Tag: Caribbean

English: source: Immigrant Servants Database a... — Immigrant Servants Database author: signed by Henry Mayer, dated 1738 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Throughout the 1600s, English courts had relied on the colonies to alleviate the overwhelming criminal population. Jails were filled to capacity as crime rates burgeoned. Because the criminal justice system was so overwhelmed, convicts were often offered a choice between death or exile. While many obviously chose emigration over death, the colonies quickly became unhappy with the arrangement. By 1697, many colonial ports simply refused entry to convict ships.

To compound the problem, the justice system was wildly unregulated to the extent that criminals were often expected to arrange and pay for their own transportation. No one kept track of where they went or how they got there; so many convicts simply hopped a boat to Ireland and came back as soon as the coast was clear.

Despite the problems, Parliament still saw the colonies as a viable solution to Britain’s overwhelmed justice system. To that effect, they drafted and passed the Transportation Act of 1718. This act offered a systematic, standardized process by which criminals could be sentenced and shipped to America and the West Indies.

Under this new legislation, merchant companies were paid a fixed sum to ship boatloads of convicts to the New World colonies. Upon arrival in the New World, merchants and ship captains were free to sell off the convicts as indentured servants.

While the Transportation Act standardized the processing and exile of convicts, there was little regulation once ships set sail. Many captains treated the convicts brutally, keeping them chained below decks and subjecting them to horrible abuses. It was fairly common for a cargo of convicts to mutiny and try to kill the captain and crew.

Depending on the severity of their crimes, convicts were sentenced to seven or fourteen years of indentured labour in the colonies. A few richer convicts were able to simply buy their freedom upon arrival; however, most convicts were penniless, unskilled and uneducated. One boatload of felons was surveyed and out of ninety-eight convicts, forty-eight had no marketable skill, and the rest were either too young to have learned a trade or too old to work.

These unskilled felons were forced to serve the duration of their sentence under whoever paid their purchase price. Most were put to work by small plantation owners; however, others were bought by shipbuilders, manufacturers and tradesmen.

Once a convict had served his sentence, he was set free to start a new life for himself. Some of the ex-convicts established themselves throughout the colonies and became productive in society. Many, however, went right back to criminal activities. In the West Indies in particular, a released convict had very little recourse for survival, as by law he could never have land of his own.

The Transportation Act resulted in more than 52,000 convicts being forcibly transported to America and the West Indies. About 80 percent were sent to Maryland and Virginia, while the rest were scattered throughout other New World colonies. The flow of convict labourers continued unabated for decades, and only stopped with the advent of the American Revolution in 1776.

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July 24, 2013

Alec Tritton

Relics of Empire No Comments

The Cayman Islands are found in the western Caribbean Sea. This British Overseas Territory is made up of three islands: Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brac.

Discovery of the Cayman Islands is attributed to Christopher Columbus, who sighted them in May of 1503, on his fourth voyage to the New World. He originally gave the islands the name “Las Tortugas” as the coasts were dotted with huge sea turtles. When Sir Francis Drake arrived on the islands in 1586, he promptly changed their name to “Cayman”- a derivative of the local word for “alligator”.

As with many of the Caribbean Islands, the Caymans went largely undeveloped and uninhabited until the middle of the 17^th century. A few hardy stragglers had made the islands their home, including a few shipwrecked sailors, various pirate crews, refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, and a number of deserters from Oliver Cromwell’s army stationed in nearby Jamaica.

The Cayman Islands officially came under British rule in 1760, under the Treaty of Madrid. While the British officially controlled the island, all attempts at settlement were frustrated for the next few decades. The three islands were popular pirate haunts, and piracy largely prevented any permanent settlement. It wasn’t until sometime in the 1730s that the British moved in and established an official English-speaking settlement.

As the settlement grew, so too did the Cayman Islanders’ demand for slaves. Before long, more than half of the islands’ population was made up of African slaves. When the first census of Grand Cayman was taken in 1802, records showed that out of the 933 residents, 545 of them were slaves owned by Caymanian families. This is reflected in the today’s population, as the majority of modern Caymanians are of English and African descent, with a large degree of interracial mixing.

Hell Post Office, Cayman Islands (Photo credit: J. Stephen Conn)

From 1670 onward, the Cayman Islands were technically considered a dependency of Jamaica; however, the islands were largely self-governed. In 1831, local residents established a legislative assembly consisting of 10 elected representatives along with eight local magistrates appointed by the Governor of Jamaica. Overall, Jamaica interfered little with the governance of the Caymans.

