Objectives

(a) Migratory movements and the establishment of patterns of settlement by different

groups within the Caribbean from pre-Columbian times to 1838.

(b) Migratory movements within and outside the region from 1838 to the present day:
recognition of diasporic communities, for example, Santo Domingo, Panama and London.

(c) The development of systems of production: slash and burn, encomienda, slavery,
indentureship and the plantation system.

(d) Responses of the Caribbean people to oppression and genocide: resistance, revolution,
development of peasant groups.

(e) Movements toward independence:

(i) political enfranchisement;
(ii) adult suffrage;
(iii) internal self-government;
(iv) economic enfranchisement;
(v) entrepreneurial activities, including shopkeeping and savings societies.
 Table of Contents
Introduction 3

Terms & Concepts 4

Pre-Columbian Migratory Movements 7

Taino 7
Kalinago 8
Maya/Inca 9

European Colonisation 10
The Spaniards 10
The British, the French & the Dutch 12

African Enslavement 14

Asian Indentureship 15

Migratory Patterns Post-Emancipation & Indentureship and the Development of the Caribbean
Diaspora 17
Intra-Regional Migration 17
Inter-Regional Migration 17
The Caribbean Diaspora 18

Systems of Production in the Caribbean: A Summary 19

Slash and Burn 19
Encomienda 19
Plantation System 20
Chattel Slavery 21
Indentureship 22

Responses to Oppression in the Caribbean 23

Indigenous People 23
African Enslaved 23
Post-Emancipation Resistance 26

Movements Toward Independence 27

Political Enfranchisement 27
Adult Suffrage & Internal Self-Government 28
Economic Enfranchisement 29
Entrepreneurial Activities 29

2
 Introduction
There are common themes that connect Caribbean people’s experiences and legacies through time. These
are:
● The migration of different groups into, within and out of the region and their cultural and social
impact;
● Oppression through conquest, colonisation and imposed systems of production such as slavery;
● Resistance to oppression.

People do not migrate without their culture. Migration facilitates the transfer of human resources across
borders and reduces labour shortages, amongst many other benefits. People emigrate to escape poverty,
crime and hardships, to achieve a better life for themselves. In the Caribbean, migration has played a
critical role in shaping the unique cultural composition of the region. Examining these various migratory
movements provides an understanding of why the Caribbean is where it is today.

The history of the Caribbean is stained with atrocities—genocide, colonialism, slavery— the ramifications
of which Caribbean people are still dealing with. In the face of the European powers, our ancestors never
backed down and always fought back. Despite the struggles of the Caribbean people, the region has become
a paradise, filled with love, beauty, hospitality, talent and vibrance. We may have a long way to go but we’re
well on our way.

3
 Terms & Concepts
“ABC Islands”- Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao; the Leeward Antilles

Arawak- The European label for the Tainos.

Asientos- These were licenses issued by the Spanish and later the British for the purchase of slaves from
Portuguese traders.

Assimilation- This occurs when a dominant group enforces their culture on a subordinate group.

Brain Drain- This is when a country loses its human resources due to emigration.

Carib- The European label for the Kalinagos.

Caste System- This is a system of social stratification characterised by inherited rigid separation of classes
on cultural notions of purity.

Chattel Slavery- In chattel slavery, one person has total ownership of the other.

Conquistadores- These were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and
16th centuries during the Age of Discovery.

Crown Colony- This is a British colony directly under the rule of the British crown where a legislative
council is chaired by a British-appointed Governor General.

Economic Enfranchisement- This is the ability of a nation to decide its own system(s) of production.

Emigration- Migration out of a country (‘e’ for exit).

Guiana Coastlands- French Guiana, Guyana (formerly British Guiana), Suriname (formerly Dutch
Guiana), Guayana Region in eastern Venezuela (formerly the Guayana Province, also known as Spanish
Guayana) and the State of Amapá in northern Brazil (also known as Portuguese or Brazilian Guiana)

Hegemony- The political, economic or military dominance or control of one state over others.

Immigration- Migration into a country (‘i’ for into).

4
Insurrectionary Resistance- These are generally violent, destructive acts of rebellion. They are usually
planned and done as a group with the intent to topple the system.

Inter-Regional- Between regions

Interculturation- This is the transfer of cultural traits between two groups in close, regular contact with
each other.

Intra-Regional- Within a region

Marronage- This is the act of liberating oneself from enslavement by escaping. One who does this is called
a maroon.

Mercantile System- An economic system characterised by restrictions placed on trade between colonies
and countries outside of the metropole.

Metropole- The metropole or a metropolitan country is the country that dominates or has dominated a
territory politically and/or culturally. It is often the former or current colonial power.

Middle Passage- This was the second leg of the Transatlantic Slave Trade where millions of Africans were
transported across the Atlantic to the Americas.

Mulatto- Someone of African and European descent.

Navigation Acts- The British Navigation Acts of 1651 restricted trade between British West Indian
colonies and other European nations.

Non-Insurrectionary Resistance- These are non-violent acts of rebellion. They have no intention to
topple the system and instead, are to offer a short-term reprieve. They are not typically well planned out
and are undertaken by individuals, not organised groups.

Peasantry- These are people with limited land ownership and low social status in society who engage in
subsistence farming.

Plantocracy- The old, wealthy, white, European men who owned the means of production in a plantation
society.

Political Enfranchisement- The right of a people/nation to determine their own internal affairs.
5
Reconquista- This was an almost 800-year long war between Christian states on the Iberian Peninsula
(shared by modern-day Spain and Portugal) and Muslim states.

