Topic: Adjustments to Emancipation 1838-1876

Week:1

Grade 10 Arts

Subtopic: Reasons planters feared the sugar industry would be ruined after slavery

(1) The inability to meet the cost of wage labour

(2) The availability of abandoned estates and crown land that attracted labourers away from the estates,
made many planters fear that the sugar industry would be ruined.
(3) The loss of total command over their labour
(4) The reduction in the number of labourers
(5) The passing of the Sugar Duties Equalization Act by the British Parliament in 1846. The act abolished
the discriminations against slave-grown sugar and provided for a rapid reduction in the preference given
to colonial sugar by equalizing the duties paced on foreign and British colonial sugar.

Persons concerned with getting labour for the sugar estates after emancipation

(1) Planters in the West Indies

(2) Local governments
(3) Government in Britain
(4) Members of the West India Interest ( the planters representatives in Britain)
(5) Officials at the Colonial Office, all realized that a constant supply of cheap labour was necessary for
sugar production to be profitable in the West Indies. For this reason, after emancipation, the British
Government provided loans for the colonies to import workers from overseas.

Methods planters used to maintain an adequate supply of workers

(1) Coercion to maintain an adequate supply of workers. They tried to make it difficult for the ex-slaves to
obtain land and to find alternative means of survival away from the estates, thus forcing them to remain.
(2) They provided incentives for the ex-slaves to remain; for example, they allowed them to continue to use
their cottages and their provision grounds.
(3) In Trinidad and in British Guiana, as well as in some other territories, planters offered higher wages
during crop time.
(4) They introduced the metayage/sharecropping system, particularly in St Lucia and Tobago. The planter
supplied the land, equipment for sugar manufacture, carts and horses, while the metayer/ labourer
supplied labour in the field and factory. The metayer received half and the skimming and molasses.
(5) Planters imported workers from overseas
(6) Where money was available, for example in Trinidad and British Guiana, new pieces of equipment were
introduced in the field and in the factory, to reduce the demand for workers. These included the plough,
harrow, vacuum pan and stream mill.

The Major Problems Faced by Sugar Planters during the first few years after Emancipation

(1) The shortage/irregularity of estate labour was a chronic problem for planters in the larger territories. The
busiest time for those ex-slaves who cultivated provision grounds coincided with crop time on the
estates. This forced the ex-slaves to choose between their own and their employers’ crops, and quite
naturally, they chose their own.
(2) Planters lacked capital and cash with which to pay wages and invest in labour-saving technology. Under
slavery, currencies in the territories, were in short supply as much trading was conducted on a barter
basis, or their European trading partners paid planters in credit or supplied. Almost all the European
countries with possessions in the West Indies and the independent mainland states had coins that
circulated in the islands, but supplies were never sufficient
(3) There was a high cost of production, particularly in territories where there was an accessible, fertile land
that could allow the ex-slaves to exist independently of the estates. Wages were generally higher in
these territories
(4) Negligence on the part of the ex-slave was costly to the planters. The abuse of equipment, destruction of
carts and the brutalization of draft animals increased after emancipation. Fires caused by negligence
were common and inadequate weeding and sloppy work in the boiling houses reduced the quality of the
sugar.
 (5) Natural disasters, for example, drought, wreaked havoc on the estates. During the first eight years of
freedom, Jamaica suffered five years of prolonged and paralyzing drought. Herbs of cattle were
devastated by the drought, reducing the quantity and value of their manure. Streams disappeared, and
wells ran dry in Clarendon, preventing the manufacture of sugar.
(6) Public roads and bridges were full of ruts and in a deplorable state. The cost of transporting hogsheads
of sugar over these roads was very high; carts were battered, and thieves occasionally intercepted
wagons stealing sugar and rum.
(7) Technology continued to be backward in most territories. In the Windward Islands, in 1854, water, in
1854, water mills predominated. Barbados and Antigua retained their windmills, as most planters who
possessed properly functioning wind or water mills could not justify the circumstances of the periods.
New machinery such as the plough, vacuum pan, centrifugal dryer, and stream mill was generally absent
in the small territories because most planters lacked the large amounts of capital that were needed to
provide these. In addition, many of the estates were not large enough to make economic use of the new
machinery. The labour-intensive methods of the pre-emancipation days, therefore, persisted.
(8) Soil exhaustion contributed to low yields in some territories.
(9) There was competition from Mauritian and Indian sugar, resulting from low rates of duty that were
extended to these countries in 1825 and 1836 respectively.

Sugar Duties Act

In 1846, the British parliament passed the Sugar Duties Equalization Act, referred to as the Sugar Duties Act
establishing a schedule by which the preferential duties for colonial muscovado would be gradually removed by
1851. For the British West Indians, the Act did not take effect until 1854.

Effects of the act on sugar producers

(1) It resulted in the fall in sugar prices on the London market and consequently, the collapse of many
plantations that we're unable to compete with sugar from cheaper sources such as Cuba and Brazil which
could easily sell their sugar for two shillings per hundredweight below the London price.
(2) It affected planters ability to pay wages. They were, therefore, forced to reduce wage levels, denouncing
such measures as a deceitful means of subjecting them to bondage. In Jamaica, a rumour spread throughout
the island that buckra was going to turn the island over to Cuba, or the United States to re-enslave them
permanently
(3) The Act causes forty –eight (48) West Indian merchant houses and thirteen (13) firms of merchants in the
British West Indies to become bankrupt between 1847 and 1848. Caribbean planters were unable to recover
expenses drawn on bankrupt British companies for sugar already shipped.
(4) It made even the most stable merchant firms refuse to extend further credit to British West Indian planters,
who, deprived of their regular source of capital, defaulted on wage payments and short term obligations to
local banks
(5) Many planters, already indebted to British merchant houses, became even more indebted, as those whose
properties were mortgaged failed to pay their debts. This forced some to abandon their sugar estates and the
West Indies. By the mid 19th century, about five hundred (500) estates had been sold or abandoned in
Jamaica. The Encumbered Estates Act of 1854shifted many of these properties into the hands of these
British merchant houses.
(6) The Act caused estate values to collapse. Plantations changed hands for twenty per cent (20) of the value
that their buildings and machinery would have brought in more prosperous times.
(7) The Act reduced the inflow of revenue, as taxes could not be collected in full because colonists had little or
no money with which to pay them. In 1847, several vessels were anchored in Port of Spain, unable to sail or
unload their cargo because the merchants were unable to pay customs duties.
(8) As a result, the government of Trinidad failed to pay the salaries of public employees during the final
quarter of 1847 and salaries were only partially paid in Barbados
(9) The Act caused great anguish for resident proprietors. Thomas McCormock, a popular resident of forty
years in Jamaica and a most intelligent and distinguished proprietor, manager of Golden Grove, owner of
Stanton Estate and Custos of St Thomas in the East, cut his throat in December 1848. This took place after a
period of severe mental depression and immediately following the destruction of his megasse house at
Stanton by the work of an arsonist.
(10) It drove British West Indian planters to implore the British Government to
(a) Remove the restrictions, as well as the duty on rum and (b) abolish the Navigation Acts which forced
them to use British ships to transport their products. Planters believed that they could reduce their freight
charges and secure staves (wooden strips for making barrels) and provisions at cheaper rates by using
 American vessels. In response, the tax on rum was lowered and the Navigation Acts were removed on
January 1, 1850.
(11) It motivated the members of the local government to demand, unsuccessfully, a drastic reduction in
government spending and salaries. In 1849 and 1853, the Jamaican assembly refused to vote any taxes, and
the governor was so short of money, that he was forced to pardon one hundred (100) prisoners for whom no
food was available.
(12) The Sugar Duties Act encouraged the large-scale importation of indentured labour, and the introduction
of labour-saving devices to help to solve the labour problem and to increase sugar production.

Factors responsible for the decline in the sugar industry from 1838-1876

(1) The shortage and /or the unreliability of workers; party the result of emancipation. This affected the
ability of planters in several colonies to increase, or maintain the pre-emancipation level of production
(2) The lack of money to pay wages made it difficult to attract workers
(3) In Jamaica, the availability of vacant land for ex-slaves to cultivate attracted in preference to low estate
wages
(4) The small farmers preferred to look after their provision grounds, and so, since the busiest time in the
provision ground coincided with crop time on the estates, it was impossible for most planters in the
colonies where cultivable land was readily available, to have a ready supply of workers during the
periods when they needed it most.
(5) The lack of capital to invest in technological improvements hindered the productivity of the estates
(6) The lack of capital also limited planters ability to import large numbers of immigrant workers, and
planters in Jamaica refused to consider sharecropping as a viable alternative
(7) Natural disasters, for example, drought in Jamaica, undermined production. Between 1838 and 1846,
one crop in three was virtually destroyed in the parish of Vere. Twickenham Park, a large, party irrigated
plantation in St Catherine which combined sugar production with Cattle ranching, made no crop in 1846
and ponds that supplied it stock dried up during eight months when no rainfall.
(8) The exhaustion of the soil, due to many years of cultivation, resulted in lower yields.
(9) The passing of the 1846 Sugar Duties Act opened up the British market to sugar from all sources, at the
same rate as import duties. The British West Indian colonies, therefore, lost their preferential treatment
on the market and since their production cost was generally higher than the of producers such as Cuba,
Mauritius, India and Brazil, they found it difficult to compare.
(10) The price of sugar decreased on the British markets, in response to the inflow of sugar attracted
by the reduced tariffs.
(11) Many plantations were abandoned. In northeastern Jamaica, of the forth-eight (48), only seven
(7) remained in 1854 and together they produced less than five hundred (500) hogsheads of sugar.
(12) The Sugar Duties Act led to a financial crisis in Britain and the colonies. Many former sources of
credit for the planters were now bankrupt, so planters no longer had access to credit to carry on their
businesses.
(13) Some Jamaican planters took land out of sugar cultivation completely stopped producing sugar.
The decline in production which started in the pre-emancipation days continued.
(14) Subsidized European beet sugar, sold cheaper than its cost of production, posed a threat to the
prosperity of British West Indian sugar during the second half of the 19th century, as it found its way to
the British market. It also satisfied the continental market thereby shutting off British re-exports of West
Indian cane sugar.
(15) Absenteeism was common. Many owners were not present to initiate reforms or to provide
leadership. Governor Sligo of Jamaica complained in the 1840s that the Jamaica House of Assembly
was made up almost entirely of attorneys and overseers

Effects of crisis in sugar industry on ex-slaves

(1) It led to the lowering of wages on plantations that remained, thus reducing the ex-slaves' money
income, and isolating them from the European culture group
(2) Many ex-slaves lost their jobs when the workforce was reduced and plantations were abandoned
(3) Some ex-slaves left the estates for other enterprises that would provide them with a better income
(4) The decline in taxable foreign trade made it impossible for the government to obtain the revenue needed
to improve public facilities and social services that would benefit the ex-slaves
(5) As wage-labour opportunities shrank, many ex-slaves had little money, so they were unable to
contribute to missionary chapels and schools that relied upon their contributions. Many of these
 buildings fell into disrepair. Some Jamaican missionaries lamented the declining church attendance and
the reduced interest in education.