The Cayman Islands continued to be loosely governed by the Colony of Jamaica until Jamaica was granted its independence in 1962. At this time, the Cayman Islands were designated as a separate Crown Colony.

Today, the Cayman Islands are considered a non-self-governing British Overseas Territory. A governor is appointed by the Queen, and represents the British monarchy on the Islands. The Islands are officially defended by the Crown, though the British government interferes little in the running of the country.

The population of the Cayman Islands sits at around 56,000. The population is largely of mixed heritage, with nearly 60% being of African-Caucasian ethnicities.

Relics of Empire: Montserrat

June 20, 2013

Alec Tritton

Relics of Empire 1 Comment

The British Overseas Territory of Montserrat is part of the Lesser Antilles island chain found in the Leeward Islands. The tiny island is sometimes called The Emerald Isle of the Caribbean because of its keen resemblance to the coasts of Ireland. It’s not surprising, perhaps, that the island boasts a significant population with Irish roots.

The island was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1493, as he was making his second voyage to the New World. He claimed the island and named it Santa Maria de Montserrat, in honor of the Montserrat Monastery in Catalonia, Spain.

Apparently, little was done to develop the island until it fell under British control in 1632. Settlement began when fierce anti-Catholic sentiments arose on the nearby island of Nevis, and a large group of Irish Catholic slaves were forcibly transplanted to Montserrat.

A sort of neo-feudal colony was built up, largely on the backs of slaves. First Irish slaves arrived, followed by many African slaves, brought in to work on the local plantations. As was the case on many Caribbean islands, the economy of Montserrat was largely based on rum, sugar, cotton, and arrowroot. By the late 18th century, plantations covered much of the island, manned by hundreds of slaves.

At the same time, Oliver Cromwell was sending shiploads of exiled Irish people to the island, along with many political prisoners, orphans, and unemployed poor. Many who were a financial burden to the public purse at home were shipped off to work on the plantations of Montserrat.

While Britain was distracted by the American Revolutionary War in 1782, the French swooped in and briefly captured the island. French rule was fairly short-lived however, and rule of Montserrat was returned to Great Britain under the Treaty of Paris.

In 1834, slavery was abolished in Montserrat, and that factor – combined with falling sugar prices – led to a dramatic downturn in the island’s economy. Plantation owners were at a loss until 1857 when British philanthropist Joseph Sturge bought up a sugar estate and proved that plantations could be commercially viable even without depending on slave labour.

Many members of the Sturge family followed, buying up plots of land all over the island and planting vast groves of lime trees. The Sturges established the Montserrat Company Ltd. and set up a plant for processing lime juice on a commercial level. Eventually, the company sold off small parcels of land to various islanders who in turn began to develop the land further.

Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Montserrat was included as part of the British Leeward Islands colony. For a brief stint, it was made a province of the West Indies Federation; however, this was dissolved in 1962.

In recent years, Montserrat has been the victim of serious natural disasters, including Hurricane Hugo in 1989, and the eruption of Montserrat’s Soufriere Hills volcano in 1995. Many portions of the island are now uninhabitable. An estimated 8000 refugees fled the island following these events.

Today’s population of around 5800 is made up of a mix of British, Irish and African descendants. English is widely spoken, along with a creole dialect.

Relics of Empire: The British Virgin Islands

May 28, 2013

Alec Tritton

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The British Virgin Islands can be found in the Caribbean, and constitute a portion of the Virgin Islands Archipelago. While the whole territory is generally referred to as the “Virgin Islands”, ownership of the chain is divided between Britain, America, and Spain. Thus, most use the term “British Virgin Islands” or “BVI” to distinguish the British Overseas Territory from the other territories.

The islands were first sighted by Christopher Columbus as he was making his second voyage to the New World. He dubbed the islands Santa Ursula y las Once Mil Virgenes (Saint Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins). Obviously, the unwieldy name was quickly shortened to The Virgins.

As with many islands in the Caribbean, the Spanish initially laid claim to the Virgin Islands in the early 16th century; however, no attempt was made at settlement. Throughout the next few decades, the powers of Europe all struggled over ownership and control over the islands. The English, Dutch, Spanish, Danish, and French all laid claim to the islands at one point or another, but for many years, the Virgins were little more than a popular pirate haunt.

The first official settlement was established by the Dutch in 1648 on the island of Tortola. English forces were able to capture Tortola in 1672 at the beginning of the Third Anglo-Dutch War. The British were able to use Tortola as a strategic base from which they were able to annex Virgin Gorda, Anegada and the rest of the British Virgin Islands in 1680.