Remittances- This is money that immigrants send to their families in their country of origin.

Renaissance- This is the period between the 14th and 17th centuries in Europe where there was renewed
interest in science, art and philosophy.

Total Institution- This is an institution that determines all other aspects of life in society.

Transatlantic Slave Trade- The trade and transport of millions of African slaves to the Americas between
the 16th and 19th centuries.

Treaty of Tordesillas- This was an agreement between Spain and Portugal in 1494 to settle any land
dispute over the land Christopher Columbus had come into contact with two years prior. It divided the
“New World” between Spain and Portugal by an arbitrary line through the Atlantic Ocean, with Spain
receiving the territory to the west of it. The line dissected Brazil but it went to Portugal.

Triangular Trade- The Transatlantic Slave trade is described as being triangular because there were three
arms. Firstly, Europeans traded manufactured goods for Africans, who were then transported to the
Americas to work as slaves. The raw materials they produced were then exported to Europe for
manufacturing.

Universal Adult Suffrage- This is the right to vote at a certain age regardless of socio-economic class.

6
 Pre-Columbian Migratory Movements
The history of the indigenous people in the Americas did not begin with Columbus. Their history has been
stained because much of what people know about them today are misconceptions perpetuated by the
ethnocentric accounts of the Europeans. For example, the use of the term “Amerindians” when referring to
the indigenous people as if they were a homogeneous group. Rather, the term was popularised because
Christopher Columbus mistakenly believed he’d reached the shores of South Asia. So, he called the region
the “Indies” and its people “Indians”, meaning people from the Indus valley.

The earliest records show that between 5000 to 25000 years ago, the ancestors of the indigenous people in
the Americas embarked on journeys across the Bering Strait. The Bering Strait is a narrow channel
between modern-day Alaska and Serbia which was likely frozen at the time, as was the rest of Europe due
to the most recent ice age. These nomadic groups left their homes in Eurasia to escape the cold, harsh
conditions of the ice age. They travelled southwards, likely following the herds of animals they needed for
food. From there, they settled across the continents in North, Central and South America as well as the
Caribbean. The earliest known remains of natives in the Caribbean are found in both Trinidad and Cuba,
suggesting that people did not settle the islands in chronological order and entered the region from the
North, South and Central mainland.

The natives constructed new socio-cultural forms based on the resources available to them, further
distinguishing them from each other. The two main groups that settled in the Caribbean were the Taino,
Kalinago and the Maya.

Taino
The Taino primarily settled in the Greater Antilles: Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, the Bahamas and Puerto
Rico. There are two general theories that historians have about the migratory movements of the Tainos.
However, since the Tainos were not homogenous and were distinct cultural groups sprinkled throughout
the Greater Antilles, both theories of the migratory patterns are likely true to some extent.

The first is that the Tainos evolved from mixing among the earlier peoples of the Greater Antilles and they
did not come as a distinct wave of migration. The Europeans labelled them as “Arawaks” as they spoke a
language similar to the Arawaks in South America. However, the Taino did not view themselves as allied
with any ethnic group on the South American mainland. Of note, historians are uncertain about the
context in which the indigenous people in the Greater Antilles used the term Taino but it's substituted for
Arawak today nonetheless.

7
Conversely, it is generally believed that they migrated to the Caribbean from the Orinoco Valley basin of
Venezuela around AD 600–700 because of frequent flooding and hurricanes in the region coupled with
competition for territory from other groups. Their eventual settlement in the Greater Antilles could’ve
been due to them being pushed further northwards by the Kalinago who were more aggressive.

The Taino built an organised civilisation of chiefdoms governed by caciques, centred on city-states
comparable to those of the Maya and other mainland societies. The Tainos lacked pottery-making
technology and so they chose to reside along the coastline and near fresh water sources. They required easy
access to both flat terrain for cassava farming and the sea for fishing. They also preferred a clear view of all
approaching maritime activity since they lacked a standing military and needed to be informed of incoming
adversaries in order to prepare for battle and/or evasive action.

The Spaniards described the Taino as “...guileless and honest, and very liberal of all they have…” and this
perception of them is prevalent amongst Caribbean people even today. However, several studies have
suggested that while the Taino were generally peaceful, they waged wars against other Taino communities
for fishing and land rights.

Kalinago
The Kalinago settled in islands in the Lesser Antilles; Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada,
St. Lucia, etc. The hilly topography and rocky coastal regions of these islands made it difficult to find viable
land for agriculture. This is what made the Kalinagos such a threat to the Tainos since they often raided
them for agricultural produce and slaves. The Kalinagos even spoke an Arawakan language, probably
derived from their relations with captured Taino women since the children born of these unwanted
encounters spoke their mother’s language.

The Kalinagos had a militaristic society where their chief leader (Ouboutou) was selected by a test of
bravery, usually in warfare and battle skills. Women—kidnapped Taino women—farmed whilst the men
hunted and fished. They were described as having long black hair, often painted their faces, adorned
themselves more than the Taino and were well built, making them appear fearless and daring. They were
spiritualistic and believed in evil spirits (maboya). They often barbequed their foods, eating primarily
seafood, vegetables, soups, cassava, iguana, small dogs and other small animals.

The Spaniards dubbed the Kalinagos, Caribs and portrayed them as “warlike cannibals”. Historians believe
that whilst there might’ve been certain religious practices involving cannibalism, the Spaniards most likely
purposely misrepresented this so they could justify the enslavement of the Kalinagos after the Taino
population dwindled.

