Slavery in St Kitts
Introduction
Many Europeans were involved in the transportation of enslaved Africans to the Americas. Among those involved were people from Portugal, Spain, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden.
By the 1640's Britain was heavily involved in this "trade" through private trading companies. The largest was the London based Royal African Company which had a monopoly of Britain's slave trade from 1672 to 1698. By the early 1700's the main base ports for slave merchants were:
In Scotland, Glasgow also drew on this trade to increase it's wealth after the Act of Union of England and Scotland in 1707. From about 1730 Liverpool began to dominate the slave trade not only in England but also in Europe and this continued until its abolition in 1807. The British role in this African Diaspora was central to shaping the Caribbean and North America, since the British carried more Africans across the Atlantic than any other nation.
The first leg of this triangle of trade was the loading of various goods onto ships in England. These goods consisted of muskets, gunpowder, copper.... These were usually transported by the ships from England to the west coast of Africa. The goods were traded for enslaved Africans who were loaded onto the ships. The ships then took their human cargo to the The American mainland or the Caribbean islands where they were sold. The money from the sale was then used to purchase tobacco, sugar or rum which was then transported by the same ships back to their home port in England where they were sold.
The transportation of enslaved Africans to the islands of St. Kitts and Nevis began soon after Europeans began to colonise islands. The first recorded presence of African slaves in Nevis can be found in the will of James Hewitt dated the 9th August 1649. He left half a plantation in Gingerland and another plantation in Indian Castle to his wife which also included three indentured servants and four "nigroes". One of the slaves was also noted to be "out in rebellion", another way of describing a slave who was a runaway.
The purchasing of enslaved Africans was finally outlawed in the British Empire by an Act of Parliament in 1807. The abolition of slavery as an institution was not achieved until an Act of Parliament became law from the 1st August 1834. Emancipation was followed by four years of apprenticeship which was put in place to protect the plantation owners from losing their labour force.
As a result the 1st August is now celebrated as a public holiday and is called "Emancipation Day".
Timeline.
1640-1680
Beginning of large-scale introduction of African slave labour in the British Caribbean for sugar production.
1807
Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was passed by the British Parliament of Parliament on 25th March 1807. It outlawed the slave trade within the British Empire. A passionate speech by Lord Greenville stated that the slave trade was "contrary to the principles of justice, humanity and sound policy" and admonished his fellow parliamentarians for "not having abolished the trade long ago".
The Act was carried in the House of Lords by 41 votes to 20 and the House of Commons by 114 to 15.
Any British captain who was caught transporting slaves was fined £100 for every slave found on board ship. However, this law did not stop the British slave trade. If slave-ships were in danger of being captured by the British navy, captains often reduced the fines they had to pay by ordering the slaves to be thrown into the sea.
1827
Britain declares slave trading piracy, thus punishable by death.
1833
The Slavery Abolition Act was passed by the British Parliament on 24th August 1833. The Act did not become law until 1st August 1834 when all slaves in the British colonies were to become emancipated, and slavery was to be abolished throughout the British possessions abroad. This date is remembered and celebrated as a Public Holiday called "Emancipation Day" in St. Kitts and Nevis and most of the ex-British colonies in the Caribbean.
Two measures were brought in to soften the economic blow to the Plantation Owners:
The first was the 5 year apprenticeship system.
The second was that the British government paid compensation to the slave owners. The amount involved depended on the number of slaves held. One example was the Bishop of Exeter's 665 slaves resulted in him receiving £12,700.
1838
Island Assemblies introduce legislation to abolish the System of Apprenticeship.
Laws against vagrancy and squatting attempt to keep the social and labour system of the plantation economy intact, with varying results.
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