What the planters did to maintain profitable production during the early years of emancipation

(1) They tried to prevent the ex-slaved from leaving the estates and establishing free villages
(2) They tried to trim wages which accounted for the greatest portion of the cost of production
(3) They imported workers from overseas to help to solve their labour problem
(4) In Barbados and Antigua, more land was brought under cane cultivation, as planters in these colonies
had an adequate supply of cheap labour. In Jamaica, planters reduced their sugar acreage, confining
cultivation to their richest soil.
(5) Interest in scientific agriculture spread rapidly throughout the Caribbean in the early years of freedom
and agricultural societies were established to facilitate the exchange of information on all aspects of
sugar production and to encourage the improvement of agricultural skills. A Royal Agricultural Society
was established in Jamaica in the early 1840s.
(6) Intensive manuring was used to improve output. A light, easily transported fertilizer, Guano, was
introduced initially in Barbados. By the mid-1850s, Barbadian planters were purchasing an average of
fifty thousand pounds worth of Guano a year ( probably close to 7,000 tons)
(7) In British Guiana planters invested some of the compensation money in steam engines for the sugar
mills. These were also adopted in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and St Kitts. By 1854, 108 of Jamaica’s
300 estates were using stream mills. However, Barbados and Antigua retained their windmills because,
in Barbados, strong easterly winds over the island were most reliable during crop time. A severe
shortage of freshwater prevented the introduction of steam power in Antigua.
(8) Improved techniques were used to gain the greatest possible yield from the land under cultivation; for
example, on many estates in Jamaica, the distance between cane plants was lengthened from four and a
half (4/1/2) feet to six(6) feet. Because each plant was given more space, a larger number of healthy
shoots could be obtained from fewer cane tops; canes received more sunlight; they grew rapidly and
matured more quickly
(9) The vacuum pan and the centrifugal dryer were adopted in British Guiana by the 1840s. In 1846, a
vacuum pan was introduced at Retreat Estate in Westmoreland, Jamaica, for three thousand pounds.

(10)Two railway lines were built, one in British Guiana and the other in Jamaica to offer great savings on
transportation costs. The first one was opened in 1845 between Kingston and Spanish Town in Jamaica. By
1852, sixteen (16)miles of track had been laid in British Guiana. The Barbados legislature also helped to
ease the transportation burden of the planters by providing twelve thousand five hundred pounds to repair
the colony’s two hundred (200) miles of public roads.

Differences between sugar production in Antigua and British Guiana 1838-1846

(1) Antigua did not adopt the apprenticeship system, as the island was small and densely populated with
very little available, unused land, so most ex-slaves returned to the estates.
(2) Unused land was readily available in British Guiana so many ex-slaves chose to settle away from the
estates on land that they purchased, or occupied illegally. This resulted in a shortage of workers on the
estates
(3) Sugar production increased in Antigua during the period. Within ten years of emancipation, fewer
labourers were produced nearly twice as much sugar as was produced during slavery.
(4) The sugar industry in British Guiana declined by about forty per cent (40%) during the period, moving
from 45,000 tons during the pre-emancipation period, to 25,000 tons during the next decade.
(5) Planters in British Guiana had to devise ways of maintaining viability in the industry, such as importing
workers from overseas and introducing the use of labour-saving devices such as the plough and the
harrow.

Reasons for the increase in sugar production in some territories between1838 and 1876

The combination of (a) land, (b) labour, (c) credit and (d) technology helped them to increase their sugar
production between 1838and 1876.

(A) (1) British Guiana and Trinidad had large tracts of virgin land which were brought under cultivation.
These possessed great natural fertility, which, in Trinidad, permitted cane crops to be produced from
rations for ten to twenty years.
 (ii) St Kitts also possessed very rich soil that contributed to the increase in production
(iii) In Barbados, thousands of acres formerly planted in provisions were converted to cane. Planters in
Barbados reduced their commitment to foodstuff after emancipation and this relieved them of direct
personal responsibility for the sustenance of their workers. A similar, though more limited expansion
of cane acreage, occurred in Antigua.

(B)(1)Efficient, reliable labour was available at low cost in Antigua, Barbados and St Kitts. The large and
disciplined poor of wages labourers greatly offset the cost of annual re-planting and permitted the planters to
expand their cultivation, preserve the quality of their product and maintain the profitability of their
plantations.

(11) Planters in Trinidad and British Guiana imported foreign workers, especially East Indians. The steady
supply of these workers enabled the sugar estates to expand production which rose from 20,000 tons in
Trinidad in 1850 to 67,000 tons in 1879, and in British Guiana, production rose from 38,000 tons in 1851 to
92,000 tons in 1871.

(C) (1) In 1848 and 1853, the British government offered the colonies loans. Trinidad and British Guiana
accepted them and used them to finance immigration schemes, while Barbados used its share to improve its
estates, thus helping to maintain its relatively low-cost production.

(11) Because the planters in Barbados remained relatively debt-free, they were also to attract investment
capital for plantation maintenance and development.

(D) (1) Superior technology was also a vital factor in the increase of production. Planters in British Guiana
used some of the compensation money to invest in steam engines. In addition, sophisticated boiling
equipment such as the vacuum pan, the centrifugal dryer for separating molasses from sugar crystals, stream
engines for grinding and drainage was introduced in both Trinidad and British Guiana.

(11) The Colonial Sugar Company bought sugar properties in British Guiana and Trinidad and amalgamated
properties in each colony. It established the first central factory in the English speaking West Indies at St
Madeleine in Trinidad in 1872. Amalgamated and centralization contributed to greater efficiency and
increased production by about fifty per cent (50%).

(111) British Guiana and Barbados appointed government botanists to advise planters on improved
manufacturing techniques.

(IV) The use of fertilizer was adopted. High fertilization, combined with the increased acreage under
cultivation, enabled planters in Barbados to more than double their sugar exports in the first three decades of
emancipation, that is, production increased from 19,000 tons in 1834, to 41,000 tons in 1865.

(E) The planters in Barbados combined the two most important criteria of good business practice: superior
management and the maintenance of quality control. They were praised for their perseverance and skill in
cultivation. Their estates were properly tended and kept free of weeds. The Antiguans had also established
themselves as good farmers and estate managers.

Difficulties faced by the ex- enslaved after Emancipation

Ex-slaves in Antigua, Barbados and St Kitts:

(1) In Antigua, Barbados and St Kitts, there was a severe shortage of available land on which the ex-slaves
could establish themselves away from the estates.
(2) In Barbados, the large, resident, white planter class strove to keep the plantations intact, so they
generally refused to sell their land to ex-slaves.
(3) A few planters who were willing to part with small portions of their land were prepared to sell only very
small plots-less than half an acre, in many cases, of poor quality land.
(4) Some planters were prepared to rent only small portions of their marginal land to the ex-slaves in
exchange for their labour, but ex-slaves tenure was not secure, as they

Difficulties faced by the ex- enslaved after Emancipation Continued

Ex-slaves in Antigua, Barbados and St Kitts:

 (1) Some planters were prepared to rent only small portions of their marginal land to the ex-slaves in
exchange for their labour, but ex-slaves tenure was not secure, as they could be given a short notice to
quit at any time. This arrangement did not suit most of the labourers who were aspiring to become
landowners and so only few made use of this opportunity of gaining access to land
(2) Planters tried to prevent plantations from becoming abandoned so ex-slaves did not have the option of
squatting on abandoned estate land.
(3) There were very few active missionaries to provide help for ex-slaves in these territories as missionaries
had done in Jamaica.\
(4) Wages were kept low because the estates were the only large employers of labour, and very little land
was available for the ex-slaves to make their living as independent cultivators. Planters, therefore, had
the upper hand where wages were concerned. They collectively set a single, fixed rate and the newly
freed labourers had no option but accept it. In the 1840s,wages ranged from nine pence to one shilling
and six pence per day in Antigua, Barbados and St Kitts
(5) Laws were passed to restrict the movement of labourers, as planters were opposed to the migration of
their ex-slaves to other West Indian colonies. This made it difficult for the ex-slaves to move to large
territories where there were greater opportunities

Difficulties faced by other ex-slaves

In territories such as Jamaica, Trinidad and British Guiana where ex-slaves ability to find alternative means of
employment away from the estates was not limited by the availability of land, there were, nevertheless,
difficulties which they had to overcome in order to take full advantage of the available opportunities.