8
Maya/Inca
It’s important to mention these indigenous groups because various definitions of the Caribbean include
these mainland territories. The Maya settled mainly in the interior areas of Central American territories,
such as modern-day Belize, Honduras, Guatemala and the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. The Inca settled in
South American territories such as modern-day Peru, Ecuador, Central Bolivia and Colombia. Both these
groups had armies because they had larger populations and more territory to defend. Both had complex
political systems, with the Maya choosing to elect their leaders while the Inca had a hereditary system
where leaders rose to power based on family ties, supported by complex religious beliefs that validated
leaders and their privileges. Both societies were also highly stratified, with systems to protect individual
ownership of property, and had economies based on large-scale agriculture that both groups had enough
land to support

9
 European Colonisation
Christopher Columbus' Letter to Spain After His First Voyage

Christopher did not discover the Americas. It’s already been established that much of the region was already
settled and in possession of rich culture and history when he arrived. Furthermore, there is evidence that
both Nordic Vikings and West African groups travelled to the Americas long before his arrival.
Nonetheless, his arrival in the region had the biggest impact as he bridged the gap between the Americas
and Europe.

The Spaniards
…gold, glory and god

Spain, fresh off its victory in the Reconquista, saw it necessary to further establish its power and wealth
through expansion. There are also the rivalries between the European powers to consider, particularly
between Spain and Portugal. They sought the fastest maritime route to Asia with Portugal discovering the
path along the tip of Africa. This occurred during the Renaissance in England where the renewed interest
in science and the arts led to inventions that made long-distance travel across the sea easier than ever.
Columbus was Portuguese but his monarchy didn’t think that his desire to sail westwards across the
Atlantic was fruitful. So, Columbus turned to the Spanish for funding. They were also wary of this journey
and only provided him with three ships—the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria—and limited human
resources.

Thus were the circumstances when Columbus landed on

Hispaniola that fateful day in 1492, thinking he’d arrived in
Asia. The Tainos of Hispaniola treated Christopher and his
men well and for a short while even considered them gods
because of their strange attire. Had Christopher not found gold
on Hispaniola, there would not have been as much interest in
the “New World”, as it was dubbed. He left his men there,
kidnapped some natives and brought gold back to the King
and Queen of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella. They were
incredibly pleased and ordered that none of the “Indians” be
harmed for they were now subjects of the Spanish crown.

10
When Christopher returned to Hispaniola in 1493, all the men he left behind were killed by the Tainos.
Whilst the exact reason is unknown, they likely overstayed their welcome or began to harass the
indigenous women.

Portugal, having realised their mistake, sought the riches of the New World themselves, not wanting it all
to fall into the hands of the Spanish rivals. Worried that war would break out between Spain and Portugal,
the Pope brokered the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) which separated the New World by an arbitrary line in
the Atlantic. Spain was granted all the territory to the west of this line, establishing its hegemony over the
Americas.

The news of Christopher’s successful first voyage led to waves of Spaniards coming to the New World. At
first, they didn’t come to settle, only to seek fortunes. Ordinary people came to escape poverty,
conquistadores and soldiers came to plunder, priests came to convert the “heathen” natives and
administrators came to ensure that the gold and silver of Hispaniola be delivered only to Spain. Eventually,
Spaniards began to settle.

They primarily settled on mainland South America and the

larger islands of the Greater Antilles. They established the
encomienda system (See “Systems of Production in the
Caribbean: A Summary” p. 20). Under this system, they exploited
the mines until the metals were exhausted and then turned to
the large-scale agriculture of cash crops like tobacco and
cotton. They needed labourers and at first, they attempted to
employ poor, indentured Spaniards. This failed.

The Greater Antilles had a large Taino population that the

Spaniards could “employ” as labourers under the encomienda
system. The Spaniards are undeniably the European power
most responsible for the genocide of the indigenous people.
They fought the Tainos, enslaved them, took their possessions,
killed off their leaders, killed them for sport and committed
grievous atrocities. The indigenous people did not have any
immunity to the diseases the Europeans brought and this only
increased the death toll.

11
The British, the French & the Dutch
The British and the Dutch were Protestant and had no reason to obey the orders of the Pope. France,
though Roman Catholic, was wary of the Roman Empire’s interference in secular matters. So, the
Caribbean was fair game to them. They would do anything to encroach on Spanish territory and steal their
riches. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the British and the French raided, pillaged and captured Spanish ships
carrying gold and silver. They sieged and destroyed Spanish settlements, stealing their treasures along the
way.

Eventually, they settled on the islands of the Lesser Antilles that were of little interest to Spain. The British
and French established a shared permanent settlement in St Kitts in 1624 and European migrants spread to
Nevis, Antigua, Montserrat, Guadeloupe and Martinique. These islands had small native populations that
were, unfortunately, overcome. The populations in these territories were much denser than in the Spanish
territories. It’s estimated that on average, between 2000 and 3000 Europeans migrated to the Caribbean per
year from 1624 to 1650. These regular, massive migrations from Europe drastically changed the population
composition.

The colonies established by France and Britain in the early 17th were proprietorships. Noblemen,
high-ranking officials or companies were financially backed by their monarchies to undermine the Spanish
by illegally settling. These Lord Proprietors were given the sole right to settle and develop a territory. They
bore the expenses of the colony and taxed the profits of their metropoles in return.

The Dutch settled on the Guiana coastlands and the “ABC” islands, Sint Maarten, Saba and Sint
Eustatius. They were not as interested in agricultural production. They preferred trade, supplying the
colonies with enslaved Africans and other goods. They used the islands as massive warehouses where slaves
were kept en route to their final destination. Denmark settled St Thomas in 1672 and later St Croix and St
John, while Sweden bought St Barthélemy from the French in 1784 and sold it back in 1878. This is but one
example of the territories being shuffled from coloniser to coloniser.