Though the British now held full control over the Territory, immigration was slow and few cared to stay long. Many settlers feared the instability of the region, and anticipated attacks by the Spanish or the Dutch. By 1685, the population was reduced to two: an undaunted Mr. Jonathan Turner and his wife. After 1690, however, the British Virgin Islands saw a dramatic upswing in population growth and by 1696, the total number was up to fifty.

With a steadily growing population on the islands, the British appointed a deputy-governor to manage the territory. The role was little more than nominal, with no real power behind the title. People on the islands lived however they wanted, without a law or government. The islands continued this way for over 100 years.

As sugar was a major industry on the island, much of the BVI economy was built on the back of slave labour. Tortola and Virgin Gorda in particular were settled primarily by plantation owners who brought in massive numbers of African slaves. By 1756, the slave population on the islands was at 6,121.

While the emancipation of 1834 released all slaves on the islands, evidence of the massive slave population is still very clearly seen in the modern demographics. The population of the BVI today is around 21,730, and approximately 83.4% are of African descent. Roughly 7% of the population is of British or European origin, while the remaining 9.6% is Carib, Indian and mixed-race Hispanic.

After emancipation, the islands struggled economically for many years. Plantations were no longer economically viable, and many owners simply picked up and went home to England. Decline and disorder followed, and emigration was high until local community leaders stood up and insisted on change.

Conditions in the territory have since improved drastically, thanks to better government and the advent of the offshore financial services industry. Today, the BVI is in the lead as one of the top global offshore financial centres.

Relics of Empire: Anguilla

May 15, 2013

Alec Tritton

Relics of Empire 1 Comment

The British Overseas Territory of Anguilla was first settled by Amerindian tribes from South America; however, it was first discovered by Europeans sometime in the 15th or 16th century. Its actual discovery has long been in debate. Some suggest that it was first sighted by Christopher Columbus in 1493, while others claim that the island was discovered and named by French explorer Pierre Laudonnaire in 1565.

Regardless of the original discovery, the island of Anguilla sat untouched for nearly a century. There have been some claims that the Dutch built a fort on Anguilla two decades earlier; however, little more is known, and no trace remains to verify the claims.

Anguilla likely went uncolonized for so long due to the notoriously wild and fierce Caribs who controlled the island. The Caribs were known cannibals who had wrested the island from its original Amerindian settlers. It wasn’t until 1650 that English settlers arrived and dared to face down the Caribs.

The first English settlers arrived from the nearby colony of Saint Kitts. They established a settlement and began growing crops of tobacco and corn; however, early life on Anguilla was far from easy. In 1656, the colony was attacked by invading Carib Indians who destroyed crops and settlements and slaughtered many settlers. In 1666, French forces attacked and captured the island.

French rule was short lived, and the English soon regained control through the Treaty of Breda in 1667. Hardships increased, and the settlers were soon facing drought, poor crop yields and crippling famine; yet the colonists hung on resolutely. Throughout this time, the island was governed by the British through Antigua.

The initial settlers were followed in 1688 by a host of Irish invaders who were fleeing the religious persecution of Cromwell’s government. In Anguilla, these refugees found a British territory where they could live and worship in peace.

Throughout the 1700s, the French and English forces continued to fight over ownership of the island – and ultimately for control of the Caribbean. The French tried again and again to invade and capture Anguilla, with major attempts made in 1745 and 1796. These attempts failed and the British maintained control of the island.

In 1824, administrative control of Anguilla was transferred to nearby St. Kitts. The government attempted to develop the island’s infrastructure by building up a plantation-based economy. Planters arrived, bringing African slaves to man the plantations; however, attempts at agriculture were largely unsuccessful due to poor soil and an adverse climate. Once slavery was abolished by the British in 1830, many plantation owners left Anguilla and returned to England, causing a drastic decline in population. The remaining population of 2000 was made up mostly of freed slaves.

When St. Kitts was granted full internal autonomy in 1967, Anguilla was incorporated into the newly created dependency along with the island of Nevis. The dependency was dubbed Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla – much to the chagrin of the Anguillan population.

After an Anguillan rebellion in 1967, a full-scale revolution in 1969, and a brief foray into self-declared independence, the British government stepped in and restored authority over the island. Anguilla was eventually allowed to secede from Nevis and St. Kitts, and in 1980, it was officially declared a full British colony.

Relics of Empire: The Turks and Caicos Islands

May 2, 2013

Alec Tritton

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The Turks and Caicos Islands passed from hand to hand for some time before they were ever settled. Throughout the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the French, Spanish and English all held control over the islands; however, for a long time, none established settlements of any kind.

Juan Ponce de Leon was the first European to discover the islands, though no move toward settlement was made. After the islands’ discovery in 1512, the islanders of Turks and Caicos were subjected to frequent raids by Spanish slavers, and within a year, the entire island range had been depopulated.