Unfair treatment by planters and Local Government

(1) Restrictive laws were passed by island legislature in an attempt to ensure a regular supply of labour for
the estates, eg vagrancy laws limited the freedom of movement of the ex-slaves and sought to prevent
what planters perceived as-wanton idleness
(2) Government imposed burdensome regulations on the acquisition of crown lands and refused to survey
them so that ex-slaves could legally settle on them.
(3) Following the passing of the Sugar Duties Equalization Act of 1846, planters in Trinidad, Jamaica and
British Guiana managed to get Britain to agree that crown lands should be available only in large parcels
that were most commonly fixed at sixteen (16) hectares or more. Few purchasers could afford the costs
of cleaning, planting and paying taxes on large parcels of land.
(4) Heavy fines were imposed for squatting on crown land. In British Guiana, squatting was punishable by
three months hard labour
(5) Planters were unwilling to break up large estates into small parcels of land
(6) Ex-slaves were allowed to remain on the estates, but they had to pay rent for their cottages and provision
grounds. If they did not work for the owner, the rent was very high
(7) Ex-slaves could be given short notice to leave their huts if the planters chose; for example, the Jamaican
Assembly passed the Ejection Act to evict free slaves from their home estate. Estate owners thought that
by ejecting ex-slaves from the plantation, they would divorce them from their provision grounds and
force them into the market for estate labour.
(8) Ex-slaves were required to obtain costly licenses for selling sugar, for making charcoal ,for opening
shops, or for starting other small businesses. This was aimed at attacking the alternatives to working on
the sugar estate by making it difficult and thus discouraging ex-slaves from engaging in occupations
other than estate labour.
(9) Lack of funds. Many had tried to find some means of earning money that they could save to buy land,
tools, or other necessities, but planters soon discovered means to hindering their chances of earning
enough to save. Some planters cut down fruits trees, others forbade apprentices to keep livestock, others
withdrew the licence which they were required to give apprentices to allow them to work away from
their estate, the ticket they needed to sell in the market. Most ex-slaves, therefore, lacked the money
with which to start their life of freedom.
(10) All territories insisted on cash sales only and most of the ex-slaves did not have enough cash to
purchase land.
(11) The government taxed peasants’ land at a higher rate than large estates.
(12) The destruction of provision grounds and the killing and maiming of ex-slaves livestock were a
continuation of the unfair treatment meted out to ex-slaves in an effort to deprive them of alternative
means of survival and thus force them back on the estates.In British Guiana, planters deliberately
 destroyed fruits trees to deprive the ex-slaves of a source of subsistence that competed with employment
on the estates.
(13) Fear,Many ex-slaves knew only a life of slavery and so they were fearful about whether or not
they would be able to survive on their own,away from the estates. This fear might have kept some of
them attached to the estates for along time.
(14) Because the sugar estates occupied the flat,coastal plains and the interiors valleys and lowlands
in many territories, the ex-slaves had their land primarily in the hills and mountainous areas that were
generally rocky and not very fertile.
(15) Natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes and droughts,at different times ,severely affected the
peasants/farmers crops.
(16) The ex-slaves rarely possessed the organizational skills required to maintain co-operatives which
could have assisted them with the funds needed to carry out work on some of their properties.Sea
walls,sluices and trenches bounded some of the properties that they brought and it was expensive for
individual landowners to maintain the drainage to prevent flooding. In British Guiana,the coastal plain
occupied by many ex-slaves was subject to flooding from the sea, if the sea wall was not properly
maintained and from rivers if the drainage canals were not kept free of vegetation and debris. On several
occasions,the sea broke in and as a result,houses were flooded and crops were destroyed.
(17) Many ex-slaves has not received legal titles to their land, or through ignorance of the law, had
not officially recorded their titles.In British Guiana where land settlement had a communal nature ,the
land rights of individual members of the co-operatives were never legally determined.As the years
passed,deaths occurred and shifting sexual relations produced a confused series of claim that made it
impossible to sort out the rights of those who claimed to own the lands.
(18) Many roads were mere footpaths and transportation was poor(mainly donkey and carts).
(19) The distance between some settlements and the local markets was great,so it was difficult for ex-
slaves to get their crops to the market.
(20) Where ex-slaves occupied land in the hilly regions,social services such as health care,education
became inaccessible , or were extremely limited

Reasons planters treated ex-slaves unfairly

(1 )They had always seen slaves as their private property. They resented the loss of their property and so they
sought to take their revenge on the ex-slaves by subjecting them to brutal and degrading treatment.
(2) They wanted to keep down the cost of production
(3) They wanted to make as much money as possible from their estates by spending as little as they could on
wages;they wanted to keep all the profits for themselves.
(4) In Antigua,Barbados and St Kitts,the planters had the upper hand,as there were very few alternatives to
working on the estates that were available to the ex-slaves.
(5) Planters in Trinidad and Tobago,Jamaica and British Guiana had another source of labour (immigrants) to
which they could turn if the number of local workers was inadequate.
(6) Many planters had very limited funds;in fact,some were greatly indebted to European creditors and
were,therefore, genuinely unable to offer the ex-slaves higher wages.

Benefits enjoyed by ex-slaves who migrated

Some ex-slaves from the Eastern Caribbean islands went to Trinidad and British Guiana where they were able
to
(1) Find work,more readily since there was a severe shortage of labour and therefore, less competition for work
(2) Earn higher wages in these territories were higher,sometimes twice as much as they were in the smaller
islands.
(3) Acquire land more readily,as there was an abundance of unused land which they could purchase, or even
occupy illegally.

Ways in which ex-slaves in the British Caribbean overcame difficulties faced after emancipation

(1) During the initially stage of the Crown Colony Government that was introduced, initially in Jamaica in
1866and subsequently in other territories ,some ex-slaves found employment in public works projects that were
undertaken ,for example ,on the Rio Cobre Irrigation Scheme in Jamaica
(2) Ex-slaves sought to take advantages of the educational opportunity provided by schools that were
run,initially ,by missionaries.
(3) In Jamaica ,in the early 1860s ex-slaves sought the help of the Governor,Edward John Eyre,and later they
petitioned Queen Victoria,seeking help to get land. The failure of these attempts resulted in the 1865 Morant
Bay Rebellion
(4) Ex-slaves from smaller territories such as Antigua and Barbados migrated to large territories such as British
Guiana and Trinidad where land was more readily available.
(5) Ex-slaves in territories such as Montserrat, Nevis and the Windward Islands ,were into sharecropping the
sugar cane fields with the plantation owners
(6) Some ex-slaves worked on the plantation on a part-time basis to supplement their earnings from their
provision grounds.
(7) Ex-slaves sold the produce from their small farms in the local market or to itinerant peddlers who brought
the farmers’ cash crops to ell in the market.
(8) On their plots land,ex-slaves cultivated crops, for example spices in Grenada,which later found their was
into the export market
(9) Some ex-slaves were able to rent marginal land from planters in territories such as Antigua and Barbados.
(10) In the Larger territories ,those who were unable to afford the money to purchase land squatted on unused
crown land,or on abandoned estate land. In the smaller islands of the eastern Caribbean,for example,in the
Windward Islands and in Nevis and Montserrat, ex-slaves squatted on small plots of land in the hills.In some
cases, planters or their agents encouraged men to squat on unused plantation lands in order to keep these men
close to the cane fields where they could work during crop time.
(11) In colonies such as British Guiana,Jamaica and Trinidad,were unused land was readily available ,ex-slaves
who had saved money during and after the apprenticeship period, others who had migrated
and ,subsequently,had returned with savings as well as those who had money that was sent back by relatives
who had migrated,on their own,or through co-operative efforts ,purchased land from the following:
(a) Individual landowners who were ready to sell
(b) Missionaries such as the Baptists ,Moravian and the Wesleyans who generally brought large acres of land
and subdivided them into small plots for re-sale to their members
(c) Land speculators who brought properties,subdivided them and sold the lots to make profit. Even in Antigua
and Barbados where unused land was scarce,some ex-slaves were able to purchase small plots. In 1842,the
Moravians sponsored a village in Antigua;and some planters were willing to sell “waste lands”for up
to120pounds per half hectare, in order to encourage ex-slaves to remain in the territories.

Reasons ex-slaves in small colonies had pay high rent

(1) Land was in short supply
(2) The demand for land was great
(3) Planters wanted to keep ex-slaves indebted and,therefore,bound to the estates,rent was high

How ex-slaves were able to pay high rent

(1) since the sugar industry remained vibrant in Barbados and in Antigua,ex-slaves were able to find
employment,and so earn wages.although their wages were low,their passion for land encouraged them to save
assiduously to pay their rent.
(2) Some of them exchanged their labour for the use of the planters’ land and so they did not have to use cash to
pay their rent.

Reasons proprietors in smaller territories were willing to rent or sell land to ex-slaves

(1) The availability of land would serve as a disincentive against emigration.If ex-slaves were able to get
plots of land on which they could cultivate their provision grounds in their own territories,they might not be
as eager to migrate. When planters in,Nevis, Montserrat ,and St Kitts found ex-slaves eager to leave for
better paying jobs in British Guiana and in Trinidad , they sold them provision grounds and house lots to
encourage them to stay.
(2) Those who settled in the villages that were created on the outskirts of the plantations would provide a
pool of workers from which planters hoped that they would be able to obtain a reliable labour force.
(3) Ex-slaves who rented land would reduce the planters labour cost,as some of them would use their
labours to pay their rent;for example,they would work for the planters without pay for one or two days each
week,in exchange for the use of their land.
 (4) Planters would be able to obtain high rental,because the scarcity of land would inflate the price
(5) Planters could gain money by processing the cane produced by those tenants who cultivated sugar cane
on the small rented plots

Reasons most ex-slaves were unable to get large plots of land

(1) In the smaller territories ,for example Antigua and Barbados,there was a shortage of available land,and so
the price was exorbitant,as a result ,small plots were all the ex-slaves could afford

(2) Planters did not want ex-slaves to become landowners since this could make them independent of the estates
and so reduce the planters’ labour force. As a result many planters were unwilling to sell land to ex-slaves,
particularly large parcels of land.They , therefore,preferred to rent or to sell them small plots of land.

(3) Missionaries who brought large parcels of land, subdivided them into small plots and sold them to ex-slaves.

(4) When crown land was made available for sale to ex-slaves for example British Guiana it was usually in
quantities beyond what individual ex-slaves could afford,therefore many of them pooled their money bought
large properties and distributed the land in small plots according to the amount of contribution made by each of
the contributors.

(5) Many ex-slaves did not have money to buy land and so they had to squat on crown land, or on estate land,as
a result they usually occupied a small plot.

(6) Many ex-slaves did not have the money to buy the tools and equipment needed to cultivate a large piece of
land and so they occupied what they could afford to cultivate.

(7) Many of them could not afford the labour to cultivate a large piece of land,so they occupied what they and
members of their families could afford to cultivate.

Problems ex-slaves faced in their efforts to earn a living from cultivating small plots of land

(1) The marginal land that was sold to the ex-slaves in some territories ,was not very fertile,and where more
fertile land was available ,for example British Guiana ,the perennial cultivation of the same plot soon led to soil
exhaustion and to a reduction in crop yield.

(2) Many plots were so small that there was no space to feed the small livestock that the ex-slaves reared. If
these were found on the planters’ land,they were killed or impounded.

(3) Because the plots were so small,estate crops that could bring in large profits could not be
cultivated;instead,the ex-slaves could do only subsistence farming,growing food crops,vegetables and few fruit
trees.Prosperity,therefore,was not guaranteed.

(4) Some parents had to subdivided their land to provide for their adult children. Sometimes, these subdivisions
reaches levels where it was almost impossible to continue worthwhile farming.

(5) Planters were against the small farmers whom they wanted to continue to labour on the estates and so they
tried to make subsistence living very hard by the oppressive taxes and licence levied by the assemblies that they
controlled

(6) Ex-slaves did not have cash,or access to credit to hire extra hands,or to buy tools and so if the ex-slaves
labourers or his wife were ill and unable to take care of their small farm,it would be left untended.

(7) Natural disasters such as drought,as well as crop diseases sometimes destroyed the crops and forced ex-
slaves to seek wage labour.

(8) Some ex-slaves did not have titles to prove legal ownership of the their plots of land and so they lost their
land with the crops.

Ways in which the ex-slaves made for living after Emancipation

(1) Ex-slaves were forced to remain as labourers on the sugar estates where they worked for the planters who

paid them for their labour. Where arable land was plentiful because of either the mountainous terrain or the
larger size of territories such as St Vincent, St Lucia,Grenada,Montserrat, Dominica,Jamaica,or because of the

later acquisition of the territory by Britain,for example Trinidad and British Guiana ,estates labour was scarce.

