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Essay about slavery in jamaica
Slavery in jamaica
The nature and effects of slavery in the Caribbean society
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Jamaica’s history is full of social unrest. The island was originally inhabited by the Arawaks. The Arawaks were a peaceful, pleasant race. In his History of the British West Indies, Sir Alan Burns says, "all accounts credit them with being generous-minded, affectionate and good-humoured" (37). Once Jamaica was "discovered" by Spain in 1494, however, the Arawaks, who had inhabited the island for centuries, quickly died off due to the harsh treatment of the Spaniards. Spain never really developed the land, however, and thus when British forces invaded in 1655, Spain chose not to focus much energy on defending the island.
The British found Jamaica to be much more profitable than the Spanish had. It eventually became one of the most lucrative colonies in the British empire due to its dominance in sugar exports: from the mid 1700’s until the close of the slave trade in Jamaica in the 1830’s, Jamaica accounted for 42 percent of sugar imported into Britain (Burnard and Morgan 3). Unfortunately, these benefits for the British empire came at a significant cost to the hundreds of thousands of Africans who became unwillingly caught up in the trade triangle between England, Africa and the Caribbean. In their essay "The Dynamics of the Slave Market and Slave Purchasing Patterns in Jamaica, 1655-1788," Trevor Burnard and Kenneth Morgan say: "Jamaica had the largest demand for slaves of any British colony in the Americas" (2). By the end of the eighteenth century there were more than 300, 000 slaves in Jamaica; and the fact that the slaves outnumbered the plantation owners was unsettling for many of the wealthy, white inhabitants of the island. The political system basically consisted of a governor who represented the Crown and the Assembly of Planters, who both were against the slaves.
Adding to the unrest of the island was the existence of the Maroons. When the British invaded the island they demanded that the Spaniards surrender. In miscalculation, however, they gave them time to consider the offer. The Spaniards fled the island, but not before setting loose their cattle and freeing their slaves. These freed slaves then retreated to the mountains and developed their own threatening communities in the wild mountain interior of Jamaica (Hamshere 140). Often they terrorized the English by setting fire to homes and buildings or by murdering soldiers. The Maroons were not truly a vicious people, however they did feel the need to defend their freedom from the British by any means necessary.
Slave labor is the final factor that drove the sugar trade and made it so successful. Slaves were the manual laborers on the plantations, doing the actual harvesting and boiling because the owner wasn’t there to do so (Document 8). Without the slaves working the farm, everything was pretty much useless. There is also a direct correlation between the number of slaves and the tons of sugar produced. This is shown in Document 9, where the island of Jamaica starts out with 45,000 slaves, and produces 4,782 tons of sugar. When the number of slaves increases by less than half to 74,500, the amount of sugar produced is more than tripled at 15, 972 tons. This clearly exhibits how slaves were essential to sugar
The earliest inhabitants to come to Jamaica were the Arawaks. They came at about 600 B.C. About sixty to one-hundred thousand people immigrated to Jamaica. While they were here they invented the ...
In the end of the book we learn that the city Montag once lived in has been destroyed. It’s here where we get the end result of Montag, the man who once took special pleasure in destroying books now takes pleasure in preserving them. If not for Clarisse who opened his eyes to the truth through questioning life, or Faber who revealed the truth and magic in the books, and Granger who taught Montag how to preserve the books Montag could have very well been a victim of his cities destruction. It’s clear that Montag was heavily influenced by these three Individuals changing him from a once law abiding citizen of the futuristic government to a refugee of the law discovering reasons worth fighting for regardless of outcome.
Petite maroonage occurred when a slave often in a large sugar plantation would runaway for period of days. The slave running away may have been triggered to leave by a particularly brutal beating, the sale of spouse or children, or some unbearable humiliation. Grand maroonage occurred when the slave did not return but instead stayed in a maroon community of other runaway slaves. Grand maroonage was a central feature of Cuban slavery and resulted in the formation of palenques or cumbes. 4 However creating and maintain a maroon community free of colonial interference was very difficult. Colonies would often enlist the help of maroons to put down slave revolts in exchange for their freedom to live in their community without threat of a colonial intervention. Asserting the quote by journalist Jerry Pournelle “Freedom is Not
Montag finds himself starting to grow fascinated with Clarisse and her eccentric idea’s. He hopes that when he gets off work ...
