Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 23/Nov 04:44

Life for enslaved Africans in Tobago

The enslaved Africans landed in Tobago from the 17th century were brought into a world consumed with the competition between rival European countries fighting for the island. Tobago was populated with Africans to provide the labour needs of the Courlanders, Dutch, French and English across the 17th-19th centuries, in times of both war and peace. In the prevailing competition for the island, the lives of the enslaved were largely shaped by matters pertaining to security and establishing settlements, in addition to producing items which could be extracted from the island, from which Europeans sought economic benefits. Between 1656 and 1670, the Courlanders brought two shiploads of captive Africans to Tobago; the Dutch brought seven shiploads; and the French six shiploads between 1788 and 1793; while from 1763-1807 the British brought 51 shiploads. Although the island has a long history of an African presence, except in the case of the British, this history was truncated: the presence of each batch of enslaved Africans was terminated with that of its European possessor. Security matters dominated the Africans’ work agenda, because early European settlers depended on slave labour to establish settlements and increase their fighting forces, since the numbers of settlers in the early attempts averaged 300. The conflicts they faced – battles with the First Peoples and their allies from neighbouring islands who opposed European incursions; the efforts of the Spanish authorities, who clutched on to the papal donation of the territory in that part of the world – stimulated continual Spanish attacks on their foreign challengers. In addition, the Europeans were rivals with each other, which made the island a veritable war zone, and the Africans were pressed into service on the fighting front. Slave labour was used by the Europeans to build forts to defend the island. The Courlanders built Fort Jacobson in Great Courland Bay and refortified Fort Bennett in Plymouth, which was started by the Dutch, who also constructed Fort Milford and Dutch Fort in Scarborough. These forts remain lasting evidence of the contribution of the Africans to these Europeans’ attempts to colonise the island. [caption id="attachment_1191983" align="aligncenter" width="433"] -[/caption] On the way to the fighting front, the Africans were also used to clear paths through uncharted terrain for the advancing fighters, carry loads and support their owners on the fighting front. Invariably they were among the first war victims, because they were attacked by their owners’ opponents. In the battle between France and the Dutch in 1777, the Dutch sent their enslaved women to safety – in a ship which was sunk by the French; some Africans were killed when the Dutch Fort was destroyed; and others were killed when plantations and settlements were burnt by the rivals. Hence the attempted settlements of Tobago by the Courlanders, Dutch and French were short-lived, as were most of the enslaved Africans whom they immediately drafted into war service. Although the Courlanders proudly displayed the names of their forebears who made settlement attempts, there are no records of the African casualties during these episodes, because their lives were not considered of major significance outside their social function. However, it can reasonably be concluded that the numbers were high, since these battles, usually fought to the finish, resulted in either the decimation or expulsion of the remnants of the population from the island. After a double dose of trauma – the journey from their homes across Africa and the transatlantic journey – some captive Africans were brought to Tobago and, without the “seasoning” to acclimatise new arrivals to plantation life, were plunked into wartime service, only to die for a cause neither of their making nor for their benefit. For those who survived the battles, clearing the land for settlement and obtaining building material for houses and the required estate buildings to prepare produce for export constituted the next of their arduous tasks. This was most marked under the lengthy British possession. When Tobago was ceded to Britain in 1763, its awareness of the continuing French threat made defence arrangements critical. Fort King George, started by the French, was maintained and expanded with slave labour. The Africans were introduced to plantation life in a traditional “seasoning” period, during which harsh, repressive laws which followed the Barbadian Slave Code of 1661 were enforced. Africans were allocated to duty as domestic workers in plantation owners’ households, in gangs for planting, weeding and reaping the crops, as skilled workers for constructing and running sugar factories, and as drivers and coachmen for planters’ carriages. But their tasks went beyond the tradition of a “typical” Caribbean sugar estate. Some worked on cotton estates and produced dyes from logwood, which were profitable enterprises. However, it was regarding security that the more significant work allocations were made. The need to strengthen their ability to fend off a French attack haunted the British from 1763-1815. When British forces were stretched during the 1770s, “trusted slaves” were trained as gunner assistants and taught to fire cannon to defend the bays, to carry loads, especially heavy artillery, and ultimately included in the fighting forces. The men were paid sixpence a day. As pressure on the British continued, it was agreed to provide military training, and a Tobago Black Corps was established. It was later renamed the Black Rangers and formally included in the island’s militia. Africans in Tobago planted cotton, ginger and dyewoods as well as sugar. Some worked in the fields but were involved in other activities. Planters loved hunting and there was much game to be found in wooded areas. Contrary to the law, enslaved Africans who accompanied planters on hunting trips were given permission to use guns. The island’s waters teemed with fish, and fishing was an established part of plantation life. Africans served as boatmen, managing and working boats; others were fishermen who caught the desired species of fish and the green turtle, a favourite with planters. Enslaved Africans had to work on the streets bordering their plantations and those planned for the island. Their owners had to provide them for road duty, and were paid three shillings and sixpence per enslaved worker per day. Plantations had to contribute enslaved labour, at the ratio of one to every ten enslaved people on the estate, to any road-development project sanctioned by the authorities, and were compensated at the rate of three shillings per enslaved person per day. Even those who contravened the law were made to give service while they did time for their transgressions. Prisoners were formed into the chain gang used to keep and repair the streets of Scarborough, the road to Fort King George and maintain the buildings on the fort. Prisoners sentenced to hard labour – and there were many – were made to break the stone used for road repair in the town and access to the fort.   The post Life for enslaved Africans in Tobago appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.