(2) Small-scale agriculture. Those who could afford it, started small cultivations wherever land was available

for rent or purchase.In a few cases,some cultivated abandoned estate land and crown land (belonging to the

government) on which they squatted ( illegally occupied it) .This was usually done in the larger territories such

as Jamaica,Trinidad and British Guiana where such land was available.There they produced for their own use

and for sale,a wide variety of minor crops such as cassava,arrowroot,corn, sweet potatoes,yams,eddoes,along

with tree crops such as coconut,coffee and breadfruit which had been introduced to feed the slave population.

Before long ,some of these crops,including coconut and arrowroot,found their way via the export market into

Europe .Ex-slaves also produced honey and beeswax

(3) Retail trading .Small -scale retail traders set up small shops,brought at low prices and sold at a profit,good

such as flour and salt fish. Others ,called hucksters in Antigua and higglers in Jamaica brought fruits and

vegetables from small farmers, and sold them in port towns and market place.

(4) Skilled trades.Many ex-slaves who had acquired special skilled before and during their enslavement,set

themselves up as tradesmen.These included millwrights ,masons, coppers, copper-smiths,

blacksmiths,carpenters, wheelwrights, tailors, shoemaker sand seamstresses.

(5) Charcoal burning. Some ex-slaves cut down trees on crown land,abandoned estates, or wherever they found

it possible,used these to make gation canals and in the sea.

(6) They sought employment in towns.There was a movement of ex-slaves to towns such as St Johns in

Antigua and Port of Spain in Trinidad. Some ex-slaves,including semi-skilled domestic workers such as

seamstresses, laundresses and cooks.were lured by the prospect of employment in these places. Some found

jobs as tally clerks, porters, packers, carters,stevedores and boatmen.

(7) They combined wage labour on the estate with small-scale farming

(8) They sought employment by becoming involved in sharecropping or the metayage/metayer system. For

those who were unable to purchase, rent , or to obtain land otherwise, this was an alternative. St Lucia, in

particular, but also Montserrat, Tobago,Grenada and Nevis witnessed the expansion of this system in which

labourers shared the proceeds of crops with landowners. Sugar was the main crop cultivated under this

arrangement. Using the planters’ land and draught animals,the ex-slaves planted, ,cut and delivered cane to the

planters mill in ex-change fora percentage of the value of the sugar that the planters exported.

(9) Some labourers formed jobbing gangs and sold their services to estate owners . These ex-slaves were

generally able to negotiate better wages and conditions than those employed individuals.
(10) Many ex-slaves moved from the Windward islands where wages were lower and from the Leeward islands

where land was scare, to Trinidad and British Guiana where there was a greater chance of earning of living by

getting and cultivating a piece of land, or by finding wage labour.

Reasons Caribbean planters experienced a decrease in labour supply after emancipation

(1) The ex-slaves wanted to move as far away as possible from the estates that reminded them of slavery and so

where land was available,they tried to get hold of such land , sometimes with the help of the missionaries,who

helped them to establish villages. Access to land in those villages made them reluctant to work for low wages

on the estates.

(2) Planters’ inability or unwillingness to pay high wages , encouraged ex-slaves to move gradually away from

estates.

(3) In trying to force ex-slaves to work for them, planters used methods that drove the ex-slaves from the estates

for example , they raised the rental and evicted ex-slaves from their huts

(4) Many male ex-slaves from the Eastern Caribbean territories migrated to British Guiana and to

Trinidad,where wages were higher and land was more readily available.

(5) Some ex-slaves were no longer willing to work on a full-time basis on the estates and others who were

willing to work full time,would not work the long shifts of slavery.

(6) Skilled ex-slaves refused to work on non-sugar properties, others turned to other forms of occupation such

as higglering and shopkeeping

(7) Women and children withdrew their labour from the estates

Immigration

Territories from which immigrants came from

(1) India

(2) China supplied the largest number of immigrants

(3) Free Africans came from Sierra Leone, Kru Coast, and Liberia Gambia ,in addition to a number brought in

by British warships that had rescued them from slave ships of other nations . About 17,000 Africans,who had

been captured in French armed expeditions in the Cango, were recruited for Martinique and Guadeloupe.

(4) A few freed Negroes came from North America

(5) Malta provided a few immigrants for Grenada and British Guiana

(6) Europe provided immigrants from Ireland, Scotland,Germany and Madeira a Portuguese colony in the

Atlantic, off Morocco.

(7) Java,ruled by the Dutch were recruited in the 1860 to work in Suriname

(8) Indonesia provided some for the Dutch colonies

Reasons for recruiting immigrants

(1) To increase their supply of labour, in response to the departure of large numbers of ex-slaves from the

estates

(2) To continue to cultivate sugar cane and to produce sugar

(3) To increase the white population in order to reduce the overwhelming imbalance in the ratio between the

white and the ex-slave population

(4) To keep the ex-slaves where the planters believed was their rightful place, that is , in the cane field.In

Jamaica,the legislature decided to establish townships in the cooler, interior mountain districts that imported

Europeans would occupy as settlers and labourers on the estates. Ex-slaves would, therefore, be denied both

land and employment in the cooler interior and so they would be forced to move to the hot lowland estates to

find employment.

(5) To keep down wages by increasing the labour force to the extent that there would be more workers than

work and so there would be competition for work.

(6) To restore their control over labour by getting a cheap,submissive,reliable set of resident,full-time workers.

(7) Some proprietors could afford them; for example those in Trinidad and British Guiana who were able to use

much of their compensation money to finance immigration,since they, unlike planters in some of the older

colonies,were not saddled with longstanding debts.

Reasons liberated Africans were imported after 1838

(1) They were landed directly in the Caribbean by the British warships that had rescued them

(2) Many planters ,already used to enslaved Africans,showed a preference for liberated Africans

(3) Many planters believed that Africans were stronger and better workers than any other ethnic group
(4) Missionaries and timber merchants, in spite of their opposition to the immigration scheme, failed to

discourage the West Africans from migrating.

Recruitment of Immigrants

Many of the immigrants who came to the Caribbean were obtained

(1) Through private arrangements between planters/recruited in the source countries and ships’ captains who

transported them

(2) Through organized ,government-sponsored schemes

(A) Europeans - In the 1830’s planters in Trinidad began to look to Maderia,a Portuguese colony in the

Atlantic where sugar cane was cultivated, for workers. Through an English merchant on the island,Mr

Seale,they arranged for the recruitment of the first one hundred and twenty sugar cane workers to come to

Trinidad in 1834/1835.After a brief suspension of the scheme in 1839,it was revived in 1841,with the assistance

of a bounty paid to ships captains to transport the immigrants.The period of immigration from 1834/1835

to1882 saw about 41,000 Madeirans coming to the British Caribbean,most of them to British Guiana. Between

1848 and 1859,about 300 Maderians were transported to Martinique and 480 to Suriname between 1822 and

1872. In 1835 ,the Jamaica legislature appointed an agent who sent to other parts of Europe to recruit

settlers.Individual employers also brought European immigrants into Jamaica,Trinidad and British Guiana.

(B) North Americans- Planters had hoped to attract slaves who had escaped from the southern American

plantation to live in the northern United States or Canada. In 1838-1840,agents from British Guiana,Jamaica

and Trinidad visited the Eastern states of the United States of America seeking labour recruits. They published

flattering accounts about their respective colonies and the government of Trinidad established offices in New

York, Philadelphia and Baltimore to facilitate emigration. Less than one thousand North American immigrants

came to the West Indies.

(C) Africans- Liberated Africans also came to the Caribbean after emancipation.

(1) Those rescued from British war ships were sent directly to British territories including British

Guiana,Jamaica and Trinidad, or settled in Sierra Leone and St Helene.

(2) In 1841, government- supervised emigration form Sierra Leone was organized.A government officer was

appointed at Freetown to supervise emigration procedures and regulations were adopted to prevent

abuses.Attempts were also made to recruit in Gambia, on the Kru Coast and in Liberia
(3) The colonial governments of British Guiana,Jamaica and Trinidad sent recruiting agents to Africa.They tried

to induce West Africans with offers of high wages and free return passages.

(4) The French took Congolese prisoners and shipped them to Martinique,Guadeloupe and French Guiana. They

were freed upon landing in the colonies.

(5) Private ships were chartered to carry the emigrants from Africa.

(D ) Chinese- workers were also recruited to fill to void created by the exodue of ex-slaves from the plantations

after emancipation.

(1) Large -scale immigration began in 1852 from the Chinese colony of Macao,in southern China.These

immigrants were convicts or prisoners of war and there were no women among them

(2) Between 1854 and 1866 about 15,000 Chinese came to British Guiana ,4,800 to Jamaica and 2,600 to

Trinidad. Most of them came from barracoons after being taken prisoners in the civil war that was being fought

across the whole of South China. Their captors handed them over to local indenture brokers who sold them to

British immigration agents.

(3) In 1860,British Guiana sent an agent to Canton to recruit Chinese Families from the rural areas of

Fukien,and Kwangtang. Trinidad joined the scheme and shared the cost of the agency in 1864.

(4) Recruiters did not tell the Chinese the nature of the work they were going to do and they made false

promises about repatriation.

(5) In the mid 1850s,the French Caribbean started to import Chinese workers. About 1000 went to Martinique

and 500 to Guadeloupe.The Dutch colony .The Dutch colony of Suriname also imported 2,502 Chinese

workers.

Subtopic: Recruitment of Immigrants

East Indians

(1) Immigration agents were appointed by each territory to work in India,usually at each port of departure.

Calcutta and Madras

(2) Licensed sub-agents manned recruiting stations set up in the villages

(3) Sub-agents appointed unlicensed assistants or recruiting agents, called Kutty Maistries in Madras and

Arkatias in Calcutta, who went into the villages and prime recruiting areas.

(4) Recruiters sometimes used unscrupulous and improper methods such as intimidation and

misrepresentation of West Indian conditions, especially when conditions were unfavourable.

 (5) Recruiters were paid one shilling for each able –bodies prospective adult male emigrant they obtained

for the British Caribbean. The fee was usually higher for women.In Suriname ,recruiters were paid 25

rupees to recruit an Indian man and 35 rupees for each female because they were more difficult to find.

The rate for boys age 12 to16 was half of that for an adult male, but the full adult rate was paid for girls

over 10, and an attempt to encourage the recruitment of females.

(6) Sun-agent or recruiters took prospective emigrants to sub-depots. They were medically exammmined.

Sub-agents explained the terms and conditions ofindentureship to them and they were made to sign a

contract legally witnessed by a magistrate. The sub-agents were paid for each signed contract, about

three pounds for a man and five pounds for a woman. All their expenses had to be paid from this fee.