12
13
 African Enslavement
1500s to 1800s

The genocide of the indigenous people created a need for labour on the plantations. The Europeans
thought the Africans would be the best fit for this labour demand. Africa already established a slave trade
and under the Treaty of Tordesillas, Portugal developed a system of trade with them. Trading the enslaved
would be no different than trading any other commodity. The Europeans were also of the view that the
Africans were well adapted to work in the hot, tropical climate, better suited than European indentured
labourers who were twice as expensive.

Cash crops like tobacco and cotton were losing favour for large-scale sugar production. Producing sugar
and its by-products was more labour intensive and the Africans produced a large supply of easily
replenishable labour. As such, between the mid 16th and 19th centuries, approximately 15 million slaves were
forcibly migrated to the Caribbean. In the Caribbean alone, over 4.5 million slaves were imported. They
were most often kidnapped as African rulers would support European raids of rival communities in
exchange for goods—rum, clothing, weapons or glass beads.

The Transatlantic Slave Trade was an established, lucrative business enterprise that many European
countries had a stake in. The Spaniards, since they could not trade themselves, granted asientos. These
highly competitive licenses essentially granted a company the legal right to buy African slaves from
Portuguese traders, who themselves would’ve bought from African traders. Those without licenses simply
smuggled. Millions of Africans died on the two to three month journey across the Middle Passage.

The arrival of the Africans completely changed the demographic composition of the Caribbean. They were
by far the most populous group in the region but had the least power, a deliberate effort by the
plantocracy. Through slavery, the plantation system expanded an ascriptive-particularist social structure
developed that strategically placed the blacks at the bottom. Plantation Society (Beckford 1972) established
its own distinct culture with new social norms and institutions.

The British, French and Dutch developed large populations of African enslaved first since they established
sugar plantations before the Spanish. There were instances of the slaves revolting, fighting for their
freedom and sometimes even gaining it (See “Responses to Oppression in the Caribbean” p. 24). The
emancipation of the African enslaved was attained in 1838 for British territories, 1848 for French
territories, the Dutch in 1863 and 1886 for Spanish territories.

14
 Asian Indentureship
1806-1917

After the abolishment of slavery, the ex-slaves had little choice in their employment so they chose to
continue working for their ex-masters for meagre wages. On large territories like Trinidad and then British
Guiana now Guyana, the Africans could find employment as peasant farmers with the ample unused land.

The colonisers knew they needed labour to facilitate the expansion of the sugar industry in these larger
territories. The Africans argued that they created the labour shortage themselves by refusing to pay them
fair wages. The plantocracy needed labour but they did not want to pay their ex-property. Indentureship
was not a new concept and the Europeans figured that introducing new labourers would keep wages in
check. The increased competition would keep the Africans from demanding the wages that they deserved.

At first, the British sought European indentured labourers, possibly in an attempt to balance the ethnic
composition of the region. However, they could not perform the intense manual labour and eventually left
the plantations for other employment opportunities like shopkeeping. Next, they looked at the other islands
of the British Caribbean and there was significant intra-regional migration from the Eastern Caribbean to
Trinidad and Guyana. They soon realised that the wages were not better in the larger territories. After a
short scheme of trying to get people from West Africa—the people they only just stopped enslaving—to
accept a deal of indentureship. When this also proved unsuccessful, they turned to Asia where
overpopulation and poverty created a large pool of easily replenished labour.

Push Factors for the Migration of Labourers from Asia to the Caribbean
1. Poor economic conditions caused by famine, etc
2. Their oppressive colonial governments
3. Harsh, rigid systems of stratification such as the case in India with the caste system. The
government saw this as a way to get rid of some of the “Untouchables.”
4. Loss of unemployment due to competition from European manufacturing as a result of the
Industrial Revolution
5. The rapidly increasing populations of Asia

These conditions made them fall victim to the exploitative contracts from the greedy contractors of the
plantocracy. They would be granted passage to the Caribbean and paid labour on the plantations for five,
seven or even ten years, upon which they had the option to stay in the colony or return home. Their reality
was menial pay, poor housing and working conditions in exchange for a burdensome amount of labour.

15
Roughly 20,000 Chinese immigrants came to the Caribbean but they did not like working on the
plantations. They would abandon them at any chance they got in favour of setting up shops in the towns.
The Dutch colonisers imported labour from Java, Indonesia to Dutch Guiana (now Suriname) where the
people of Javanese descent constitute 15% of the ethnic composition of Suriname today.

By far, the largest amount of indentured labour came from India. Between 1838 and 1917, around 400,000
East Indian immigrants came to the Caribbean, the majority going to Trinidad, Guyana and Jamaica. Since
India was a British colony, it was very cheap to import them in comparison to the Chinese. The Indians
were willing to work as they were familiar with sugar production in India. Furthermore, they were from
poverty-stricken regions of Northern India, and as such, accepted the unfair wages. Many Indians settled in
the Caribbean after their contract ended, adding yet another distinct culture to the diversity of the
Caribbean.

The injection of the Asian labourers into the Caribbean labour market led to increased competition,
which—just as the colonisers wanted—kept wages low. The formerly enslaved were evicted by white
homeowners who gave preference to the Asian labourers. The labourers also had access to land and lump
sums of cash at the end of their contracts. The whites knew they were outnumbered now more so than ever
so they employed a divide and conquer strategy, pitting the groups against each other. So, not only was
there conflict over competition for labour but there was significant racial antagonism over their
fundamental cultural differences.

