Plantations in the Americas

THE EARLY MODERN WORLD (1450 – 1750)

• Shortly after 1600 Europeans were beginning to prosper from growing tobacco in the West Indies.

• This product became very popular and some even thought it could be as valuable as the Spanish silver trade (By 1614 there were thousands of tobacco shops in

London) although some protested it’s dangers (King James I claimed that it was dangerous to the lungs).

• The success of tobacco plantations in the West Indies can be credited to (think causes) – Chartered companies (private investors received

monopolies over trading areas)

– Indentured servants (people who paid off their debt by working for 3-4 years)

• One effect of why other cash crops emerge - stiff competition from tobacco plantations in Virginia created a crisis, the switch to sugar provided a way out of this crisis.

• The Dutch West India Company, who had for atime taken over parts of Brazil and importedslaves to work on sugar plantations, exportedthis "sugar system” to the West Indies.

• By the 1650s this new system had greatlyaffected the Atlantic economy.

• By the end of the 1600s Barbados (Caribbean island

owned by the British, once grew tobacco) had becomeEngland’s most prosperous American colony,sugar being the colony’s main crop.

• By 1700, the West Indies surpassed Brazil as theworld’s principal source of sugar.

• Effects of Sugar Plantations - • The expansion of sugar plantations in the West

Indies led to the increased importation of slaves from Africa.

• Rising sugar prices allowed planters to afford more slaves;

• higher property values in the West Indies discouraged indentured servants from going there, instead they went north.

• Although the initial cost of slaves ($200 each in 1774) was more expensive than indentured servants, one could get on average 7 years out of a slave compared to 4 out of an indentured servant.

• Sugar plantations were complex investmentsbecause they had to be a factory in addition to afarm (freshly cut sugar canes need to be crushed within a few

hours to extract sap).

• As a result plantations increased in size toinclude mills. (Jamaica began to concentrate so much on

sugar that there was hardly any land to grow food crops andconsequently had to import food).

• Plantation system and environmental effects:

• Soil exhaustion and deforestation (planters continued to clear more and more land).

• European animals like pigs, cattle, and horses multiplied so rapidly that by 1503 no new imports were needed.

• New crops like mangoes and yams crowded out indigenous species.

• The Carib people were pushed to near extinction.

• Social impacts of Plantation system • Slavery was also a major part of West Indian life.

– 90% of the population was enslaved.

• The more work a planter could get out of a slave meant more profit. Therefore, 18 hour days and forcing all but infants, and the very old or very sick to do work was commonplace.– 70% worked in the fields (many were women).

– 2-3% house servants

– Others tended livestock or were skilled tradesmen.

• Slaves were encouraged to work hard for smallrewards (time off, food, clothing), but mostly to avoidpunishment.

• Those who slacked off were whipped often byanother slave who served as the “driver.” Other

forms of punishment: mutilation, flogging, and the iron muzzle.

• On Sundays they were not required to work inthe fields, instead they tended their gardens andpersonal chores. They could also sell produce ata market for extra money.

• Comparison of West Indies & N.A Slaves • Newly arrived slaves from Africa went through what was known as seasoning, a period of adjustment to the new environment, which on average 1/3 died from.

• As opposed to slaves in North America that benefited from a healthier temperate zone, slaves in the West Indies saw more deaths than births each year.• Average life expectancy for a slave

in 18th century Brazil:– Male: 23

– Female: 25

• Individual slaves did attempt to run away and groups did occasionally revolt. (In Jamaica, runaway slaves created communities in the mountains known as maroons. Over time they even gained independence by signing a treaty with the English promising to help stop other slaves from running away).

• Cultural Impact of Slaves in Americas

• Planters assumed those with strong African heritage were most likely to lead rebellions, as a result they required slaves to speak colonial languages and discouraged the use of African languages by purposely mixing slaves from different parts of Africa.

• Continuity of African Culture • However, African culture did remain. In part

because more and more new slaves (already past

childhood) were being brought to the West Indies each year to replace those who died.

• Therefore, cultural ties to African religion, speech, dress, and music was never more than a generation away.

• Changes to African Culture• Practiced a syncretic form of Christianity that

allowed for African culture as well• Vodou(Haiti), Santeria(Cuba), Candomble (Brazil)

became very popular forms of syncretic religions

• Free blacks did exist inthe West Indies andoften equaled thenumber of free whites,but were considered alesser class.

• They often grew cropsfor export and a feweven owned slaves.

• Okra (African cropbrought over andgrown, used in gumbo.

• The wealthiest of West Indian planters put theirplantations under the control of mangers andremained in Britain where they enjoyed highprestige and were frequently elected intoParliament. (Those who remained in the Indies often

controlled colonial assemblies).

• The Europeans who lived in theWest Indies were mostly male,and occasionally tookadvantage of slave women forsexual favors (If he fathered a child,

he would often grant freedom to themother and child).

• In contrast to British colonies where free blackswas uncommon, by 1800 free blacks made up alarger portion of Spanish colonies.