(7) After registration, emigrants were taken, by train, to Calcutta or Madras.

(8) At the depot, they were again medically examined to them the terms of the contract.

(9) If medically, they were fit, they were kept at the depot until there was a sufficient number to fill a ship.

When there was enough of them, they were put on board a ship for the Caribbean.

Transportation to the Caribbean

(1) Immigrants were put in cramped quarters on the ships

(2) After 1864when new regulations were introduced, each ship had to carry a medical officer, a dispenser

and supplies of drugs, warm clothing and food. Sick emigrants were treated onboard the ship

(3) Meals were served twice a day

(4) Emigrants were allowed a bath each day and music and singing were allowed

(5) Emigrants were not confined to any part of the ship, but male and female quarters were kept separate to

maintain discipline.

(6) The journey lasted from 93to113 days, depending on whether it was sailing or steamship. Stream ships

were faster.

(7) On arrival in the Caribbean, the immigrants were again medically examined. Those who were sick and

needed to be hospitalized were provided with the necessary medical attention, while the others were kept

in a depot until the Protector of Immigrants/Agent General distributed them among those who had made

an application for them.

Reasons some territories imported only a few immigrants

 (1) Many sugar planters were faced with serious financial problems emanating from the fall in sugar prices

after 1838 and the disappearance of profits, particularly after the Sugar Duties Act 1846. This led to

many sugar estates in Jamaica to cease production, so this need for imported labour on the island.

(2) Some of those who conrinued to plant sugar cane turned to rum production exclusively, and so this

reduced the demand for labourers

(3) Some of the farmers switched to cattle farming which required less labour than sugar estates. These non-

sugar producers felt that they could get sufficient local labourers. Thus reducing the need for immigrant

labourers.

(4) The Jamaican government was willing to finance the immigration scheme to the same extent as the

government of British Guiana and Trinidad, and so the planters were not able to import as many

workers.

(5) Unlike British Guiana, Trinidad andJamaica,most of the other territories were small and had only a

small amount of cultivable land,sothere was no need for a large labour force.

(6) In some of these territories, for example, Antigua and Barbados, there was an abundant supply of local

labourers.

(7) In other territories, for example, Nevis and St Lucia, fewer planters were able to afford the cost of

immigration, and so they solved their labour problem by using the metayage system.

(8) In territories, such as Grenada, that turned to alternative crops, the need for labourers was not as great,

so there waaas less reason to import large numbers of immigration

(9) Importation ofimmigrants was discontinued earlier n several territories than it was in British Guinaan

and Trinidad, where programme continued into the 20th Century.

Reasons some immigrants were unsatisfactory

(1) Planters had always feared that the emancipation of slaves would lead to the abandonment of the

estates by the ex-slaves, which would result in a decrease of the labor force and consequently, the ruin

of the economy of the British Caribbean territories. British Guiana, Trinidad, and Jamaica were the

three colonies where the labor problem was most acute immediately after emancipation.

(2) Many of the immigrants who came failed to satisfy the British planters example the Europeans died in

large numbers soon after they arrived. Those who survived did not like agricultural labor, so they left

the estates for other occupations, drifted into the towns, emigrated to the United States, or returned to

their native countries.

(3) The period of the Madeiran/Portuguese immigration into the British Caribbean lasted from 1835 to

1882. About 40,971 came during this period, the largest number going to British Guiana. However, the

Madeirans were unsatisfactory because: (a) the scheme was irregular; (b) the death rate was high;(c )
 many were unwilling to work alongside ex-slave;(d) they did not like fieldwork; (e) as soon as their

contract expired, they deserted the estates and set themselves up as petty

(4) shopkeepers/ retail traders, cocoa growers, market gardeners; or they returned to Maderia. As a result,

so they had very little impact on the sugar industry.

(5) Fewer than a thousand North Americans came to the British Caribbean islands between 1839 and

1840, the years of the most widespread recruitment there. Most of them were craftsmen and mechanics

who had no interest in working in cane fields, so they returned to the United States. By 1848, only 148

could be found still working on estates in Trinidad.

(6) Attempt to get Africans resident in the Gambia, Sierra Leone, and the Kru Coast to migrate to the

West Indies were not very successful, so most of the Africans who came were those rescued from

captured slave ships bound for countries which have, not yet abolished slavery. Many of these

Africans abandoned estate labor the earliest possible opportunity, took up other occupations, and/or

squatted on available land

(7) The Chinese were not good estate workers and also did not like estate labor. They refused to work and

abandoned the estate. Many of them had little or no experience with and were not physically capable

of agricultural labor. Few of them re-indentured themselves; instead, they turned to shopkeeping,

huckstering, and market gardening, or they returned home

Many problems associated with Chinese immigration

(1) Chinese were not willing to leave home without contracts and it was not until 1848 that the British

government was willing to permit contracts to be signed at the port of embarkation . Until then,

contracts had to be signed on arrival in the colony.

(2) The cost of immigration was high because of the distance from china to the Caribbean.It cost twenty-

five pound to import a Chinese from Canton, but only fifteen pounds fron anIndian fromCakcuttaaa.In

1866, the cost rose higher when the Chinese government insisted that immigrants were to be provided

with a full return passage after five years.

(3) The Colonial Office was not willing to allow public fuuunds to be used to import Chinese workers and

the planters did not want to pay the cost because it was so expensive.

(4) Chinese women did not come to the Caribbean up to 1860, because most of the emigrants were seldom

volunteers; they were prisoners of war who were sold to immigration agents. Others women could not

be induced to emigrate and sexual irregularities reported among groups of male Chinese workers on

sugar estates alarmed the Secretary of State.The unequal sex ratio was of grave concern to the British

Government and it caused jealousy and resentment between Chinese and Negro populations.
 (5) Chinese officials were angered by the dishonest methods that the recruiters used, for example, they did

not tell the recruiters the nature of the work they were going to do and they made false promises about

repartriation. Prospective emigrants were, therefore, discouraged.

(6) Chinese immigrants did not like estate labour. When they found that they had been misled about the

kind of work, frequently they refused to work and as soon as they could, they abandoned the estates to

set up their own businesses, or they asked to be repatriated.

(7) Reports of overcrowding and disease on the ships, the outbreak of diseases on the estates and poor estate

conditions,discouraged prospective emigrants.

(8) The Chinese government was opposed to immigration when they learnt of the brutal treatment of

Chinese in Cuba and their poor treatment at sea. In addition, it hurt Chinese pride to have their people

travel thousands of miles to labour on sugar estates. The government, therefore, drew up rules toregulate

the engagement of Chinese emigrants by French and British subjects, which did not satisfy either of the

governments, even after a long discussion.

(9) China was not a British colony and the British government had little power or influence there. The

British government could only try to persuade the Chinese government to allow emigration. When they

allowed it they enforced all sorts of restrictions and conditions, such as the use of only certain ports of

embarkation.

(10) Competition for emigrants was keen, as gents from California, Panama and Peru also sought

migrant labour in China. Those Chinese desirous of emigrating to doagricultural work could find it

nearer to home in Java and the Philippines, so unless kidnapped and sold, they chose to go to California,

or South East Asia, when were nearer to home.

(11) Chinese immigration scheme was discontinued in the late 1800s, by which time the

British ,French and Dutch Caribbean employers had found a more worthwhile alternative to the Chinese,

in East Indian labourers.That emigration scheme ended in 1917.

Indian Immigration

Where the East Indian went to in the British Colonies

British Guiana

Grenada

Jamaica

Trinidad

St Vincent
St Lucia

St Kitts

Where the East Indian went to in the French Colonies

French Guiana

Guadeloupe

Martinique

Where the East Indian went to in the Dutch Colonies

Suriname

Reasons India became the main source of immigrant labour

(1) India had a verylarge population. Thousands of these people were unemployed and so were willing to

emigrate.

(2) Indians were used to tropical cultivation and were, therefore, suitable for plantation labour in the

Caribbean.

(3) They had greater resistance to tropical diseases and sowere adaptable to the Caribbean environment.

(4) They were hard-working and could be easily recruited

(5) India was a British government was eventually willing to support emigration, for which purpose the

Colonial Office established the Colonial Land and Emigration Commission to supervise the emigration

scheme.

(6) Indian women were willing and able to emigrate, thus providing more incentive formen to emigrate.

(7) Indian emigration was cheaper than that of the Chinese as the transportation cost was less.

(8) The Indians were a more reliable source of labour than the other groups of immigrants and they were

available.

Factors that caused Indians to emigrate

Push Factors

(A) Economic conditions

(1) Thousands of people lost traditional jobs in village craft shops making cloth, small metal tools and

ornaments because of new competition from the mechanized mills and factories in England.

(2) As the population dependent on the land for their livelihood increased, plots became smaller until

theycould no longer provide economic support for those dependent on them. Many of these people

eventually lost their land because ofdebts that they owed.

 (3) There was not enough land todivide among younger sons who had no choice but to remain idle in the

country villages

(4) Between 1850 and 1877, a series of famines increased food prices beyond the reach of many of the

poorer families

(B) Social

(1) Some people found it difficult to continue to live with their families and in their village communities, so

emigration provided an escape route.

(2) Criminals escaping from the police and who were afraid to return to their villages were among emigrants

Pull Factors

(a) The promise of higher wages and steady work in the Caribbean was a powerful incentive to emigrate

(b) The prospect of getting land at the end of the contract provided encouragement

(c) The contract ,which offered (1) return passage, (2) free medical treatment,(3) housing and (4) free

rations for the first few months)

(d) The fact that the contract was renewable

(e) The aggressiveness of the recruiting agents and their favourable reports of life in the Caribbean attracted

many emigrants

Terms of the Contract

(1) The indentured servant should work on every day of the week except Sundays and public holidays

(2) Days spent in jail(goal) had to be made up at the end of the contract

(3) A field labourer had to work seven hours per day,andafactory worker, ten hours

(4) The wages were one shilling a day in Trinidad in the 1840s foraman over sixteen, provided that he was

healthy.

(5) For the first three months, newly arrived immigrants were robe supplied with food and 4d per day could

be deducted from their wages for the food provided.

(6) The immigrants were tobe provided with rent-free housing in barracks

(7) Free medicine and hospitalization were to be provided

(8) A free return passage would be provided on completion of the contract

Difficulties faced by Indentured labourers in the Caribbean

The East Indians were brought as Indentured immigrants to British Guiana.

(a)They were separated from their families

(b) They had a difficult time adjusting to the new environment.

( C) The original language of the East Indians is Hindi and their employers were Englishmen. Most of the East

Indians had a difficult time communicating and understanding their employers and other residents in the

industry. Because they were unable to communicate with others, they had to rely on group leaders (Sidars)

among the Indians as intermediaries.

