In his most recent publication, Caribbean History: From Pre-colonial Origins to the Present (2012), Tony Martin Emeritus Professor of Africana Studies at Wellesley College, Massachusetts, presents a survey of Caribbean history from the advent of the Europeans to World War II. While the author, in general follows the traditional chronological approach used by historians such as Gertrude Carmichael and Learie Luke, 1 he takes a more thematic approach to the analysis thus bringing new rich perspectives to old topics. Three major themes emerge in the text, namely, European colonization-subjugation, domination and exploitation of labour and resources; resistance; and resilience of Caribbean peoples. The first theme introduces Spanish colonization in 1492 with the entry of Christopher Columbus, and the attendant introduction of enslavement of, first the native population, resulting in part to the almost total annihilation of these indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, and after their demis.
See Full PDF See Full PDFChrysalis: A Critical Student Journal of Transformative Art History EDS Dr. Charmaine A. Nelson
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New West Indian Guide/Nieuwe West-Indische Gids
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The factors surrounding the ending of the British transAtlantic Trade in Africans in 1807 is arguably one of the most political topics in Caribbean historiography. This is so since the concept of morality is deeply embedded in the debate. The recent blockbuster movie, 'Amazing Grace' depicting William Wilberforce as an outstanding humanitarian who sought to abolish the sin of the trade in Africans is a good example of morality at work. Most revisionist historians of the Caribbean, such as, Lowell Ragatz, Eric Williams and Selwyn H.H. Carrington, are, however, critical of morality as the leading factor in the abolition of the trade in 1807. Instead, these scholars have argued convincingly that economics was the singular most important reason for the 1807 Abolition Bill. 1 This chapter extends this economic argument by examining the socioeconomic context of late 18 th and early nineteenth century Jamaica, at that time one of Britain's important sugar colonies. I will state categorically that the British authorities publicly used the rhetoric of morality because it was politically convenient in their campaign to end the trans Atlantic trade in enslaved Africans. However, in their private letters they urgently encouraged the Jamaican planters to alter the declining social and economic context of British Caribbean slavery. These British officials understood the immediacy of reforming the nature of slavery as practiced in the British Caribbean. They understood that the 'peculiar institution of slavery' had to become more cost effective and economically profitable. Thus, I will show that the alleged humanitarians drew heavily on sound economic arguments in tandem with their moral arguments in the campaign to end the trade in Africans. Interestingly, these humanitarians in Britain, which included a number of freed Africans, all understood the economic necessity of abolishing the trade. They all seemed to have been converts of Adam Smith's theory of Slave labour becoming more expensive to maintain. Economic Context: Adam Smith, one of the foremost 18 th century British economists concluded in his seminal work The Wealth of Nations, that labour by enSlave Smith's theory regarding the high cost of maintaining slave labour towards the close of the 18 th century seems to have been a reflection of a new economic paradigm by British 127
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