Slavery System In The Caribbean

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The Caribbean was categorized mainly as an agriculture based region with numerous plantations during the 18th century. Africans mainly comprised the slavery system because of their characteristics which were suitable for the tropical climates. A slavery system where the individuals and their offspring are recognized as property of another person for life by the law is known as Chattel slavery. The slaves had no power which made them powerless, whereas the enslavers were seen as the puppet masters who pulled the strings. The slaves worked under conditions from sun up to sun down, exposed to diseases, little rest and under strict control from the supervisor who demanded productivity. Slaves could be branded like a piece of furniture, bought and sold; these inhuman conditions enraged the slaves to resist. There was a constant battle between the desire for freedom and the oppression of the master control in …show more content…

There were approximately 100, 000 freedmen and 50,000 whites in the British Caribbean but only 32,000 slave owners around in 1832 (Higman, 1995). The whites were highly educated compared to the freedmen who had basic education, which left majority of the slaves uneducated. Barry Higman (1995) supported this as he noted that this strong contrast indicated differences in wealth but also reflected differences in the education level of free males and females. The enslaved pursued their freedom through different forms of resistance from the beginning of slavery. The Caribbean anti-slavery activities had several stages in the development during the period up to 1838: 1500-1750, 1750-1807, and 1807 up to end of slavery (Sheperd & Beckles, 2000). The period that marked the ending of slavery was 1807-1838, this was due to the first abolition of the slave trade in 1807 and the remaining slaves on the plantations resisted until the

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