Cities of Essequibo Islands-West Demerara Region:

Essequibo Islands-West Demerara Region

Essequibo Islands-West Demerara Inns|

Aracari Resort is conveniently located on the West Bank of Demerara, just a few minutes drive from the Capital City. This resort has 36 one bedroom with fully air conditioned rooms, cable TV, hot and cold shower, microwave and fridge. The resort has two restaurants, a bar, a swimming pool, gym, gaming room, disco, salon and spa. At Aracari, we ensure that all our visitors rest comfortably and enjoy their vacation with us.|

In the early parts of the 17th century Europeans had effected settlements in the West Indies. By 1632 Englishmen had settled St.Kitts, Barbados, Nevis, Montserrat and Antigua, and by 1635 the French had settlements in St.Kitts, Guadeloupe and Martinique. Until the introduction of sugar cane planting in the sixteen forties the settlements consisted of small land holdings for the purpose of growing tobacco for export and food crops for local consumption. These were mainly seen on a family basis with a few indentured servants supplying additional labour. The composition of the population at this time was predominantly white, and the indentured servants, upon completing their indentured service, either acquired land and became small proprietors themselves or became inn-keepers, merchants or pirates. In the British islands the inhabitants continued to perpetuate the English way of life as far as it was possible, and soon set up Legislative Assemblies modeled after the Parliament at home. The decline of the tobacco industry gave way to sugar production, which was revolutionary in all aspects to West Indian way of life and economy. By 1655 Britain had acquired Jamaica by conquest, and France had added her to West Indian possessions St. Domingue by settlement. These were much larger possessions than any previously held by both nations. The cultivation of sugar cane and the processing of it into sugar caused the whole pattern of the life in the West Indies to be changed. It gave way to the establishment of plantation slavery which modified the habits of Europeans in the West Indies and shaped the entire society. To provide the necessary labour force for the sugar plantations it became necessary to obtain Negroes from Africa. These Negroes were brought in as slaves in large numbers and quartered on the estates in a subjugating position. Thus the composition of the population changed, and in a short time the whites were far out numbered by the Negroes. Plantation slavery created fears on both sides. The whites became afraid of the slaves because of their superior numbers and adjusted their way of life to suite the situation. They were always in fear that the slaves would rise up in rebellion and therefore made laws to subjugate them and to protect themselves. The slaves on the other hand feared their masters. The laws passed by the Assemblies in the British islands imposed heavy penalties on slaves for offences committed. The slaves could loose an ear of have a hand amputated if they committed certain offences, and slave evidence in court was forbidden. The whip was extensively used and all congregating of slaves, especially after sunset, was strictly prohibited. The white population maintained their superiority and refused to acknowledge the slaves as persons. In the French Islands the Code Noir, which was issued from France in 1685, laid down the regulations governing the slave society. Although the laws gave the slaves certain rights, in practice these were not obeyed and plantation slavery in the French islands was very much on the same pattern as it was in the British islands. In the process of time therefore, the Europeans had been shaped into hard domineering class, influencing many cruelties on the human race without pity or self-condemnation. They grew to feel that the system as practiced was necessary for their self-preservation and for the accumulation of wealth, which was the main objective. They tried to give a sop to their consciences by telling themselves that many of the slaves would be worse off in Africa. Plantation slavery had made many Europeans affluent and they lived in grand extravagant style in their great houses, as monarchs of all the surveyed. Even the poor whites, who had inter-bred with slaves and worked side by side with them in the early days of plantation slavery, after a time were elevated to superior jobs and encouraged to assume that white superiority. Many Europeans became very immoral and engaged in drunkenness and used the slave women at their will to satisfy their sexual desires. Consequently, in the process of time a colored population emerged. By the end of the seventeenth century West Indian history became the story of settled communities organising themselves, and being organised in varying degrees, to grow a profitable to planters, merchants, and governments of imperial countries. To do this slave society seemed the only existing answer.|

