In the shaping of
the modern social and economic structure of tropical
Within tropical
Around 1830, for
example, 36 % of Jamaican slaves lived in units of more than 200, compared to 5
% in the sugar producing regions of Louisiana US and a mere 1 % in Bahia.
Roughly 60 % of
slaves in
Within the British
Caribbean only
The French and
Spanish colonies always possessed a relatively substantial smallholder class.
In spite of the
much larger slave population of the
Although the large
plantation typified the relations of production in the slave societies of
After the
abolition of slavery in 1838
By the end of the
19th century a great deal of plantation land had been abandoned to the Jamaican
Small holder, while the surviving plantations consolidated property and power
in the lowlands.
Throughout the
18th and nineteenth century the plantation provided the spatial context within
which a large proportion of the
During slavery
this existence went together with literal physical confinement, slaves being
forced to spend the greater part of their lives within the close community
defined by a single plantation’s boundaries.
The nature of life
for the plantation community both before and after emancipation was determined
very largely by the decision of the planter and his supervisory
representatives.
The political
power of the plantocracy meant that it controlled land tenure and settlement
patterns as well as the internal organisation of their private domains.
Very light
settlement by the Spanish, who had caused the indigenous population of Arawaks
to disappear within a decade.
For the English
Jamaica was quickly regarded as a potential producer of sugar and other
tropical staples, an extension of the plantation system which was already
establishing itself in the Eastern Caribbean.
During the 17th
century
By 1661 with the
establishment of civil government Planters were encouraged to come to
By 1670 when the
British began to circumscribe the activities of the Buccaneers, a diversified
economy based on Cacao, sugar, indigo, pimento and cattle had emerged.
Production was organised around smallholdings as well as plantations.
Assisted by
generous crown grants, corrupt lawyers and the scarcity of competent and honest
surveyors, the growth of large land holdings started in this period.
The white
population of
The development of
that plantation system was set back by the Earthquake of 1692 and the threat of
French invasion. but by 1700
Sugar emerged as
the most profitable crop and there appeared a tendency to monoculture.
In 1712
But it was not until
1730 that the country was firmly established as the Major producer of sugar
within the British holdings.
In 1805
The last years of
slavery were marked by gradual decline, while emancipation in 1838 was followed
by rapid economic contraction.
Coffee did not
emerge as an important crop until the 1790’s, when it was granted British
Tariff protection and French planters fled to
The other crops
were of no more than minor significance during the period of slavery
Alongside the
dominance of sugar,
Livestock for
motive power and meat were produced on
lands unsuitable for sugar or coffee in pens which often rivalled the
plantation in area and scale. At the time of emancipation these pens accounted
for 10 % of the total value of Jamaican output. and after emancipation many
plantations were converted to pens.
Foodcrops were
produced by the slaves and later my peasants and wage labourers, utilising
lands too rugged for sugar cultivation.
Land settlement
concentrated on the south coast until 1740 when plantations quickly spread
along the north coast.
Buoyancy of Sugar
price and easy availability of slaves: bad management.
The number of
sugar mills operating in the island increased from 57 in 1670 to 419 in 1739 to
1061 in 1786.
Between 1792 and
1799 some 84 new sugar estates were established
Robertson’s map of
1804 showed a total of 830 sugar estates. By 1834 there were 670 in 1854 330,
200 in 1880 and 125 in 1900