Search

"A Return to Roots: 'CuBajans' in Barbados" by Sharon Milagro Marshall is a book that documents the oral testimonies of the descendants of Barbadians who migrated to Cuba in the early twentieth century. The book explores the historical context of this migration and follows the migrants and their descendants as they returned to Barbados after the Cuban Revolution in 1959. It discusses the political and economic reasons for the migration, as well as the changing political status of both Cuba and Barbados and its impact on the lives of the migrants and their descendants. The book also highlights the experiences of the CuBajans, their initial isolation, and their efforts to integrate into the English-speaking island. The conclusion speaks to the lasting identity politics of belonging in both Caribbean states. While the book provides insight into the little-known connection between Barbados and Cuba, it lacks critical engagement with certain issues and tensions in the region. Overall, it presents an engaging story of Caribbean migration and return in challenging circumstances. [Extracted from the article]

This article examines the contrasting evolution in sugar refining in Jamaica and Barbados incentivized by Mercantilist policies, changes in labor systems, and competition from foreign sugar revealing the role of Caribbean plantations as a site for experimentation from the eighteenth through mid-nineteenth century. Britain's seventeenth- and eighteenth-century protectionist policies imposed high duties on refined cane-sugar from the colonies, discouraging colonies from exporting refined sugar as opposed to raw. This system allowed Britain to retain control over trade and commerce and provided exclusive sugar sales to Caribbean sugar plantations. Barbadian planters swiftly gained immense wealth and political power until Jamaica and other islands produced competitive sugar. The Jamaica Assembly invested heavily in technological innovations intended to improve efficiency, produce competitive sugar in a market that eventually opened to foreign competition such as sugar beet, and increase profits to undercut losses from duties. They valued local knowledge, incentivizing everyone from local planters to chemists, engineers, and science enthusiasts to experiment in Jamaica and publish their findings. These publications disseminated important findings throughout Britain and its colonies, revealing the significance of the Caribbean as a site for local experimentation and knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The origins of capitalism in the British West Indies began as part of the revolutionary shift to sugar and slavery in Barbados in the second quarter of the 17th-century. This study examines the origins of capitalism in Barbados through the exploration of the historical record and archaeological findings from Trents Plantation and other early colonial estates in Barbados. The expansion of agro-industrial sugar production into the English colony of Barbados set in motion a dramatic shift in social and economic structures. Social and economic change resulted from the intersection of access to investor capital, dramatic profits rapidly amassed through the production of a commoditized cash crop, sugar, and a related shift in the labor force to a reliance on large numbers of enslaved laborers from Africa. The change took place rapidly during a period of political turmoil in England that resulted in laissez-faire governance and a void in administrative oversight in the West Indies. The social and economic changes seen in the archaeological record at Trents, and actuated across Barbados, had a dramatic impact on the broader Atlantic World, inclusive of the Americas, Europe, Africa, and their trading partners across the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents methodologies employed in, and initial interpretations of, an archaeological study of a pre-sugar and sugar era Barbadian plantation. A close examination of a 1646 map reveals a pre-sugar landscape in transition as the island was in the midst of the transformative sugar revolution. The map directed archaeological investigations that recovered materials associated with pre-sugar labourers, including European indentured servants and enslaved Africans. This data is then compared to material collected from undisturbed villages for the enslaved. We discuss the significance of these findings as well as their implications for understanding the onset of early capitalistic modes of production and how they affected the lives of labourers on the Barbadian landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lead was ubiquitous on Caribbean sugar plantations, where it was used extensively in the production of sugar and rum. Previous studies suggest that skeletal lead contents can be used to identify African-born individuals (as opposed to Creoles) among slave burials found in the New World. To test this hypothesis, we measured lead concentrations in enamel samples from 26 individuals from the Newton Plantation cemetery in Barbados, which was in use from around 1660 to 1820, and compared the results with enamel 87Sr/86Sr measurements that had been previously obtained for the same population. Results show a clear association between low (i.e., below 1 ppm) enamel lead concentrations and higher enamel 87Sr/86Sr ratios which have previously been interpreted as being indicative of African birth, suggesting that individuals with low enamel lead levels were indeed born in Africa as opposed to the New World. Based on these results, we propose that enamel lead measurements provide an effective and inexpensive way to determine African birth from skeletal remains. Furthermore, the lead measurements can provide useful insights into the health status and childhood environment of enslaved Africans during the colonial period. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how the Barbadian sugar industry was interpreted by the English scientific community in the latter seventeenth century. In particular it focuses upon the spread of ingenios (sugar mills) to Barbados from Brazil, and how this process was understood and chronicled by England’s early scientific community of experimental philosophers. It then contrasts these narratives against archived plantation documents from this period, demonstrating how these writers, despite explicit claims to the contrary, were relatively unconcerned with creating an objective account of sugar-making. Rather, they highlighted specific elements of the industry in order to make the ‘invention’ of sugar appear congruent with their new experimental methodology. These scientific narratives thus ignore a host of factors within the early Barbadian industry, particularly the critical sugar-making knowledge embodied within the plantation’s servile workforce. Rather than illuminating this facet of the industry, experimental philosophers efface these workers and portray ingenios as the laudable product of a few ingenious, experimenting white planters. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article is a detailed case study of the financial records of a Barbadian sugar plantation, Turner's Hall, from 1770 to 1793. It explores the challenges faced by the managers and the strategies they adopted. The most significant internal challenge was the maintenance of a sufficient labour force and the two greatest external challenges were the American Revolution and the hurricane of 1780. Sugar production was an uncertain and volatile business, especially in this era, but the potential for high returns, even during the war, offset these risks and planters could adapt quickly to the changing business environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article present an in-depth examination into the writings of the late 17th-century British businessman Henry Drax, owner of several sugar plantations in Barbados, to his associate Richard Harwood. The environmental, commercial, and agricultural conditions of Barbados during the era are discussed as described through the document. Also discussed are the farming techniques, disciplinary practices and managerial expectations of the English plantation system. Particular attention is given to the description and treatment of slaves within this paradigm. A full transcription of the instructions is also included.