The Establishment of the Peasantry 1838 to 1900

What is Peasantry?

Peasantry is the name given to the group of small farmers who developed after 1838. They farmed very
small pieces of land (usually under five acres) and relied mainly on their own labour and that of their
families.

Conditions/Factors which Facilitated the Development of a Caribbean

Peasantry and the Growth of the Free Village Movement
A number of factors were attributed to the development of free villages and peasantry within the British
Caribbean after emancipation. These were:

1. Available Land - Places like British Guiana, Trinidad and Jamaica had much unused land available
and because of this the development of free villages was possible, while in smaller territories such as
St. Kitts, Barbados and Antigua and so on, little land was available which resulted in the development
of fewer free villages.

2. The ex-slaves had a desire to be free and to own a piece of land. They associated work on estates
with slavery, so they wanted to be independent of the estates. In addition, owning a piece of land was
the key to independence.

3. The former slaves disliked plantation labour and they wanted to forget the bad treatment that had
been meted out under slavery.

4. There were some governors who encouraged the movement away from the plantation. A good
example was Governor Colebrook of Antigua in 1837. On the other hand, there were also governors
who legislated against the growth of cooperative estates. For example,in British Guiana.

5. The ex-slaves’ familiarity with agriculture helped to pave the way for the establishment of free
villages. During slavery, slave owners who had available land provided their slaves with provision
grounds on which they grew food crops. Slave-owners had also developed the practice of allowing
slaves to sell any surplus in the Sunday market. When freedom came the ex-slaves wanted to devote as
much time as they chose to the growing and marketing of provisions from which they could make a
living.

6. Some ex-slaves squatted on unused land and disregarded official warnings to desist from such
practice, because they knew that it was difficult for them to be brought to justice.
7. Some landowners were willing to sell some of their land in order to ease their financial problems, for
example to raise money to pay wages or to clear off longstanding debts.

8. Many ex-slaves were able to use their savings to purchase land at prices ranging from two pounds to
ten pounds per acre.
9. In British Guiana, ex-slaves pooled their resources, obtained limited credit and purchased large
territories of land from estate owners.
10. Baptist and Wesleyan missionaries for example William Knibb, James Phillipo and Thomas
Burchell in Jamaica who wanted to protect the ex-slaves from the abuses of the planters, established
free villages such as Sligoville, Sturge Town, Clarkson, Clarksonville, Wilberforce, Boston, Bethany,
Salem, Philadelphia and Harmony, where ex- slaves were able to purchase small lots of land.

11. The generosity of some planters also contributed to the establishment of free villages. In Barbados,
Reynold Alleyne Ellcock, the owner of Mt. Wilton Estate in St. Thomas, left money in his will to teach
his slaves. After his death, they received this money in 1841 and together, they bought sections of Rock
Hall Estate to establish free villages.

12. A few planters for example Peter Chapman, owner of Workman’s Estate in St. George made land
available for sale. In 1856, he subdivided 102 acres of his estate and allowed ex- slaves to purchase lots
in instalments.

Jamaica had the most free villages

Effects of Free Villages on the Supply of Labour on the British

Caribbean Sugar Estates

The development of free villages in various colonies in the British Caribbean had a profound effect on
the labour supply on the sugar estates. These include:

1. Free villages greatly reduced the number of full-time labourers on plantations.

2. Free villages reduced the labour supply on sugar plantations which created a labour shortage in some
islands particularly in the larger territories like Jamaica, Trinidad and British Guiana which further
resulted in the decline in production of sugar.

3. Free villages reduced the number of male artisans and craftsmen on the plantations.

4. Free villages resulted in planters having to seek alternative labour supply for the estates which
inevitably resulted in indentured immigration.

Role of Non-Conformist Missionaries in Establish Peasantry

The missionaries assisted ex-slaves to establish free villages after emancipation because they wanted to
keep their congregations together as the ex-slaves were migrating into the hills. The missionary groups
which helped the ex-slaves to establish Free Villages were:

 The Baptist – the most energetic group in the struggle for the rights of slaves
 The Methodists
  The Moravians
 Presbyterians
 Congregationalists
William Knibb, a Baptist Missionary helped the ex-slaves to establish their free village

The Missionaries assisted the slaves in establishing free villages by doing the following:
 Bought large acres of land and re-sold it to ex-slaves in small plots. Ex-slaves would play in
installments.
 Advice ex-slaves how to layout their villages
 Help ex-slaves to get legal documents for their land
 They defended ex-salves in disputes with planters
 They provided schools in the free villages to educate ex-slaves children
 They build churches in free villages and taught them Christian doctrine
 They trained ex-slaves to become play pastors.
 They helps ex-slaves to get jobs as skilled workers

Crops Grown by Peasants in the Different Countries

Trinidad: Cocoa, bananas, plantains, peas, beans, and groundnuts.
Jamaica: bananas, pimento, ginger,
British Guiana: Rice, rubber
Barbados and Antigua: Sea Island cotton, cocoa
St. Lucia: Limes, Cocoa
Dominica: Limes, Cocoa
St. Vincent: Arrowroot, Sea Island cotton
Grenada: Nutmeg,
Montserrat: Sea Island cotton and limes.

Difficulties Encountered by Peasants

(i) Their lands were not officially surveyed.

(ii) Colonial governments imposed restrictions on the sale of Crown Lands
(iii) The land itself was very often marginal, infertile and remote
(iv) They needed licenses for the sale of export crops were required
(v) Opposition from the planters
(vi) Exploitation of land-buyers; they were forced to pay excessively high prices for inferior
land.
(vii) They suffered from praedial larceny.
(viii) Then were the acts of nature: hurricane, droughts and all sorts of plant diseases
(ix) Later on they received stiff competition or unfair prices from large companies such as
the United States Boston Fruit Company
(x) They often lacked the money to buy and replace fertilizers, small equipment and tools
such as machetes and hoes.
(xi) They received no help from the local authorities or the Mother Country. In fact they
were indifferent to their plight. They clung conveniently to the stereotype of the blacks
as lazy.
 Metayage or sharecropping - Labourers produced the sugar and profits were shared
between themselves and the plantation owner. This was done mainly in the French
islands, St. Lucia and Tobago. In Barbados and other areas the freemen grew
sugarcane on plantation grounds or small plots nearby; the cane was milled on the
estate; estate-owner and growers shared profits.

Contribution of the Peasantry to the Social and Economic life of the

Caribbean.
Social Contribution
 Enhanced money and time management skills of slaves and later ex-slaves.
 Engendered self-reliance, planning and political awareness among ex-slaves.
 Maintaining social and economic stability in rural and non-plantation areas via attempts to build
self-generating communities, villages, churches, schools etc.
 Soften the rigid class divisions that existed
 Cultural - New and renewed cuisines Artistry and artisanship
 African could expressed their culture freely

Economic Contribution
 Slaves learnt cultivation skills and soil management.
 Added to the establishment of the local cooperatives movement and P.C. Banks
 Added to the export and trade of Caribbean countries via the diversification of agricultural
produce
 New agricultural industries were developed
 Increases self-sufficiency as they reduce their dependency on imported food.
 Developed the internal marketing system by establishing local markets which supplied planters
and workers with food
 Created employment for vendors and farmers