The shortage of labour in the West Indies after 1838 presented a most acute problem in Trinidad, Jamaica and British Guiana particularly. In these lager territories with vest expanses of land that the freed slaves could purchase or settle on as squatters, many of the Negroes turned away from the plantations and sought to be self employed. By 1840 the full weight of the situation was realised by the planters, and it became evident to them that labour had to found outside the West Indies. Experiments had been made earlier in importing labour from China and Europe, but these schemes had not proven successful. The Chinese and Portuguese, although they worked hard at plantation labour, soon drifted into the retail trade. Attempts were made to solve the problem by recruiting paid African labour, but this could not be got in sufficient quantity. For a time, the planters looked nearer home to the other West Indian islands like Barbados and the Leeward Islands. Though a number came from these islands, this source was inadequate to solve the problem. Many of the sugar plantations faced utter ruin. The shortage of labour contributed in no small measure to this sate of affairs. By the 1840’s the planters began to search around for a new labour supply which they could get in sufficient numbers – they looked to India to save the situation, and immigration started in earnest from 1843. East Indian immigrants had been used before, but they had not proven satisfactory. When, however, there was a resumption of Indian immigration in 1851, after a stoppage in 1848, there was an improvement in the type of immigrant brought to the West Indies. From this time onwards the scheme became continuous until 1917. Thus, between these years thousands of East Indians were brought into these territories, for although scientific methods such as the plough and the harrow were introduced as labour-serving, devices, labourers were still needed in abundance. The planters in the French islands were also facing labour problems similar to those in the British islands. Their slave trade had ended in 1830, and from this time until 1860 they had been bringing Negroes from the Congo who were freed upon reaching the West Indies. From 1848, when their slaves were freed, they started to recruit labourers French India. By 1860 they were brining labourers form from British India also, and the Dutch were doing the same by 1870. In the years 1852 and 1874 the Cubans imported 125,000 Chinese labourers. On the whole therefore, the later half of the 19th century was a period when most West Indian planters, suffering from a shortage of labour, look towards Asia for their supply. The countries of India and China with vast populations became the chief source. Many of the immigrants were attracted by the better wages offered in the West Indies, and others were driven by drought, famine and despair to leave home. The immigration of the East Indians to the British territories was quite well organised. Departments of Immigration were set up in every receiving colony to ensure that both sides – the worker and the employer – kept the contracts. The immigrants came in as indentured labourers and signed a contract that they would give five years’ of service, but the time spent in jail was not counted. The workers were to work everyday except on Sundays and holidays. They were quartered on the sugar plantations to work in the sugar can fields or in the factories, and movement form one estate to the other was prohibited. The department of immigration had an Agent-General as its chief, and there were sub-agents whose duty it was to supervise the various estates. By 1917, 538,000 Indians had come to the West Indies for the purpose of providing labour for the sugar plantations. At last the planters had found a solution to their labour problems which had arisen as a result of the emancipation of the slaves. Of course this solution to the labour problem created other problems. A new race of people had been introduced to the West Indies and had to be adjusted to the circumstances of life. A number of laws was introduced to control and protect the immigrants and the scheme was partly paid for by the various Governments and the administration of it often proved burdensome. Nevertheless, sugar was kept in the production in spite of all the social and economic problems which accompanied the scheme. By 1917 Indian problems which accompanied the scheme. By 1917 Indian immigration ceased. By then the thousands of Indians had chose to remain in Trinidad, British Guiana, Surinam, Jamaica and the French West Indies and their descendants form a substantial part of the population today.|