(D)Their health standards were very low. There wasn’t any health facilities or anyone to look after them when

they were ill.

( E) The East Indians had to work hard even when they were sick. This lead to illness, diseases and high death

rate among them. Some of the many diseases they were faced with were; Malaria, hookworm, typhoid, yellow

fever, dysentery, anaemia and mental illness.

(F) The East Indians were also subjected to ill-treatment, physical abuse, including corporal punishment and

neglect. Their poor diet also affected their health. Getting drinking water was also an issue. There were wells

for catching and storing rainwater for the Indians to use but the labors were not sure of the purity of these

waters. They were forced to use water from lakes, rivers and streams.

(G)The absence of proper toilet facilities if any at all posed problems for the immigrants.

(H) They were forced to excrete in the fields and bushes which is where most of the diseases they had were

contracted. The high infant mortality rate was also experienced by the East Indian immigration population.

(I) The East Indians lived in a wooden, barrack-like building called “Lodgies” or “Ranges” which had poor

sanitation and was very uncomfortable to live in. Some of the Logies had wooden floor a little off the ground

where the East Indians would spread cloths to sleep on. While some had to sleep on the bare muddy ground.

Each room of the barrack building measured 10 feet square and 8 to 10 feet high and the partitions between

rooms did not reach the roof so that there was a total lack of privacy. Ventilation was often inadequate. Each

such room accommodated either a married couple and their children, or two to four single adults. Cooking was

usually done outside, on the steps.

(J) The immigrants had to work from morning to night, every day in whatever weather. They were not

allowed to have breaks and often refused to take any because they feared their masters’ whips or that they

would not receive full pay. Hence they worked as they were tol. (K)They were also at risk of contracting

various diseases or to be bitten by poisonous snakes, bugs and other harmful creatures that were in the fields.

(L)They had no representation or rights when it came to the conditions of their working conditions.

(M)Unlike the Africans, the East Indians were indentured laborers, meaning that they did receive wages. They

had to work for long hours and received very little pay. These wages were very small and were not sufficient to
have all of the things they need. Fines were also imposed upon them and they were exploited due to their

cultural differences.

(N)The majority of the East Indian laborers were men. This means that there were very little women

among them. Because of this, there were many conflicts among the male immigrants which resulted in

numerous murders. Twenty-seven murders were committed by the male Indians suspecting their wives/

mistresses of unfaithfulness.

(P)Marriages among the immigrants were not considered legal and children brought forth from these marriages

were termed illegitimate. This posed huge problems as it related to the division of property, rights and assets to

the children.

(Q)The East Indian Immigrants feared the conversion of Hinduism into Christianity. Because of this

parents refused to send their children to school resulting in them having little or no education. There was an

absence of worshiping places such as Temples and Mosques for them to hold their religious meetings and

ceremonies. Religious practices had to be done quietly.

Effects of Immigration on CaribbeanEconomy and Society after1838.

Economic effects

(1) Indian immigration provided planters with a steady nucleus of residents workers who helped the

planters to restore their control over a significant part of the labour force. This contributed to the

reduction of wages paid to Creole workers and so helped to reduce the cost of production.

(2) The availability of large numbers of cheap workers contributed to the inefficient use of labour, as

sometimes, more workers than was necessary were assigned to do a job.

Topic: The establishment of Free Villages and the effects on Labour Problems

Subtopic: Reasons for the dramatic redistribution of landholdings and the establishment of free villages

(1) The ex-slaves had a desire (a)to be free and (b) town a piece of land. The ex-slaves' associated work on

the estates with slavery, so they wanted to be independent on the estates. They wanted to get a piece of

land for themselves, as they saw the possession of the land as the key to independence.

(2) The ex-slaves dislike plantation labour and they wanted to forget the dad treatment that had been meted

out to them under slavery.

 (3) There was the insecurity of tenure on the estates. Many planters, resenting the abolition of slavery,

began to charge rent for the use of huts and provision grounds that ex-slaves had formerly occupied as

slaves. The planters evicted those ex-slaves who would not work for them and paid low wages to those

who continued to work; actions which ex-slaves saw as limitations to their new freedom, and so,

whoever land was available for rent, purchase, or to squatting, they moved away from the estates and set

up free villages on the available land

(4) 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 slave with provision grounds on

which they grew food crops. Slaves owners had also developed the practice of allowing slaves to sell

any surplus in the Sunday market. When freedom came as they chose to the growing and marketing of

provisions from which they could make a living.

(5) There was land available for cultivation. In the larger territories, crown land and united estate land were

available forex-slaves to occupy.

(6) Some ex-slaves squatted on unusual land and disregarded official warnings to resist from such practice

because workers in the timber cramps; and the villages could serve as reservoirs from which workers

could be drawn when needed.

(7) Some landowners were willing to sell some of their lands to ease their financial problems, for example,

to raise money to pay wages, or to clear off land standing debts.

(8) In British Guiana, ex-slaves pooled their resources, obtained limited credit and purchased large parcels

of land from estate owners. Victoria, Queenstown, Plaisance and Beterverwaging were some of the

villages which they established. By 1852, it was estimated that there were more than seventy thousand

(70,000) ex-slaves owning property in houses and land for which they had paid one million pounds.

(9) Baptist and Wesleyan missionaries, for example, William Knidd, James Phillippo 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, Clarksville, Wilberforce, Boston, Bethany, Salem, Philadelphia and

Harmony, where ex-slaves were able to purchase small lots of land.

(10) The generosity of some planters also contributed to the establishment of free villages. In

Barbados Reynold Alleyne Ellcock, the owner of Mr Wilton Estate in St Thomas parish left money in

his will to each of his slaves. After his death, they received this money in 1841, and together, they

brought sections of Rock Hall Estate to establish free villages.

(11) A few planters, for example, Peter Chapman, an owner of Workman’s Estate in St George, made

land available for sale.In1856, he subdivided 102 acres of his estate and allowed ex-slaves to purchase

lots in instalments.

What ex-slaves helped to achieve by establishing free villages

 (1) They would get a piece of land for themselves, cultivate it and, as far as possible, be independent of

wages labour

(2) They would become prosperous by cultivating and marketing cash crops

(3) They would be able to provide an education for their children by taking advantage of the facilities that

were provided by the missionaries

(4) They would enjoy the freedom of worship, since planters among ex-slaves

(5) By withdrawing their labour, they would hurt and undermine the estates where they had been enslaved

for many years.

Impact to free Village Settttlement on Labour Problem

some planters were opposed to the establishment of free villages because these villages created several

problems for them.

Problems free villages created for planters/reasons planters were opposed to free villages

(1)free villages led to the loss of labour. They deprived estates of their reliable labour force, thus creating a

shortage of labour and a reduction in sugar production in territories such as Trinidad and British Guiana. Female

labour, traditionally the backbone of fieldwork, was lost to free villages. Children, whose labour planters had

used at minimal cost, were now attracted to the missionary-run schools in the villages

(2)The number of male labourers for work in the factory, and in artisan, jobs were reduced

(3) The free villagers robbed the planters of the control that they had over the labourers.

(4) the number of available, full-time workers was drastically reduced, as slaves could not live in the villages

and choose when to offer themselves for estate labour. Many of the villagers, therefore, worked on a part-time

basis, merely to supplement their earnings from their small plots, or other sources. This did not always meet

the planters need for workers.

(5) There was a rise in the operating cost of the estates. Free villages were able to negotiate for highest wages

and better conditions. Missionaries, sometimes acted as their informal bargaining agents and encouraged them

their informal bargaining agents.

Other effects of free villages

(a) Some villages that were established close to estates provided a source of labour, through part-time and

unreliable. In some instances, planters could obtain the labour of young people, at a cheaper rate, from

these villages
 (b) In Belize, villagers located near mahogany camps sold crops from their provision ground to feed the

workers

(c) The shortage of labour prompted planters to resort to wide-scale immigration to find a replacement for

their lost labour force.

Non-Conformist Missionaries and the Peasantry

Active missionary groups in post-emancipation British Caribbean

(1) Baptists ( the most energetic group in the struggle for the right of the ex-slaves

(2) Congrgationlists (London Missionary Society)

(3) Methodists

(4) Moravians

(5) Presbyterians

(6) Scottish Missionaries

Reasons missionaries encouraged and helped to establish free village settlements

(1) Many landowners were willing to sell their land, but they wanted to sell large units, while the ex-

slaves wanted only a few acres. Landowners were more willing to sell to the missionaries than to the

ex-slaves.

(2) Landowners often charged exorbitant prices for their land. Many ex-slaves were unable to afford the

price and they did not have ready cash to pay for the land, independent small-scale producers.

(3) They wanted ex-slaves to become landowners, as land ownership was one of the qualifications they

needed to vote.

(4) They wanted to remove ex-slaves away from the exploitation of the planters. As long as ex-slaves

remained on the estates, the planters could continue to exploit them.

(5) They wanted to provide opportunities forex-slaves to practice,in an atmosphere of peace, and in the

absence of conflict, the skills learnt on the estates during slavery

(6) Many ex-slaves were departing from the estates and from the range of missionary influence, to

establish settlements in the hills/interior. Missionaries did not want them to leave as they wanted to

retain their religious gains among the ex-slaves and to retain their influence over them, so they

could spread their particular doctrine more effectively among them and thereby encourage them to

shun ‘Africanism’

(7) They wanted to expand their denomination, that is to have as many churches as possible and to

increase the membership of these churches.

(8) They wanted ex-slaves to enjoy the freedom of worship

(9) They wanted to help ex-slaves to live ‘moral’ live away from the evils of the estates.
Assistance provided by missionaries for the establishment of free villages

(1) They provided advice on the layout of the villages

(2) They helped ex-slaves to get legal documents (titles)for their land

(3) Missionaries brought large acres of land and re-sold the land in small plots to members of their former

estate congregations. Ex-slaves were allowed to make their payment in instalments

(4) They provided leadership for ex-slaves and advised them on administrative matters, established a

settlement at GoodwillinJamaica, where he reserved two acres of land for the residence ofaminister and

half an acre for a church. No gambling and no liquor stores were permitted in the village.

Others ways in which missionaries helped ex-slaves up until 1876

(1) They established themselves as the defenders and the advisers of the ex-slaves whooften asked them

to bargain for wages and to enter their disputes with the planters

(2) The Baptist, Methodolist, Moravian and Presbyterian missionaries providedschoolsfor the education

of the ex-slaves. Through education, they provided them with an opportunity for upward social

mobility.

