Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 31/Aug 04:43

Trading ‘slaves’ to Tobago

DR RITA PEMBERTON The system of enslavement, as practised in Tobago, mirrored the practices of the older slave colonies, especially Barbados, the British plantation colony where it was practised with the fiercest rigidity. Each European country sought to outdo its rivals and empower itself by establishing empires in those parts of the world which they contended were “uninhabited.” The size of their overseas empires was symbolic of the power they could wield over their European counterparts. Given the growing European demand for tropical goods, Europeans descended on the Caribbean, where they competed fiercely to obtain and control colonies to establish plantations. Tobago became the scene of a long-drawn-out rivalry between various European countries for its possession during the 17th and 18th centuries. Each European occupant attempted to establish plantations to cultivate sugar, cotton, indigo, ginger and other tropical crops for which there was a need for labour. At the time, the heinous crime of human trafficking in Africa, called the slave trade, was a well-established and profitable trade, as Europeans turned to Africa as a source of labour. Hence Tobago was the recipient of several waves of commodified Africans traded by the various European occupants to run plantations there. Each country was involved in all levels of the trade and used its own ships to transport captives to Tobago. Until the trade was organised in a centralised way when the British gained possession of the island, captive Africans were landed at the bay closest to the settlement of the particular European country which brought them there. [caption id="attachment_1175217" align="alignnone" width="255"] Dr Rita Pemberton -[/caption] The Dutch, who occupied Tobago from 1627-1632 and 1654-1678, introduced 1,456 Africans between 1656 and 1670; the African population was said to total 7,000 by 1660, when there was significant growth in the sugar industry under the Dutch. The Courlanders who settled in Tobago between 1639 and 1650 introduced 103 Africans. Between 1763 and 1814, the British introduced 4,678 Africans, and between 1788 and 1793 the French brought 2,041 captive Africans to Tobago UNESCO has designated August 23 as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition to be celebrated each year. There are several factors to be considered while remembering the conduct of this trade, which presents an opportunity to correct the popular misconception, unfortunately projected in some school textbooks, that the trade in captive Africans is synonymous with the transatlantic slave trade; and along with this view the impression is given that the journey started on the coast of Africa. Captive Africans were purchased across the continent and brought to the coast to await the arrival of the ships which would take them across the Atlantic. Therefore, for most of the captives, the journey began inland. For many it also involved a long cross-country trek hitched to each other with a log of wood on their necks and chains on their feet to prevent escape. The trek crossed forests and mountains, with exposure to wild animals and changing weather. Captives were forced to keep pace with the group by whipping. Sickness and death occurred along the trek, and sometimes it took an extended period before the dead person could be removed from the group: until then they were dragged along. The trek made stops at the slave markets which dotted the landscape, where the captives were roughly examined by prospective purchasers, and some were hitched to another trek. Sometimes the trek ended at a river where the captives were packed into canoes piled on top of each other, with males at the bottom, for the journey downstream to the coast. When it rained the captives got soaked, and those at the bottom had to remain in the waterlogged area. Some died during this phase of the journey. It should be remembered, too, that the captives fought for their freedom during the journey at sea. Some were punished by being thrown overboard; others resisted by jumping off the ship. Sometimes the ship’s captains tossed the entire human cargo overboard to lighten the ship’s load during very bad weather, or in some instances simply to claim money from their insurers. On the day of remembrance, it is also essential to remember that there were barracoons on the coast where the captives awaited the ship which would take them across the Atlantic. These barracoons provided the precursor to the insanitary conditions they would face on the ship. It is also important to consider the outcome for the enslaved population, particularly the number that did not arrive. Walter Rodney suggests that the death rate during the land journey was probably higher than that across the Atlantic Ocean. The problem is that whereas the ships kept records of the numbers they carried and the numbers that died on board during the journey, for insurance purposes, no such information is available for the cross-country traffic. This makes it difficult to ascertain the precise numbers of captives who succumbed during the land journey. Captive Africans were caught in the crossfire between the rival Europeans. Some were made into enslaved soldiers to fight causes which did not benefit them, which led some to lose their lives or suffer major injury. Those who survived the war were returned to their enslaved status, and received no reward for the special service they provided. During the 1677 war between the Dutch and French over Tobago, apart from the men who were killed in battle, all the women were put on board a ship for their safety, but the ship was sunk by the French, wiping out the Dutch community of enslaved women in a battle in which the Dutch were soundly defeated and Dutch attempts to possess Tobago were terminated. While abolition of the trade was first effective in the British possessions, it did not come to an immediate end. Some Englishmen participated in the trade on ships which belonged to other countries; and within the region, intercolonial trade was started under the guise of planters travelling with their domestic workers. After the termination of the trade in captive Africans, some of the negative labels were removed, but the Africans in Tobago continued to live and work under the control of their British masters, with the status of enslaved property, until 1838.   The post Trading ‘slaves’ to Tobago appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.