...anyway, without any help from him. So if He burnt things with the firemen, and the sun burnt time, that meant everything burned!” Page 365 of 431. iPhone eBook (66 Pages Left)
At the beginning of the novel, Montag, like everyone else, strays from the unknown and what he does not understand, and by burning books he pleases the ignorant. He has a position of authority and never questioned his job. Until Montag meets a peculiar girl who is not afraid of him named Clarisse McClellan. Clarisse irritates Montag at first because she asks deep questions to the way the world is and makes statements about his life. Clarisse’s love of nature, people, and the way the world used to be is strange. Forced to go to a psychiatrist for strange behaviors she does, such as
On February 13, 1959, Castro is officially deemed as the Prime Minister of Cuba, and later he declares his revolution to be socialist. Fidel Castro believed that the reason so many Cubans lived in poverty at the time was due to capitalism and corrupted government, so obviously Fidel decided to take Marxism-Leninism route with the country. After nationalizing lands of the wealthy and American business owners, America cuts off ties with Cuba. This eventually leads to the Bay of Pigs, a failed attempt of the US trying to seize Cuba. Fidel then becomes allies with the USSR, and they install ballistic missiles on the island, leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1961, Fidel began to serve as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (Helicon, 2016). Contrary to popular belief, Fidel actively chose the communist route for Cuba. Over time, the idea of Fidel being pressured and pushed to communism by the Soviet Union in exchange for military protection and economic help has been popularized. Cuba became the first communist state established in the Western Hemisphere. The Cuban Missile Crisis thankfully never broke out into war, and ended with the USSR taking their ballistic missiles out of Cuba in exchange for the United States never trying to seize Cuba again (Helicon,
Interest in the social aspects of obesity is nothing new. Jeffrey Sobal has written extensively about the social and psychological consequences of obesity , including the stigmatisation and discrimination of obese and even overweight individuals (Sobal 2004).
Goldstein, Hesh. Why There is an Obesity Epidemic. 16 Nov. 2009. 12 Nov. 2011 .
Tobacco plantation formed an essential component of Pre-Civil War African-American slavery. During the early colonial period in the United States, plantation constituted as the highest percentage of economic activity. The economic growth of American colonies relied on the export of cash crops such as rice, indigo etc. However, out of all cash crops, tobacco became the most popular one due to its use for pipes, cigars, and snuff. Due to this growing demand for tobacco in Europe, Early American settlers discontinued all other economic activities and started tobacco cultivation. As a result, tobacco became the principal and dominant cash crop of Southern colonies such as Virginia, Chesapeake, and Maryland. Now growing tobacco was very labor- intensive, as it required a large amount of work force. For the plantation and processing of tobacco, thousands of indentured servants and slaves worked at farms. An example of American tobacco plantation is shown in document seven, “Illustration of Slaves Cultivating Tobacco, 1738.” As tobacco plantation grew in importance in the southern economy, the demand for more workers grew as well. This increase in labor demand, and the desire of money making urged early American settlers to seek free labor. In short, tobacco plantation became the key step to promote the need of free permanent labor, and to raise the Question of slavery.
“Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty,” a man by the name of Plato once spoke. Slavery is a topic commonly spoken about through the years of school, however, though commonly reviewed, we still manage to learn something new about the topic every year. There are those like James Oglethorpe who believed slavery was an issue that went against his beliefs, and he spoke out, “[s]lavery is against the gospel, as well as fundamental law of England. We refused, as trustees [of colony of Georgia], to make a law permitting such a horrid crime,” (Source H pg. 280). Nonetheless, there still remained a few who struggled to find the light at the end of the tunnel, few such as Isabella, “When we all gits free, they’s the long time letting us know,” (Source H
Today, 78.1 million American adults and 12.5 million children are obese. Obesity in America is a unstoppable epidemic. Since the 1960s, the number of obese adults have doubled and the number of obese children have tripled. Because of America’s obesity problems, Surgeon General David Satcher issued a report saying; "The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight," said that obesity "have reached epidemic proportions" in America. Obesity in America has no doubt reached epidemic proportions. Since 2001, America has been the most obese country in the world. This essay discusses what obesity is and how it is affecting today’s America by answers the following questions:
On July 26, 1953, he directed about 160 men in a suicidal attack on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba hoping to ignite a popular uprising. Fidel was arrested and most of the men were killed. After a trial in which he carelessly defended himself, the government sentenced him to 15 years of imprisonment. He and his brother Raúl were eventually released in 1955 in a political amnesty with the Batista government. The two brothers then traveled to Mexico to endure their campaign against the Batista regime. In Mexico is where Fidel began to organize Cuban exiles into a revolutionary group called the 26th of July
The Jamaican natives and imported African slaves endured Spanish rule for 150 years until the invasion of the British in 1655. The fleet of Admiral Penn and the ground troops of General Venables were able to conquer the island fairly quickly; although there was several failed attempts by the Spanish to regain the land. A civil government was established in English Jamaica in 1663 which attracted settlers to the island (Bennett 84).