Following (likely accurate) allegations of abuse, the Chinese government terminated the scheme in 1866,
and the Indian government followed suit decades later in 1917 over similar abusive tactics against the
labourers.

16
 Migratory Patterns Post-Emancipation & Indentureship
and the Development of the Caribbean Diaspora
At the beginning of the 20th century, there was mass intra and inter-regional emigration from the
Caribbean. This led to the development of Caribbean diasporic communities across the world.

Intra-Regional Migration
1. Ex-slaves from the Lesser Antilles moved to larger territories like Trinidad and Jamaica where there
was more land to engage in peasantry.

2. Many Caribbean people, mainly from Jamaica and Barbados, went to work on the construction of
the Panama Canal (1904-1914). The work was incredibly dangerous and they faced viral infections
in the dense Central American forests such as yellow fever and malaria. They were also faced with
racism, discrimination and abuse. Nonetheless, they brought their families over and when the canal
was complete, found work on nearby plantations.

3. The decline in the price of sugar in 1884 led to a labour shortage in Santo Domingo, now the
Dominican Republic. English-speaking Afro-Caribbean workers from the Leeward Islands moved
to Santo Domingo to work on the cane fields. They were also subject to racism and discrimination
but many stayed to work on docks, railway construction and sugar refineries.

4. Many moved to work on the sugar plantations in Cuba and the banana plantations in Honduras and
Costa Rica.

5. Those seeking jobs outside of agriculture left to work in oil refineries in Curaçao and Bonaire and
the oil fields of Venezuela.

Inter-Regional Migration
1. Caribbean people were enticed to move to Europe, primarily Britain, to not only rebuild after the
first and second world wars but also to fight in said wars. The discrimination they faced was horrid
and were wholly unwelcomed in all aspects of British society. The diasporic community that
developed in England is discussed below.

17
 2. Many Caribbean people migrated to New York in the 20th-century and even today, this is one of
the prime locations for Caribbean immigration. Caribbean people transformed the demographic
composition of New York towns like the Bronx and Harlem.

3. Caribbean people seasonally migrate to farms and plantations in Florida and Canada to manually
harvest produce and work in factories and canneries.

The Caribbean Diaspora

Caribbean immigrants, in the face of the challenges they faced in host countries, formed communities and
retained elements of their home culture. In London, for example, the response of the Caribbean people to
the racial discrimination they suffered at the hands of the British was to form close-knit communities to
help each other. They used strategies such as Pardner and Sou-Sous to help them fund businesses and buy
property. They established their own newspapers, such as The Voice. They encouraged cultural gatherings
that reminded them of the Caribbean, creating the Notting Hill Carnival, which has become a feature of
mainstream London life.

Similarly, in New York today, there are large Caribbean diasporic communities. They’ve opened up
restaurants selling Caribbean cuisine, established the West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn and generally
still engage in Caribbean culture. They may identify as American but recognise their Caribbean roots and
ancestry. The Caribbean diasporic communities that have developed across the globe are incredibly
important, with the power to influence laws and election outcomes. The Cuban-American people have
become critical in elections in Florida

Advantages of emigration out of the Caribbean include remittances that provide foreign exchange.
Diasporic communities also help to establish the Caribbean on a global stage by spreading its culture in
these metropolitan countries. There are significant drawbacks, however. The prevalence of emigration out
of the Caribbean shows that there is still an economic dependency on the metropoles. It is on the basis that
there are “better” opportunities outside of the region. Yet still, Caribbean immigrants are treated like
second-class citizens, doing jobs that citizens of host countries believe are below them. They are subject to
racism, discrimination and hardships, for example, in London and New York, the poorest communities
have large Afro-Caribbean populations. There is also the brain drain that Caribbean countries face, with
the loss of skilled workers who migrate. This stalls development in the region.

18
 Systems of Production in the Caribbean: A Summary
A system of production is the way in which an economy is organised to produce commodities to sustain
society. The evolution of systems of production in the Caribbean can be summarised below.

Slash and Burn

This farming technique was introduced by the Indigenous people. The land is cleared by fire for farming.
This controls pests and the ashes fertilise the land to grow crops like maize, provision and pepper. The land
was then left to replenish itself between uses. However, as a population increases, the time between uses
decreases and this leads to solid degradation and a decrease in soil fertility. Slash and burn is still used today
but mainly for subsistence farming and is usually an indicator of poor farming techniques.

Encomienda
Under the Treaty of Tordesillas, all of the Americas excluding Brazil was Spanish territory. Spaniards
migrated from Europe to populate the region. As already established, this included commoners escaping
poverty, conquistadores, priests and administrators who were to ensure that the mineral wealth of the
region was sent back to enrich Spain.

Columbus was the first to suggest that the Indigenous people would make good labourers but, under the
instruction of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, they were not to hurt or enslave them. However, the
Spanish settlers figured that the natives were primitive and were only interested in wealth. So they devised
the encomienda system.

Theoretically, the Spanish would give the Indigenous people food, clothing, training in Christianity and
shelter. In exchange, the natives would provide land and labour in the gold mines and plantations. In
practice, this system was akin to slavery.

This system facilitated the Spanish expansion, settlement and control of the New World. It ensured Spanish
social, cultural and racial hegemony. They had superior technology and this became their instrument to
plunder the simpler indigenous societies. The encomienda system lasted from the early 1500s to the 1700s
when the indigenous population was decimated.

