Anywhere in the English- speaking Caribbean, around two-thirds of all enslaved Africans worked ‘on sugar estates. Plantations varied in area. The average in Jamaica was 240 hectares in 1774, in the days when sugar made English enslavers, traders, refinery owners and investors rich. Such a plantation would have been worth £19 234 ata time when an English person could lve very comfortably on 2 ew hundred pounds a year and a farm labourer in England earned only a few shillings a week. “The calculation of a 240 hectares average has been worked out from estate records ofthe time. Obviously some plantations were much larger, reaching more than 2 000 hectares. But even 2240 hectares was large compared with Barbados and Antigua, where it was very rate to find a plantation of more than 120 hectares. Variations in size and position The differences in size had litle to do with the wealth produced by an estate so the smaller Blantaons made roughly the same profit asthe large. The reasons forthe differences began with the landscape. The largest Jamaican plantations were inthe inland valeys where land could be used \wastefully For example fied which was worn out with year-on-year crops could be abandoned and another one opened. Planters on inland estates sometimes laid down roads tothe coast and ‘charged others for using ther. But they alo cid their best to save on transport costs, The enslaved ‘ere often given thei own plots and allowed one and a half days a week to grow provisions Barbados and Antigua had less mountainous land so the plantations ran in narrow stips from the ‘coast, The enslaved were fed mostly on imported foods. The field gangs were put to manuring 50 that fields kept their fertility. Above all, they had lower costs in transporting supplies in to the estate and sending sugar products out for export. Sugar production is a mixture of industry and agriculture so there were two good reasons for ‘opening a plantation close by a rive. Water could be carried by an aqueduct to turn the mill and it was useful for irigating the field. Ifthe plantation ran near to the coast, a small dock could be built to send sugar around the shores to the main ports for shipping overseas. It would also be the means of bringing in the plantation’s supplies105 hectares sugar cane £4273 135 hectares other land #1728 Sugar works 3962 Saves 7 6at Uestock £1 380 Other euipment 40 e19.324 42 What was the most valuable property? 1b How do the figures tall us that a sugar plantation was a mixture of agriculture and industry? sizes in St Kitts and Jamaica in the eighteenth century 18 19 0-39 263 10-24 2 100-498 566 25-43 2 500-399 308 50.99 26 1000-1 998 253 100-148 18 2000-4 999 153 150-199 12 5000-9 999 2 200-523 15 10.000-22 999 9 134 1599) ©} © How does ths table support the statement that the most typical Jamaican plantation was FY pao hectares? 1d. What would be a likely difference between the use of land on plantations in St Kitts and in Jamaica? A plantation was described by one Jamaican as being lke 2 litle town that bought goods from all lover the world. One estate’ account books for the 1780s show that in one shipment from Europe, it received 15 barrels of beef, 70 barrels of herring for feeding slaves, 200 pounds (90 kilograms) ‘of butter and 4 kegs of tallow for making candies and soap. To clothe enslaved people, it also bought quantities of Osnaburg cloth and supplies of ‘negro hats” ‘Identity a plantation that lies or once layin an area you know. How was it planned to make * use of the landscape, water supply, transport routes, and so on.What was the advontage of | this plantation layout? Inwhich other teritory could you find i? Eighteenth-century Guianan plantations did not give much land to provision crops. What provision crop developed around the beginning of the ‘twentieth century? Can you suggest why? | fallow: the word used to describe 2 field that was not ploughed or sown with crops fora year to allow the sol to rebuild its fertility ‘meester re! | Producing the sugar had to be dug out, the field left cattle. Each year one field was generally left fallow, another grew a second ‘crop of ratoons | {allow and manure applied so that and the others were planted with new cones. Each field was divided by narrow roads into smaller | eae Hess coasts Began See square plots of 6-9 hectares. This made it easier for the overseer to control the rate of the gangs’ | ce es Rone-bult channel | werk and to organise the movernent of aut cana to the work yee catty water from river or spring to the fields ‘The work yard stood in the middle ofthe cane fields. was made up of the mil, boling house, curing sdetern: a storage tank ‘house and the blacksmiths’ and carpenters’ sheds. Close by stood the cattle pens, poulty houses and Kettle: large open copper pans set 2 small ‘hospital’, which was also used asa jl for runaways who had been recaptured, There was Jinto the top of the furnace sometimes a trash house in which the crushed cane stalks were dried to burn inthe furnaceD2 Identity these features: oe =e (how thewaterpoverarve the ols; __(H) how the canes fed between the oles {how the julce passes into the boiler house; (W) how a constant supply of cane is kept up. What do you notice about the two enslaved workers? ino ‘The mill and boiling house were often built from elaborately cut stone but their mechanisms were itis asus as Poonie ee ‘not very efficient by modern standards. Juice was taken from the cane by crushing it between oli down, was laced Fea three upright rollers made of iron (or wood covered with ron), The power to run the rollers came successively smaller and hatter from animals, wind or water, kettles. The last and smallest kettie was aled the teache’ ‘molasses rom Portuguese ‘mulago: the syrup thatran out when mascavado was made, It was often made into rum hhogshead: large wooden barre! that weighed abour 800 kg for about 1780 bs) when full oF newly produced sugac It weighed less when the molasses hac drained off Rum barrels were of the sare size but made of higher quality wood to stop leakage ‘Animal mils were the simplest and cheapest. Cattle or mules were yoked onto a pole, which turned the rolle's as the animals walked in a wide circle. Windmills were possible only in certain places, such as the windward side of small islands where the Trade Winds blew constantly, They were costly to build but cheaper to run than animal mills. Water mills were the most powerful and efficient. They cost little to run but needed expensive aqueducts to cary the water that drove the hhuge wheel. Only a few planters