Throughout the 17th century, the islands served as little more than pirate bays. Buccaneers would hide out in the island cays and attack passing Spanish treasure ships en route to Europe. Such infamous rogues as Francoise L’Olonnois and Anne Bonny often used French Cay as their pirate bases for raiding passing ships.

Finally, toward the late 17th century, salt collectors from Bermuda set up an official settlement. In 1681, the first settlement was established on Grand Turk Island, and the salt collectors would spend six months out of each year raking salt from the shallow waters around the island. Since Bermuda was an established British colony, this settlement of salt collectors effectively established British dominance over the Turks and Caicos.

In 1765, the islands fell under French occupation. This French rule lasted until around 1783, when the Royal Navy sent Horatio Nelson to retake the islands. While the Admiral was unsuccessful in his attempts, many British loyalists began arriving from America following the American Revolution.

The displaced loyalists found a safe haven in the Caribbean colonies, and in 1790, the Crown began granting land to British loyalist refugees. The loyalists formed the first settlement on Caicos Island, and established themselves across Providenciales, Parrot Bay, Middle Caicos, and North Caicos.

By 1799, the Turks and Caicos Island groups were once again firmly under British control as an annexed part of the Bahamas. The move toward consolidation saw little success, however, as most residents on Turks and Caicos were Bermudian, and strongly resisted any Bahamian rule. Ultimately, the Turks and Caicos Islands remained independent from the Bahamas.

In 1873, Queen Victoria officially recognized this fact and granted the Turks and Caicos Islands with a royal charter, making them an independent colony, no longer attached to the Bahamas. This independence was fairly short-lived, as 1874 saw the islands annexed instead to Jamaica. This connection lasted nearly 100 years; however, it provided Turks and Caicos with needed medical and technical assistance as well as substantial financial grants.

While Jamaica gained its independence from Britain in 1962, Turks and Caicos had little interest in the separation. The Turks and Caicos Islands decided to maintain their status as a British Crown Colony, and have no real plans for future independence.

The population is made up of very few Britons. Over 90% of the islanders are Black, while the remaining 10% are of European, North American or Mixed heritage.

Indentured Servants to the West Indies

July 21, 2012

Alec Tritton

Emigration 1 Comment

As the sugar and tobacco trade developed in the West Indies, English plantation owners were in dire need of manual laborers to work in the fields and harvest the crops. The native Caribbean people had been suppressed, thus, planters were forced to look further afield for the needed workers.

Thus began the (often forced) migration of Irish and English workers to the island plantations of the West Indies. In the brief period between 1652 and 1659, tens of thousands of men, women and children were transported to British colonies in Antigua, Montserrat, Barbados, and other locations throughout the Caribbean Islands.

Some of the migrants were willing participants in the process, and worked as indentured servants on the island plantations. They sold their labor for periods of five to ten years, and in return received ownership of a small plot of land.

These indentured workers signed unique legal contracts. Terms of agreement were written up in duplicate on a single sheet of paper, and then cut with a jagged edge (thus, the term “indenture”). One half was given to the laborer and the other was held by the owner. At the end of the agreed-upon term of service, the two parts of the contract would be brought together and matched to prove authenticity.

The practice of indentured servitude was widely used throughout the plantations in the West Indies, and many chose it of their own free will. However, while there were many “freewillers” who willingly sold their service for a chance at a new beginning, others were sadly exploited. “Redemptionists” were duped into signing a contract of indentured service; yet on arrival, they were sold into slavery. Still others were simply “spirited” to the Caribbean by gangs in Ireland. The kidnapped workers would be loaded onto slave ships in Bristol or Liverpool and shipped off to plantations on the islands.

Unfortunately, whether they served by choice or not, the conditions endured by the Irish workers were appalling. They were regarded as property, and were bought, sold, traded, and mistreated at the whims of their owners. In fact, throughout much of the 17th century, the white slaves were inexpensive compared to their black counterparts; thus, they were considered a practically disposable commodity, and were often subjected to inhumane working conditions and exceptional cruelty.

A chilling account was recorded by the governor of Barbados in 1695. He describes the labor of the slaves, “in the parching sun, without shirt, shoes or stocking,” detailing how they were, “domineered over and used like dogs.”

In many cases, white workers were supervised by black or mulatto overseers, who treated the slaves with particular cruelty. Overseers used their whips liberally to reinforce the “slave” status of the workers. Rape was common – and even encouraged by plantation owners, who saw the unwilling union as opportunity to breed future generations of slave labor free of charge. An estimated 50% of the Irish workers died before finishing their terms of servitude.