Main Problems Faced by Government in the British Caribbean after Emancipation

(1) The problems which directly affected the sugar industry including (a) shortage of labour and(b) the 1846

Sugar Duties Act which resulted in the depression if prices on the sugar market and the shrinking of the

sugar industry.

(2) There was a lack of funds. The sugar industry was the main source upon which civil and economic

development depended in the British colonies. The decline in the profits of the industry seriously

affected the governments' ability to provide for the social needs of the people

(3) Health: There were inadequate public health and medical services. Under slavery, it was in the interest

of the planters to keep their slaves healthy, and so medical attention was provided on the estates. After

slavery was abolished, the majority of planters provided only limited health care for those ex-slaves who

continued to live and work for them on the estates, in an attempt to retain their services. Planters were

no longer willing to pay for the services of a doctor. As a result, several medical practitioners left the

colonies and those who remained tended to live in the towns, as the rural peasantry was too poor were

unable to engage the services of qualified physicians. In Jamaica, in the early 1860s, the number of

doctors had fallen to about one-quarter of the number employed at the time of emancipation.

(b) There was inadequate sanitation that contributed to the outbreak of cholera in the 1850s in several

territories, including Barbados, British Guiana and Jamaica. 32,000 people died in the outbreak in

Jamaica form 1850 to1851.

 (c) Many labourers suffered from hookworm and malnutrition, and infant mortality was high

(d) Diseases were prevalent such as yellow fever, malaria, smallpox, typhoid, yaws and leprosy. Serious

health problems arose in Jamaica and the Lesser Antilles in the 1850s when cholera raged through

several of the islands and British Guiana. This was followed in Jamaica, by an outbreak of

influenza, which was succeeded by an eighteen-month epidemic of smallpox.

Government’s response to health problems

(1) When freedom became responsible for their own medical care, public hospitals were needed to replace

plantation infirmaries and asylums were required for lepers and insane persons. In the early 1840s,

Barbados and Antigua established separate facilities for lepers and lunatics, but the smaller islands of the

Lesser Antilles were harmless, wandered freely and violent ones were kept in jail.

(2) In Kington, Jamaica, there was a public hospital with an adjacent asylum long before emancipation. In

the early 1840s, the assembly voted twenty thousand pounds (20,000) for the construction ofa new

asylum and at the same time, it planned to erect a lazaretto ( hospital for lepers). However, most of the

population lived in the rural parishes, too far from Kingston to use the main medical facilities there.

(3) In response to the cholera epidemic of the 1550’s the following steps were taken in Barbados (a) a

colonial Board of Health was organized with the aid of two physicians who came out from British(b)

Local government inspectors were appointed. (c) A general clean-up was attempted. (d) A vaccination

programme was introduced; 15317 persons were vaccinated during 1850 and 185.

(4) Broad of Health was established in other colonies hospitals were built in some towns, and a dispensary

system established in some rural districts. Flush toilets and a modern sewerage system were gradually

introduced to improve sanitation. However, little was done to deal with endemic diseases such as

malaria, yellow fever and cholera.

(5) Sanitary inspectors were employed in some territories to enforce the observance of health regulations;

and from onwards, some governments began to install waterworks and piped water in the towns. In

some colonies, artesian wells were drilled in the rural areas, and water was available to form roadside

standpipes

Public Welfare

There was inadequate provision for public welfare, including provision for(1) housing; (11) the care of criminal

offenders and lunatics and(111) the relief of the poor, the aged and the infirm. The shortage of funds resulted in

minimal financial provision for those needs. Provisions were directed toward assisting the efforts of a charitable

organization, mainly denominational and missionary societies.

In Antigua, poor relief was granted on a parochial basis, financed by two and a half per cent (2/12%) of the

custom duties granted to the vestries, plus the receipt of small land tax levied by the vestries, plus the receipt of

small land tax by the vestries themselves.

In Montserrat, the legislature provided four hundred pounds (400 pounds) a year for relief

In Nevis, the government made small contributions that assisted voluntary subscriptions to provide aid for

widows, orphans, and deserted women and children. Some colonies made institutional provision for the care

for the poor, the aged, the infirm and lunatics, while in others, the poor were given meagre outdoor relief and

lunatics were housed in hospitals or jails. People were left to provide, as best as they could, housing for

themselves, thus many of the houses were overcrowded and poorly ventilated.

Transportation andCommunication

The infrastructure was inadequate. People lived in isolated communities, inadequately linked by passable roads.

The roads that existed generally linked plantations with the capital city and port. They were merely dirt tracks

that became impassable during the rainy seasons.

Horse-drawn coaches or donkey carts usually traversed these roads.

Railways were constructed in some of the territories, beginning with Jamaica, in 1845, but these were primarily

to serve the interest of the planters.

The colonies existed in isolation from one another as they produced nearly the same staples, such as sugar and

cotton. This resulted in a lack of communication among them since there was little or no need to trade with one

another.

Flooding

In the British Guiana, there was a need for coastal defences and the proper upkeep of the drainage system to

prevent the flooding of fields.

Law and order

There were problems concerning law and order, the growth of petty crimes and the need for a police force to

help to deal with these.

Education

There were limited educational facilities. Before 1834, very little education of any kind was available in the

colonies, as the planters opposed any kind was available in the colonies, as the planters opposed any kind of

education for the slaves, fearing that it would encourage them to rebel against their enslavement. Children of
wealthy parents were educated privately and some boys were usually sent to the Britain United States of

America to complete their education. In 1835, Britain provided a sum of money, The Negro Education Grant,

for the elementary education of the newly freed people in the British West Indies. This money was divided

among several missionary groups that had worked with the slaves, but support for education was never as much

as it should be. The ColonialOffice urged the colonial government to provide money from their own resources

to promote Negro education, but they were not very co-operative. In 1844, shortly before the imperial grant was

withdrawn, Jamaica voted a general subsidy for education, a mere two or three thousand pounds annually.

(2,000-3,000) In 1861, the subsidy was increased to three thousand seven hundred pounds (3,700). Barbados

began to provide a grant of seven hundred and fifty pounds(750) in 1849.

During these early years, the facilities were limited, the education was bookish and secondary education was the

preserve of the fortunate few. This syllabuses/syllabus had little about the West Indies and more about Britain

and the empire. Many of the ex-slaves did not come fully

under the influence of the schools that were established because of the distance from the mission stations.

Developments in Education in the British Caribbean between 1838 and 1876

The Negro Education Grant

To address the virtual absence of educational facilities in the Caribbean, some steps were taken after 1838 to

provide education for the ex-slaves, particularly at the elementary level.

(1) The Negro Education Grant from 1835 to1845 an initial twenty-five thousand pounds (25,000) per year

was provided, but it was increased in 1837 to thirty thousand pounds (30,000). This money was to be

used to provide buildings and furniture. The running coast of the schools, for example, teachers salaries

and books, had to be, met by the missions and subscriptions. The government divided the grant among

the missions; so Catholic island such as Trinidad and St Lucia were neglected because of the British

Government’s unwillingness to grant money to catholic missions.

(2) The Micro Charity- In 1835 a Trust was created to administer funds left later in the 17 th century by Lady

Mico,aQuakeress. She had left money to her nephew, Samuel if he married any of her nieces. Failing

this, the money should be used to redeem Christiansenslaved by Moorish pirates in the Mediterranean.

The wedding did not take place; nor was the money used for the second purpose and in 1816, piracy was

finally crushed in Europe. The money was invested and by the time of emancipation, it had grown to one

hundred and twenty thousand pounds,(120,000). On the recommendation of Thomas Fowell Buston and

Stephen Lushington (abolitionists), the Mico Charity was established (a) The money was used to
 establish Normal schools, (Mico Colleges ) to train teachers in Jamaica, Antigua, Trinidad, and in

British Guiana. ( the Trinidad and British Guiana colleges were closed when the British government

discontinued the Negro Education grant). (b) The money was also used to build elementary schools

where the religious bodies had not built any, such as in isolated areas and Catholic colonies such as

Trinidad and St Lucia.

(3) The Negro Education Grant and the Mico Charity gave a great impetus to education in the British West

Indies.Thirty-eight(38) new elementary schools were erected in 1835 and fifty-two (52) in 1836. By

1841, The Mico Charity was operating one hundred and ninety-six (196) schools with about fifteen

thousand(15,000) pupils throughout the British West Indies . By December 1840, the teachers’ colleges

(Normal Schools) had admitted two hundred and forty –one (241) students, one hundred and fifty-eight

(158) of whom had assumed teaching appointments in schools of every religious denomination, as well

as in the day schools of the Mico Charity. These teachers,hastened through the colleges/Normal Schools,

with a few months of training, were limited in perspective and technique.

Education in the Crown colonies

(1) Unlike the legislative colonies, Crown colonies such as Trinidad and British Guiana responded well

to the Colonial Office’s appeal to the local governments to provide funds to promote the education

of the freedmen. British Guiana voted approximately two thousand five hundred pounds(2,500) for

religious, education in 1836 and 1837. Trinidad also provided funds, which is distributed on the

application, to Anglican, Catholic and Wesleyan groups.

(2) Between 1847 and 1862,Broads of Education,(also called Education Committees) were established

in several colonies to control education, that is, to supervise education.InJamaica aboard was

established in 1847, in St Lucia in 1848, in Barbados in 1850, in Trinidad in 1851 and British

Guiana in 1862.

(3) Schools inspector were appointed to examine government-aided schools to ensure that minimum

standards were maintained. In Jamaica, an inspector was appointed in 1847 and 1851 in Trinidad

(4) In 1851, Ward School, free primary schools tobe maintained entirely from the funds of the

respective wards, were established in Trinidad. However, dissatisfaction with this system left its

replacement by the system under which schools were assisted/ supported by the colonial

government. In 1875, payment by results was introduced whereby teachers were paid based on the

performance of their schools.

School curriculum in Trinidad and other colonies

(1) Initially, the curriculum was based on religious instruction, reading and writing. however, in Trinidad’s

Ward schools, there was to be no direct teaching of religious doctrine. In the 1850s, the curriculum was
 expanded in most colonies to include arithmetic, grammar, geography and history. This was in line with

a British curriculum that taught British history and other topics irrelevant to the needs of Caribbean

students who learnt little about /from the objects of their environment.

(2) An unsuccessful attempt was made to introduce industrial training, but the freedom was not receptive to

this kind of education, which they saw as a plan to persuade their children to continue in plantation

service.

