates the how the spectrum of color originated in this Island. According to her, this societal predicament connects to colonialism; the slave trade from Africa to American as well as the oppressive injustices came with the expansion of sugar plantations to meet the booming market demand during the period. The slaves worked under a harsh environmental condition where their masters denied them fundamental rights of human being.

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Beginning in the 17th century, European settlers began using African Americans laborers as a cheaper source of work. In southern American colonies, slavery spread like wildfire. African American slaves worked on tobacco, rice, cotton and indigo plantations. Most slave owners forbid their slaves from learning to read and write, and typically did not treat them humanly.

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The use of slaves has always been present in the world since the beginning of civilization, although the use and treatment of those slaves has differed widely through time and geographic location. Different geographies call for different types of work ranging from labor-intensive sugar cultivation and production in the tropics to household help in less agriculturally intensive areas. In addition to time and space, the mindsets and beliefs of the people in those areas affect how the slaves will be treated and how “human” those slaves will be perceived to be. In the Early Modern Era, the two main locations where slaves were used most extensively were the European dominated Americas and the Muslim Empires. The American slavery system and the

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In Chapter 1 and 2 of “Creating Black Americans,” author Nell Irvin Painter addresses an imperative issue in which African history and the lives of Africans are often dismissed (2) and continue to be perceived in a negative light (1). This book gives the author the chance to revive the history of Africa, being this a sacred place to provide readers with a “history of their own.” (Painter 4) The issue that Africans were depicted in a negative light impacted various artworks and educational settings in the 19th and early 20th century. For instance, in educational settings, many students were exposed to the Eurocentric Western learning which its depiction of Africa were not only biased, but racist as well.

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“Slavery In The Dominican Republic and How It Affected the Natives Racial Identity” By definition the Dominican Republic is a Caribbean Hispaniola Island that is shared with Haiti to the West. The Dominican Republic today is a major tourist destination and has become a major source of sugar, coffee, and other exports. But the Dominican Republic had to suffer a lot in order to prevail the way they did, undergoing being enslaved by the Spaniards while on the other side of the island the Haitians were enslaved by the french hence the obvious difference in languages and cultures. The main difference is that the Dominican Republic lost their racial identity and until the present day are unaware of their true racial identity. Slavery affects every country and person differently but in the Dominican Republic, slavery took away the nation’s identity.

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Following the turn of the 17th century into the 18th, there was a sharp increase in the number of slaves that came to America. The increase, caused by increase in the number of large scale plantations, led to the development of slave codes in Colonial America, with the first being established in 1705. The slave codes were developed with intent to increase white dominance over the African race, as well as make slavery a permanent, well defined, condition in which a slave was property of its master. The first comprehensive slave codes to be passed led to the slow tarnishing of blacks’ reputations in America.

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In Latin American Revolution before the revolution there were four main social classes; on the bottom there were the slaves and the Indians, then there were the Mulattoes (who were of African and Spanish descent) and the Mestizos (who were of Spanish and Native American descent), then the Creoles (who were of pure Spanish blood, but were born in America), and at the very top there were the Peninsulares (they were of pure Spanish descent and were born in Spain). The Creoles lead the fight against Spain because they wanted higher social status within their own lives, more political control over their own lives, and they were tired of Spain having total control over their economy. The Creoles weren 't allowed to do many things simply because they were born in America and not Spain, it didn’t matter that they were of pure European descent. Creoles were not allowed to hold political positions, only the Peninsulares were able to. For example, in 1807 only 12 of the 199 judgeships were held by Creoles, the rest were held by Peninsulares.

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While Caribbean slavery and Russian serfdom are similar in regard to economics costs, they differ in the cultural details and agricultural productions. Both Caribbean slavery and Russian serfdom provided very cheap labor and economically benefited their mother government; however, the two methods came about in different ways. When the Spanish and Portuguese first began colonizing the Caribbean and South America, they stumbled upon a rich supply of native. They soon coerced the natives into working on sugar and tobacco plantations as slaves—the conditions were horrendous and life was short and brutal.

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The result of the Haitian revolution changed the world forever, as it was the first and only slave lead revolution the world has seen that successfully gained independence by force. It lasted for 12 years from August 21, 1791, to January 1, 1804, with a series of conflicts fought by the Haitian slaves against Britain, France, and many other parties interested in preserving slavery. It was fought on modern-day Haiti under French rule and named Saint-Domingue, the wealthiest colony belonging to the French before the revolution. The man that led this abolition of slavery was Toussaint L’Ouverture. He fought to eradicate physical and mental slavery that bound many slaves.

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“Sugar cultivation in the Americas required both large investments of capital and a steady supply of labor, and investors were needed who could guarantee both” (Goucher, 1998, p.2).The contact of people from different areas to help provide and maintain labor is what connected the world. The paths that the slaves were sent on allowed them to take their traditions to that area with them which ultimately had an impact on those around them. This occurred simply because creating plantations allowed landowners to become part of the wealthier class, so it was important to make sure all labor needs were meant to have a successful establishment. In conclusion, slavery can be perceived as the time in history where the first instances of racism occurred, or it can be looked at as what connected the world as one centuries ago (Goucher, 1998, p.3).

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The Caribbean is a place where most of the countries share the history. It is a history that is deeply embedded with loss and struggle. Over the course of history, the Caribbean has been through a lot of stages from slavery, colonialism come right down to independence and post-independence. With slavery, the blacks were introduced, then we have the Europeans and of course the Indians came with the indenture ship program. Since the Caribbean has such a diverse array of cultures and ethnic groups, it is expected that these groups will leave their own impact on the society as a whole.

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