19
Plantation System
The Europeans used this system as a means to maximise the profits from agricultural production in their
colonies. Primarily, the Caribbean had sugar plantations, in America, there was cotton and in Africa and
the Far East, there was coffee and tea. The plantation system was an instrument of political colonisation. It
brought capital, enterprise and management that shaped the economic and, in turn, the social structure.

Minimizing costs to maximise profits was crucial. Locals were often duped into selling their land for
novelty items like beads and mirrors as they didn’t understand the concept of land sales and assumed they
were making the land available for temporary use. They deliberately grossly undervalued the cost of labour.
This was critical to the success of the plantations and the Europeans primarily used slaves and indentured
labourers.

The plantation system was a total institution that encompassed all aspects—economic, political and
social—of the lives of its occupants. Each plantation had its own value system and sought to (forcefully)
socialise its members to adopt these norms and values.

It produced a highly stratified, closed society with little to no room for social mobility. The coloured
labourers were at the bottom of the social ladder whilst power was consolidated in the hands of a few
white, European men. They formed the plantocracy and it was their dominant culture that was imposed on
the subordinate working class. They sought to suppress the culture of the labourers that were often plucked
from their homes and placed in a new, strange environment on the plantations.

Characteristics of Plantations
● Large scale monoculture
● The production of raw materials that are exported to make manufactured goods of value
● An ascriptive-particularistic system of stratification, primarily based on race
● Interracial violence
● Displacement of traditional gender roles through the separation of families
● Assimilation and sometimes interculturation gave the plantation, new, distinct cultural forms
● The reproductive roles of men and women were for the benefit of the plantation

In the Caribbean, the large-scale production of sugar generated considerable wealth for the European
colonial powers and satisfied the increased demand for sugar in Europe. Sugar was Britain’s largest import
by the mid-18th century. Cotton was used extensively in their fabric industry. The plantation is the most
pervasive system of production in the Caribbean as it still exists today.
Since it brought together racial groupings from across the world, it shaped the ethnic composition and
social structures that exist in the Caribbean today. It popularised the large-scale production of cash crops
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like sugarcane that formed the monocrop economies of many present-day Caribbean nations. Today, the
plantation system is run by locally based European and multinational companies that have local factions and
integrated marketing.

Chattel Slavery
In the Caribbean, chattel slavery was the basis of the plantation system as it was the primary means of
providing labour for over 300 years. The African enslaved were viewed as the property of their masters
under contract. Most enslaved Africans cultivated cash crops, though some were servants in the plantation
great houses. Some worked in the sugar refineries and other factories and others were artisans or skilled
labourers.

The Europeans knew they were outnumbered on the plantations so to assert their racial and sociocultural
superiority, they sought to dehumanise the Africans. Through the “seasoning” process, the Europeans
stripped the Africans of their identity. This was all to prevent coalition and uprising and ensure that the
Africans were at the bottom of the social ladder.

Treatment of the Africans Under Chattel Slavery

● They were given European names.
● They forbade them from practising their religions, customs and traditions and weaponised
Christianity to force them to accept an inferior position. They taught them that it was godly to
serve their masters.
● They meted out harsh, often, fatal punishments to enforce submission.
● They were denied any semblance of family life as fathers were separated from their children.
● They pitted them against each other. The mulattos were given a superior position as house slaves
over the darker-skinned field slaves.
● They placed Africans of different tribal backgrounds together to ensure that they didn’t develop any
kinship bonds.

The legacy of enslavement and the distinct cultural forms that arose are still prevalent in the Caribbean
today.

Indentureship
After the emancipation of the African enslaved, the Europeans needed a source of labour for the
plantations. They turned to the poverty-stricken nations of Asia. The majority were from India, with
significant immigrants from China and Java as well.

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Though indentureship has been compared to chattel slavery, there were important distinctions. They were
allowed to practice their religions and traditions and speak their languages. However, they were also treated
terribly by the Europeans. Their wages were pitiful, they were often ill, and their living conditions were
dismal. Because they were confined to the plantations to which they were assigned, they were always in
debt to the company shop from which they were forced to buy. If they were discovered leaving the
plantation, they were charged with vagrancy, whipped, and imprisoned. If they tried to escape, they were
apprehended, imprisoned for breach of contract, and then returned to the plantation. They were fined
exorbitantly for small offences.

Although it wasn’t chattel slavery, it ensured that the plantation system continued. The Asians occupied the
lowest strata in society, were forced to see the Europeans as superior and were pitted against other groups
in society (the ex-slaves). Therefore, the plantation continued to be a total institution; there was just a
change in the supply of labour. The sugar plantations in the Caribbean decreased due to competition from
other industries.

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 Responses to Oppression in the Caribbean
The Europeans brought violence, genocide and destruction to the people they met in the Caribbean and the
ones they brought here. One characteristic that pervades the various ethnic groups of Caribbean people is
resistance to the oppression from Europe.

Indigenous People
The Spanish figured that the Tainos were peaceful and capable of easy exploitation. However, it took years
for them to fully capture territories in the Greater Antilles. The sheer strength of the Tainos is undeniable,
especially considering the superior weapons technology the Spaniards had. Though unsuccessful, their
efforts are valiant indeed.
● They would commit mass suicide and infanticide to evade capture

● They engaged in marronage. The indigenous people obviously had better knowledge of the land so
they were able to run away and hide in the mountains.

● They would raid and destroy European settlements.

● Both the Tainos and Kalinagos took up arms. The Tainos were mostly overcome by the Spanish.
But the Kalinagos engaged in persistent Guerilla warfare with the British, French and Dutch who
wanted to settle the Lesser Antilles. These regions were mountainous, and the Kalinagos also knew
the land well. The Kalinagos never stopped resisting the Europeans. It is only because the
Europeans could not fully subdue the Caribs that treaties were finally signed that ensured their
survival as a race.