could afford aqueducts, Lead-covered wooden troughs carried the fresh cane juice from the mill to storage elsterns at the head of each furnace in the boiling house. The fumaces were rectangular boxes of brick or stone, ‘with openings near the bottom of one side to stoke the fires and pull aut the ashes. Set in the top of each furnace were up to seven copper kettles. Cane juice was taken from the cistern, strained and ladled into the first and largest copper. was heated and a little ime was added to remove impurities. The juice was then skimmed and ladled down the line of coppers, each smaller and ee eee hotter than the one before, until it reached the smallest and hottest, the teache. for less finished the coarse brownish product fram crushing ‘andi boiling cane In the teache, the sugar bubbled and turned into a sticky sup, which was laded into cooling ‘troughs where the suger crystals hardened around a sticky core of molasses, The raw sugar ‘was shoveled from the cooling troughs into hogsheads which were wheeled away to the curing house. Here, the molasses drained off through holes in the bottom of the hogsheads leaving the muscovado sugar stuck to the sides. After four weeks, the holes were plugged and the hhogsheads were ready for export to EuropeThe raw muscovado stil had to be turned into many grades of fine white powdered sugar. English laws known as the Navigation Laws prevented colonies from starting up industries, Eighteenth-century English and French leaders believed the purpose of a colony was to bring back raw materials to be manufactured in Britain or France, Refining became an important industry in the chief western ports of Britain: Bristol, Liverpoo} and Glasgow ~ as it did in towns in western France supplied by French Caribbean islands. P How ‘these laws an example of morcantiism? Enslaved sugar producers Plantation ower kept stack books, which listed ther slaves in almost the same way as cal. the book for Worthy Park Estate in Jamaica, you can find entries ike this. pier Seated Quashi Head carpenter Nera’ Field labourer Waller Head boiler Grace Driver Elderly Little Dido Field labourer ‘Weakly and runaway On a large plantation, planters were unlikely to recognise individual Africans but most could keep ‘an eye on their enslaved workforce from the balcony of the great house. This usually stood on a mound to attract the evening breezes and give a view of the enslaveds’ quarters a few hundred yards away — far enough for the noise and smell not to disturb the planter and his family. ‘The quarters were a collection of simple huts made from wattle, daub and thatch, often with ‘2 small garden patch atthe back and a ling yard at the front. Some island assemblies passed regulations that huts could have only one room, ane window and one door. Planters prefered to have the enslaved do their entre domestic workin the front yard, where they were in full view. ‘The huts were sleeping, not living, quarters, ‘The enslaved men and women were classified according to the work that they did. Most spent ‘some of their lives as field labourers working in one of the two or three field gangs. The great {gang contained the strongest, and especially newly arrived Africans, whom the planter wanted 10 ‘season’ before deciding whether they had the skill for other work. The stack books show that some of them rose out ofthe field gangs to specialised positions such as boilers and carpenters. But as they became weak and elderly, they often became field labourers again, this time working atthe lighter tasks given to the second or third gangs. By the mic-eighteenth century, estate records illustrated that the proportion of women in field gangs was rising as there was more work ‘or males inthe mils and plantation workshops ana siei esd ices neme ne a tenoeee In the fields the gangs were commanded by an African who had risen to the position of driver. His, ‘task was to see that the day's work ordered by the overseer was completed. As fields were divided into squares, it was easy to see which men or women moved more slowly than the others along the lines to be dug, weeded or manured. The driver had permission to use the whip and some could call ‘on another enslaved man, known asthe ‘jumpor’ or “Johnny Jumper’, to cary out the whipping. ‘The most valuable group of enslaved were the artisans inthe work yard. The head man of each section had the help of African journeymen and younger apprentices. The head boiler was the ‘most important of al the artisans. He had to decide how long the sugar should boi in each copper ‘to produce the best quality. Whether the plantation made a good profit or not depended an his skill and judgement. Planters recognised the value oftheir enslaved artisans by giving them special Prileges, such as extra allowances of clothing, food, drink and quarters with a few comforts, When they were not needed on the plantation, they were given the chance ta job away’ for another planter or perhaps to work in a nearby town. They paid thelr owner a percentage of ther earnings, There was also a group of less-skiled specialised enslaved men and women, which included cattlemen, midwives and watchmen. African children were not free from plantation work Between the ages of four and ten they had to work in the ‘pickney’ gang, under the care of an old lady who was usually greatly respected by the others. Under supervision, the children moved around the plantation picking up sticks, stones and trash, They carried water and food to the field {gangs and fed the poultry. The oldest children were sometimes divided into a separate ‘grass gang’ ‘to go out and collect feed for the animals,The working week and year Usually at ¢ am, the driver rang a bell or blew on a canch shel, The enslaveds’ 16 § hour working Ust the three islands that had the highest output per square: ymatre and the three that had the lowest. Suggest reasons for each of the high and each ofthe low figures, Suggest reasons for the overall increase in output betvreen the 1740s and 17608. beer ie TEREtel buikings andtheruse 4 3 Further @ The enslaved were the most valuable (©) There wore different categories of . property of a suger plantation: enslaved on each sugar estate. Which F) study” a Why was this 50? (ofthe enslaved do you think had 2 e boar ea the most alficut ime? Explain wy. £ (oe Sui eee In. which ways wore the lives of all e by planters? enslaved people similar? © Compare the size and layout of sugar q plantations throughout the Caribbean, What dictated whether a plantation ‘would be large or small and where it ‘would be located?