Secondary education in the colonies after emancipation

(1) Secondary Education was for the privileged few, usually the children of the whites and the wealthy

coloureds. Some religious denominations established secondary schools and there were also a few

private ones. In 1844, the Anglican Bishop of British Guiana started a grammar school. In 1859,

Queen’s Collegiate School was founded and was financed by three thousand pounds(3,000)per year

out of public funds in Trinidad. There were no Black students and only one-fifth of the population

was coloured. Trinidadian students started to write the University of Cambridge Local Examinations

in 1862, with good results. Similar schools were established in Jamaica and Barbados; for a long

time, the most favoured West Indian colony, educationally. In 1875, Codrington college,begun in

Barbados in 1716,became affiliated to Durham University , began in England and several

Barbadians sat the London Matriculation Examination in the year.

(2) In Trinidad and British Guiana, East Indian parents did not want to send their children to the school

attended by Negro children, so the governments established estate schools to cater to them. The

government also supported the work of the Canadian Presbyterian Mission was started their work

among the Indians in Trinidad in 1876.

(3) Teachers for the schools were in short supply and were usually poorly paid. The monitorial system

employed in National British and foreign schools was adopted. Monitors, who were advanced

students ,taught, examined ministered to less advanced students under the supervision of the

schoolmaster. Learning was largely by rote; nevertheless, the system was able to equip some of the

children with basic techniques of reading, writing and simple arithmetic. Unfortunately, some of the

children understood very little of what they read.

(4) The number of schools was inadequate. By 1865, there were fewer pupils enrolled in Jamaica

schools than during the final years of apprenticeship. Similarly,by 1870, there were fewer pupils and

fewer schools in Trinidad that had been the case in 1846. Inthe the late 1850s and in the 1860s, in

Barbados, primary schools were poorly attended and up to1865, probably not more than thirty per
 cent (30%) of the people between ages five and fifteen received formal day-school education in the

colony at any time.

The Morant Bay Rebellion- broke out in Jamaica in 1865 was caused by several factors but among them was

the lack of access to land and the right to vote, and this was made worse by the economic impact of the

American Civil War. Rural economic hardship was made worse because there was no broad-based democracy

and those in political power did not need to be accounted to the masses. The planter class did not wish to help

freed people access commercial land. As squatting became more commonplace (since many Blacks could not

buy land), so did evictions. In 1865, a group of Jamaican labourers from the parish of St Ann petitioned the

Queen’s Victoria requesting the right to rent unused Crown lands. The reply attributed to her urged the

petitioners to work harder on the planters’ estates. This Queen Advice only served to make the rural poor

angrier and protests increased in the depression years of the mid-1860s. A major rebellion erupted in St Thomas

in the East in 1865. This was called the Morant Bay Rebellion.

Many workers, male and female, participated in the planning and execution of the armed rebellion. Some

women, for example, stone the constables and raided police stations for guns and ammunition. The recognized

leader was Paul Bogle of Stony Gut. He was one of George William Gordon’s Black deacons in the Baptiste

church. Gordon was a Coloured member of the Assembly and a businessman who championed the cause of the

masses. After unsuccessful attempts to get redress for the followers into the town seized weapons and marched

on the Moran Bay courthouse. The militia responded and shot several demonstrators; the courthouse was

torched and a handful of White people were killed.

The armed protest spread to other parts of the parish and several plantations were attacked. The rebellion was

severely put down under orders from Governor Edward Eyre, a former Lieutenant- Governor of New Zealand

and a formers governor of St Vincent. H had previous experience in dealing with indigenous peoples in

Australia and New Zealand. He developed a harsh and intolerant policy of dealing with Black people in

Jamaica. He was hostile to the Blacks and Coloured people and represented the unyielding stance of the ruling

elite.

At Governor Eyre’s direction, Paul Bogle was caught by Maroons in a cane –piece and was hanged from the

roof of the Morant Bay courthouse. George William Gordon, who had long been critical of the government’s

policies and attitudes towards the poor, was accused of being intimately involved in the rebellion. He too was

put to death. Almost 600 people were killed and as many flogged. Many women who were suspected of hiding

male rebels, were raped or their heads shaved. Over 1,000 houses were burned. The British government sent out

a Commission of Enquiry which concluded that the system of government in Jamaica was unworkable. Eyre
was recalled and the legislature was given a choice; give more people the right to vote or surrender the

government to the Crown.

The Jamaica Assembly was throughout alarmed by the rebellion and so decided to vote for its own abolition. In

1866, a British Order-in-Council replaced the 200year old Representative System, with a Crown Colony

government in Jamaica. Crown Colony government was rapidly extended to other colonies-it had a Legislative

Council without any elected members. Barbados, like Bermuda and the Bahamas, kept an elected Assembly and

rejected Crown Colony rule. But Crown Colony government was introduced to Montserrat in 1866, the British

Virgin Islands in 1867, Nevis, Grenada, St Vincent and Tobago in 1877, St Kitts in 1878, Antigua and

Dominica in 1898.

Introduction to Crown colony government

In 1866 Crown Colony government was introduced in Jamaica. This was soon adopted by other colonies so that

by 1898, all the British colonies, except Barbados, had adopted the Crown Colony system of government.

Considerable expansion of educational facilities occurred after this new system of government was introduced.

Towards the end of the century, secondary schools were started in the new crown colonies. The growth of the

library movement in the British West Indies took place during the same periods. By 1876 libraries had been

established in St Johns, Antigua (1830), Grenada (1846), Barbados, Montserrat, St Lucia (1847) and in Trinidad

(1851)

Other Improvements made by 1876 in the Colonies that had Crown Colony Government

Crown Colony government (that is direct rule by the Crown) was introduced in Jamaica in 1866, following the

outbreak of the Morant Bay Rebellion. By 1876 most of the British colonies except Barbados, which never

became a crown colony, had adopted Crown Colony Government. This new system of government ensured the

participation of more qualified members than would normally have been obtained through the vote. It was also

easier to enact legislation without restriction. In addition to already mentioned improvements made by

Representative Assemblies which governed most of the colonies until 1866 and those made to education up to

1876, several other improvements were introduced in the British colonies.

(1) Trinidad had its first refuse collection in the 1840s and began to build sewers and main water pipes in

the 1860s.

(2) In 1858, the general hospital of Port of Spain, Trinidad, was opened to serve the whole community and

Boards of Health was established to deal with the health of the immigrants. Under the governorship of

Sir John Peter Grant in Jamaica, 1866-1870, more far-reaching changes were introduced, for example:
 (3) In Jamaica, (a) Governor Grant reduced the number of parishes from twenty-two to fourteen, thus he

reduced the power of the local magistrates and the vestry committees.

(b) He replaced the local militia, greatly distracted by the freed people, with a police force.

(c ) He cleared up the question of the legal ownership of land

(d) He dis-established the Anglican Church so that the government would no longer finance it.

(e) He set up a Public Works Department which (1) built roads from the coast to the interior towns;

(11)extended the stretches of a railway which had been started in the e1840’s; (111) built an irrigation

system to bring water to the very dry lands south-west of the Rio Cobre.

(f) He improved Kingston, the new capital, by providing (1) piped water; (11) gas works; (111) a fire

brigade; (1V) a market; (V) mule-train tram service; (V1) improvement to the street and public building.

(g) He established a government medical service.

(4) In Trinidad, Sir Ar thur Gordon

The response of the Peasantry in Jamaica to Representative Government up to 1865

Reasons the peasants felt neglected

(1)They were charged high rental for land in attempts to keep them attached to the estates.

(2) Laws were passed against squatting. This made it difficult for the freed people to have access to land

(3) Vestry committees deliberately help up titles that gave proof of ownership to those who had brought land

(4) Thousands of immigrants were brought into the island, including 4,645 Indians who were during the 1860 to

1863 period. This contributed to a shortage of jobs for Creoles.

(5) After the Sugar Equalization Act of 1848 became effective, there was a dramatic declined in sugar prices

that reached their lowest level in 1869, after a brief increase between 1856 and 1860. Wages for the freed

people was reduced, as a result.

(6) The cost of living had an increase. The cost of clothing rose from 30% to 100% as a result of an interruption

in American trade during the American Civil War, 1860-1865. The price of locally produced food also

increased during the early 1860s resulting from two years of drought than damaged provision grounds.

(7)Some sugar estates were closed and the number of jobs available in the sugar industry was reduced. Because

of poor seasons, those estates that were still operating were hiring fewer people, thus further shrink the job

market for the freed people and creating more hardships for them
(8)The taxation system was unjust. Small parcels of land were more heavily taxed than large acres and high

import duties were charged on ordinary necessities of life such as foodstuff. This raised the cost of these

necessities and shifted the weight of taxation for the large landowners to the freedman. Similarly, vestries

charged fairly high fees for using the local markets.

The limited services provided for the newly freed people led to the view that the government did not care about

them, and so they were neglected.

The Franchise Qualifications after Slavery

The franchise qualification was high. This resulted in very little participation of the freed people in the political

process and, consequently, the lack of democracy. Property qualifications for the franchise during slavery were

normally about ten pounds annual freehold value, but to present the electorate from being flooded with voters

from among the emancipated people, Assemblymen throughout the British Caribbean revised franchise laws,

raising property qualifications. In 1864, Jamaica had 1,903 registered voters out of a population of 450,000.

The Judicial System

The system of justice was titled in favour of the whites. The magistrates and the members of the vestries, who

were still usually planters or managers, sought to keep the freed people dependent on the plantation. If they

collected fruits from the hedges around plantations, or collected wood from commons, they could be charged

for theft. By the 1860s, the freed people no longer had faith in the justice of the magisterial courts. In some

areas, they stopped bringing cases before the magistrates.

In 1865, the people of St Ann sent a petition to Queen Victoria. They complained about their inability to obtain

jobs; they stated that the provision grounds had been exhausted from continuous re-planting and they asked for

permission to rent crown lands at minimal rates. In the Colonial Office’s response to the people ( the Queen’s

Advice), they were advised to work continuously on sugar estates and to save from their earnings for the ‘lean

periods’. However, more estates had already ceased to exist, so the advice offered no comfort to the people, it

merely highlighted the government’s insensitiveness to their plight.

Reasons representative assemblies in the British Caribbean did little to improve social services for the people

after emancipation

(1) There was a shortage of funds, particularly after the 1846 Sugar Duties Act
(2) The attitude of non-intervention (laissez-faire theory) was what prevailed. The emphasis was on private

rather than public involvement in providing for the welfare of the people.

(3) The wealthy people had little or no interest in the welfare of the poor.

(4) The local legislatures were more pre-occupied with devising a scheme to revive the sugar industry than

with schemes to provide social services for the newly freed people.

(5) The British government, through the Negro Education Grant o 1834 to 1845, initially made provision for

the education of the freed people.

(6) The planters believed that education would make the freed people independent of the estates, so the

local assemblies refused to vote money for their education.

(7) The religious bodies that worked among the slaves assumed early responsibility for education. The local

legislators were, initially, more inclined to support the efforts of the religious bodies, than to assume the

full responsibility for creating educational facilities.