It's only fitting that the Caribbean is named after the “Caribs”.

African Enslaved
To understand the acts of resistance by the Africans, one must understand their perspective and situation.
It’s not a matter of whether it was successful but to the Africans, oftentimes resistance meant survival.

Non-Insurrectionary Acts of Resistance by the Africans

● Women engaged in gynaecological resistance through acts such as abortion to maintain
autonomy over their bodies and prevent children from being born into suffering.

● Women would also prolong breastfeeding and their menstrual cycles.

● They malingered; faking illnesses and doing what was necessary to delay or avoid work.

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 ● They would play dumb and purposely misconstrue instructions.

● They would damage equipment.

● Suicide

● They used elements of culture that they’d retained as well as the new cultural forms that developed
on the plantations to mock the plantocracy and trade messages. This was done through stories
(Anancy), songs, dances, etc. The Europeans particularly feared their drumming since it reminded
them of war.

● To cut costs, the colonisers gave the Africans provision grounds which were small plots of land to
plant their food. They used this for some semblance of economic independence. They would go to
the internal markets and sell their produce.

Insurrectionary Acts of Resistance by the Africans

● All whites lived with the fear of being poisoned by the house slaves.

● They burned cane fields which cost the colonisers greatly.

● They also engaged in marronage and even set up maroon communities in the mountains or hilly
regions. Sometimes they would be joined by indigenous maroons as well, such as the case in St
Vincent with the Black Caribs. Territories with maroons include Hispaniola, Jamaica, Cuba,
Guyana and Suriname. Maroons would raid plantations and help the enslaved the best they could.

○ In the First Maroon War, the Windward Maroons in Jamaica, led by Nanny of the
Maroons, waged war with the British from around 1728 until peace treaties were signed in
1739 and 1740.

○ The Second Maroon War in Jamaica was an eight-month-long conflict between 1795 and
1796. This war, unfortunately, ended in the Maroons surrendering.

● Rebellions were armed struggles executed throughout enslavement, more so from the late 1700s to
the early 1800s. They were led by strong leaders and required months of planning. Most rebellions
were not successful because of poor leadership and infighting, lack of weaponry and the people
were afraid, sometimes even siding with the colonisers. This is why it’s important to understand the
perspective of the Africans and the psychological brainwashing they went through.

○ Tacky’s War, Jamaica (1760)

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 This was a widespread slave rebellion in Jamaica, loosely led by a royal and warlord called
Tacky (Takyi). It was a coordinated island-wide conspiracy, led by a secret network of
slaves from the same tribe.

○ Berbice Rebellion, Guyana (1763)

The Berbice Slave Uprising began on 23 February 1763 and lasted to December, with leaders
such as Coffy. It was the first major slave revolt in South America.

○ Bussa Rebellion, Barbados (1816)

Bussa's rebellion was the largest slave revolt in Barbadian history.
The rebellion takes its name from the African-born slave, Bussa,
who led the rebellion along with other fierce leaders like Nanny
Grigg.

○ Demerara Rebellion, Guyana (1823)

This was an uprising involving more than 10,000 enslaved people for two days beginning
on August 18, 1823. It was led by Jack Gladstone, a slave at the "Success" plantation and his
father, Quamina Gladstone, as well as other senior members of their church group and its
English pastor, John Smith who died a martyr for the abolitionist movement.

○ Christmas Rebellion, Jamaica (1831)

Also called the Baptist War, the Western Liberation Uprising or the Sam Sharpe
Rebellion, this act of resistance is viewed as the catalyst for the Emancipation Act of 1833.
It was orchestrated by Sam Sharpe, a privileged slave and was originally planned to be a
strike. It turned into a wide-scale rebellion after the peaceful protests turned into the
burning of cane fields at Kensington Estate.

● The Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) is the most successful instance of insurrectionary resistance
in the Caribbean. Haiti, then Saint Domingue had a rigid system of stratification where even the
relatively privileged free mulattos suffered extreme discrimination. The mulattos, influenced by the
success of the Windward Maroons, strategically planned for the uprising to coincide with the
French Revolution because France was in political disarray. The result was the abolishment of
slavery and the independence of Haiti- the first independent black state in the world. Figureheads of
the revolution include Toussaint L’Ouverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Dutty Boukman.

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Post-Emancipation Resistance
Even after the abolition of slavery, there was little change to the socio-economic conditions of the formerly
enslaved. All attempts by African people in the Caribbean to undermine European ideals and replace them
with more Afrocentric ones are examples of contemporary resistance.

● They established the peasantry after emancipation rather than returning to work for the whites.

● The Morant Bay Rebellion was led by a preacher by the name of Paul Bogle on October 11th,
1865. It is the result of a failed march to see Governor Eyre and air their grievances over widespread
poverty and injustice. It led to the abolishment of the Old Representative System and the
establishment of Crown Colony Rule in its place.

● In the Barbados Confederation Riots on 17 April 1876, hundreds of Afro-Barbadian labourers

plundered and set fires to the plantation estates where they were working.

● Protests over the laws and treatment of Muslims after the Muharram Massacre in Trinidad in 1884

● There was cultural and intellectual resistance through movements such as Pan-Africanism,
Garveyism, Rastafarianism and the revival of syncretic African religions.