Many of the first workers were sent or sold to plantations in Antigua or Montserrat in 1632. By 1660, between 50,000-100,000 Irish workers had been sent to work on the islands. Most of those had not chosen a life of servitude, but had been forcibly sold into slavery.

At the same time, the British Civil War had just come to a close and Oliver Cromwell was in power. Cromwell saw the British sugar trade as a practical solution following his great land clearances in the 1640s. Cromwell deported many thousands of Irish slaves to Barbados, which was a hub of British sugar production at that time.

The Barbados Irish soon became known as “Red legs” – a racial slur resulting from the constantly sunburnt legs of the pale-skinned Irish workers. By the mid-1600s, Irish slave workers made up nearly 70% of the population. Eventually, however, black slave labor increased, and the white population of the islands began to dwindle due to high rates of Irish death and racial intermixing.

Today there remains a tiny population of approximately 400 souls descended from the Irish slaves. The modern Red Legs have vigorously rejected racial mixing, and carry the Celtic names of their ancestors. Unfortunately, this small community lives in deep poverty, scratching out a living from fishing and subsistence farming.

Reba McEntire Discovers Ancestors Were Indentured Servants(eogn.com)
The Irish Slave Trade – The Forgotten “White” Slaves(talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)

On the Buses: West Indian Migration after WWII

June 23, 2012

Alec Tritton

Immigration No Comments

The years directly following the Second World War saw a huge transfer of the Caribbean Islands population. It was, in fact, the largest outward movement of people from the British Caribbean Islands, with many thousands ultimately moving to Britain in search of a better life.

The war was a major factor that stimulated migration to England after 1945. Because the British armed forces and the merchant navy were forced to expand considerably, labour shortages became a very real problem on the home front. Women and Irish workers stepped up to fill the gaps, but this was only a partial remedy. Thus, the Empire reached out to its colonies, recruiting thousands of Hondurans and West Indians, among others. Not only were workers recruited for labour on the home front, but 10,000 West Indians were recruited by the Royal Air Force, and thousands more joined the Merchant Navy as well as becoming the workforce keeping the London buses moving.

At the same time, the West Indies had been much neglected and had become the “slum of the Empire” with high levels

of poverty and unemployment. As the war ended and West Indians returned, the men who had fought hard for the Empire knew that there was little opportunity for employment at home.

The men who had been recruited during the war were eligible for repatriation and gratuities. The government made a valiant effort to send many of them home, and about a fifth of the West Indians were repatriated to Jamaica; however, most quickly returned to Britain. Others simply refused to leave Great Britain at all, instead settling in various parts of England and Scotland.

Following the war, Britain was busy rebuilding and was in dire need of labourers. Initially, however, the British government was reluctant to allow migration from the West Indies, preferring instead to invite workers from the European continent. Many, in fact, felt that West Indians would be lazy or would turn to an easy life on the welfare system. Despite a huge influx of Poles and Italians, the need was simply too great and the UK turned to its colonies.

Finally, the decision was made to allow all British subjects entry. It was widely felt that since all subjects of the Empire had contributed equally to the war effort, there shouldn’t be restrictions on certain groups or nationalities.

In 1948, a Jamaican newspaper featured an advertisement stating that 300 places were available on board the ship Windrush, headed for England. Anyone hoping for better career or education prospects was welcome to travel aboard the ship. This voyage, which landed at Tilbury docks on June 21^st, 1948, was the beginning of a major migration from the West Indian Islands to Britain. From 1948 to 1955, over 18,000 immigrants had moved from the Caribbean to Britain. The migration did not slow until 1962, by which time over 98,000 West Indians had made Great Britain their new home.

While many of the migrants were simply grateful for the opportunities available to them, most did face substantial challenges. Many were severely limited in their skills, and thus were forced to take low-paying jobs. The housing many migrants inhabited was of the poorest quality, yet they remained and formed a tightly-knit ethnic group with shared cultural, linguistic, and religious traditions. Social prejudice and discrimination was a challenge as well, as many British workers felt that migrants were taking over the job market and causing unemployment.

Fortunately, however, the West Indian migrants soon settled and became valued contributors to the rebuilding efforts. In many ways, they became a replacement population, inhabiting areas that were previously sparsely populated. Ultimately, the huge influx breathed new life and diversity into the British culture – ethnic diversity that is now widely celebrated. It marked a massive change in British society, and was the start of more wide-spread immigration to the UK.

The West India Interest(socyberty.com)
Short Story Collection offers a mere glimmer of Caribbean life(repeatingislands.com)

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