● The 1930s Labour Riots across the British West Indies (Trinidad, Jamaica, St Vincent, Guyana, St
Kitts, etc) protested the poor wages and working conditions Caribbean people had to suffer in oil
refineries and plantations. (See “Political Enfranchisement” p. 28)

● The Black Power Revolution in Trinidad from 1968 to 1970 was spurred by the civil rights
movement occurring in the US at the time. There were numerous elements to the unrest but it
ultimately reflected a desire for socio-political change.

● The Reparations Movement by African groups and organisations seek monetary compensation
from the countries that profited from the slave trade, slavery and colonialism. However, they feel
that some acknowledgement of guilt and an apology from European countries is equally important.

Efforts to resist the lasting impact of oppression in the Caribbean continue today and will likely continue to
happen until the stain of the Europeans is gone.

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 Movements Toward Independence
It’s important to note that when a country receives independence, it can be evolutionary or revolutionary.
When countries attain their independence from evolutionary means, they receive their liberties and rights
progressively and gradually. This happened to the British Caribbean. Other territories got it through
revolutions—all at once. Examples include Haiti, Cuba and Latin America.

At the turn of the end of the 19th century, the colonies of the Caribbean
were dissatisfied. To improve their self-sufficiency, the British
established the Navigation Acts to decrease their dependence on foreign
imported goods. This further restricted the economies of the British
Caribbean because they couldn’t trade with other regions or metropoles
and Britain placed quotas on the amount of goods they were buying
from them. Furthermore, the colonies faced heavy taxes from the
metropoles.

Britain tried to maintain their stranglehold on the region when it

dismantled the Old Representative System and replaced it with the Crown Colony Rule. Under the Old
Representative System, the Local Assemblies who were responsible for running the territories constantly
clashed with the British governors because they didn’t believe their concerns were being aired to the British
parliament. The laws they created did not benefit the masses and this culminated in the Morant Bay
Rebellion. Britain sought to establish constitutional reform in Jamaica that would give them more control
over the colonies. This gave way to Crown Colony Rule and the
removal of the locally elected assemblies. The colonies were no
longer in a position to create laws for themselves and this was
the impetus for their movement towards independence.

Political Enfranchisement
This is the right of a people/nation to determine their own
internal affairs. To attain political enfranchisement in the
Caribbean, there needed to be a transformation of governance
in the region. At the turn of the 20th century, there was mass
intra and inter-regional emigration from the region. Caribbean
people were exposed to alternative world views and this fuelled
their drive for freedom. They saw that they didn’t need to keep
suffering under the system the Europeans forced onto them.

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Workers returning from World War 2 didn’t want to return to unemployment and the Great Depression
only heightened economic hardship in the region. Perhaps the most impactful influences were the
outspokenness of charismatic leaders. There was a rise in trade unionism and the popularity of these
leaders helped them make the successful transition to politics. The spread of pan-Africanism, Négritude
and influential figureheads like Marcus Garvey (Jamaica) impacted the entire region. World War 2 put a
hold on these movements before any paramount policy change could come of it. However, the wheels were
already turning.

Adult Suffrage & Internal Self-Government

This is the right to vote at a certain age regardless of socio-economic class. There were Labour Riots in the
1930s over harsh working conditions and low wages which forced the colonies to reinstate elected
representation. The riots were underpinned by the economic and political ideologies that formed Trade
Unions. The colonial authorities quelled the protestors with military action but appealed to the British
government for an enquiry.

They appointed the Moyne Commission (also known as the West India
Royal Commission) to perform this enquiry in 1938. The results were not
published until World War 2 was over and political reform across the
region was recommended. In the wake of the unrest, the British Caribbean
were granted universal adult suffrage. It gave adults over the age of 21 the
right to vote in an election.

With adult suffrage, Caribbean people were elected chief ministers and
members of the legislature under Crown Colony Rule. Political parties led
by trade unionists acquired more power and this undermined the authority
of the Governor General and the British by extension. The trade unionists
enacted laws and policies that benefited workers. This power, though limited, represented a transitional
phase between colonial rule and independence. was used to rebel against the unfair political establishments
in the region.

Economic Enfranchisement
Economic enfranchisement is the ability of a nation to decide its own system(s) of production. In the
Caribbean, the colonisers determined the system of production; the large scale production of sugar and

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other cash crops. For the Caribbean to gain economic enfranchisement, we had to diversify our economy
through entrepreneurial activities on an individual and national level.

Entrepreneurial Activities
Caribbean people were faced with the same economic struggles that made the decision to decolonise easier
for the British; the decline of the sugar industry. Efforts, then, were centred around small entrepreneurial
activities.

Individual
The formerly enslaved established free villages with the help of missionaries. They fished, reared animals
and formed a peasantry, farming cash crops that they sold amongst themselves, though they were sabotaged
by the colonisers at every turn. They engaged in “huckstering” and “higglering”—travelling around selling
items.

They did domestic work to establish their own income. Saving societies were formed to help them save
funds for businesses and buy land—Pardner, Boxhand, Sou-Sou. The Asian indentured set up small shops
and even entered the restaurant and gambling industry. People also emigrated for employment,
contributing to the economy of their home country through remittances.

National
Caribbean countries diversified the agro-industry by introducing new cash crops such as cocoa and banana
from the 1960s onwards. Credit unions and banks were established to help people acquire wealth through
saving.

On the road to independence, the West Indies Federation was established. When it fell apart, Trinidad
and Tobago and Jamaica declared themselves independent. Independence followed gradually for the rest of
the British Caribbean. However, it can be argued that in the Caribbean, we have political enfranchisement
but not economic enfranchisement because there is still heavy dependence on foreign economies.

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