In 1830 the Anti-Slavery Society made a pledge for full emancipation of the slaves. In 1831 a new campaign, with that purpose in mind was started, and the society used every effort to stir up public opinion. The stiff opposition put up by west Indian planters against amelioration policy and their treatment of missionaries in the colonies were brought home to the English public, and it was clear that nothing short of an Act of Parliament could bring slavery to an end. All though the movement started by the Abolitionist was largely instrumental in influencing the passing of the Emancipation Act in 1833, there were other factors which contributed in his direction. First, there were economic factors at work which made a valuable contribution to the passing of the Act. The West Indian plantations at this time were almost at the point of ruin. The sold and could not compete with new sugar producing areas like Mauritius, Cuba, Brazil, and India. They offered very little marketing prospects for the bulk of manufactured goods which was being turned out by British factories, and as a further source of British capital investment the were insignificant compared with the prospects arising in the newly independent states of Latin America. The West Indies therefore, were of little economic concern to the newly represented commercial and business interests in the House of Commons, practically after the Reform Act of 1832. These men had nothing to gain from the continuance of slavery, and willingly gave their support to the abolitionist cause. By 18133 the planters were at a standstill politically. The had fail to accept the advice of the absentee planters and merchants in England, and at last brought themselves to the position were they could do nothing, but accept the proposal of the Home Government to abolish slavery. In the face of reforms at home, members of the British Parliament were in the spirit of the reform. They saw the end of slavery as much as a necessity as they saw the stoppage of child labour in factories at home. In this need of reform therefore, it was difficult not to support the move for the abolition of slavery. When therefore, Buxton introduced the Bill in the new session of the House, It was passed by August 1833 and slavery was to be abolished from 1st August 1834. The backing of the Anti-slavery movement by public opinion, the loss of faith between the planters and their London representatives, the economic decline of the sugar plantations, the unprofitably of further investments in the West Indies, the competition on the sugar market from larger and cheaper sugar-producing countries, the need for bigger markets for British manufactured goods , the reforming zeal in England, the possibility of better capital investment in other countries, all were factors which culminated in the Abolitionist’ move to have slavery in the colonies abolished. The Act of Parliament was therefore passed to this effect and the colonies had to abide by it. The main provisions of the Act were that children under six years of age were to be free from 1st August 1834; the older slaves were to serve a period of apprenticeship before they were to be completely free; during the period of apprenticeship, the apprentices were to work for the estates two thirds of the working week without wages, and the remaining one third for wages; paid magistrates were to be sent out form England to arrange for the price to be paid for freedom and to assist the slaves in the transition from estate discipline to the new laws which were to be enacted; and the British Government agreed to pay £20,000,000 to the planters in the compensation for their slaves.|

What effects did the sugar duties Act of 1846 have upon the British West Indies?|

2. The B.W.I lost their U.S market for sugar, rum and molasses to the F.W.I (French West Indies) who could sell cheaper.|

In 1789 the French revolution had broken out. The people of France had risen up against the ruling class who were oppressing them heavily. They had overthrown the king and set up a government known as the Revolution Government which had as its watch words “Liberty fraternity and Equality”. In course of time the revolution became a very bloody one and not only was the king and queen beheaded but all those who were thought to be against the revolution. The revolution in France was to have repercussions in French West Indies where the ideas of revolution had spread and began to seethe in the mind of the inhabitants. The mulattoes who were a class of free colored people and most of whom were educated and wealthy, were well aware of the revolutionary ideas. Many of the slaves who also worked near their masters had pick up ideas from their masters’ conservations. It was not long therefore before there were uprisings in the smaller French islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe and a wide spread bloody revolution in St Dominique. The revolution in St Dominique first started among the mulattoes who were denied the right to vote in 1791 a right which was given to them by the French National Assembly in May 1791. In addition to this French planters had been restricting their freedom for some time. They were afraid of their rising numbers and power and the local assembly was working to reduce their freedom. In 1791 under the leadership of their Vincent Oge` a well educated man, the mulattoes rose up in revolution against the whites. The revolution was short lived as their leader was captured and brutally killed. Within the space of eight months, however, what the planters feared most happened, over 100,000 slaves on the Northern plains rose up in bitter rebellion against the white masters. In the space of two weeks thousands of acres of sugar cane fields were burnt. Estate houses and factories were destroyed by fire, 2000 white were slain and over 10,000 Negroes died either by starvation or fighting. The revolution was now on and there emerged great Negro leaders like Christophe and Toussaint L’Ouverture who were to play a great part in it.|

Describe the life of a typical slave plantation in the West Indies|

249 Quamina Street. P.O. Box 10833, Georgetown. Tel: 592 225-5301/15 Fax: 592 225-5310 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Website: All our rooms reflect the traditional building style reminiscent of Guyana during the colonial era, with Demerara shutters and polished wooden floors. Each room is self contained, with all of the modern amenities including:Air conditioning, International direct dial phones, Cable television, Hair dryers Irons and ironing boards, Mini bar, Complimentary tea and coffee.|

Prior to the passing of the Sugar Duties Act of 1846, The British was Indian planters were already experiencing difficult times. In some islands there was an acute shortage of labour of labour, while in others there were droughts and epidemics, and all suffered declining trade and rising prices. When therefore the British parliament passed the Sugar Duties Act in 1846, the news was received in the West Indies with great alarm. The planters viewed it with grave concern and saw nothing else but utter ruin for them. The Act opened up the British Market to sugar coming for other sources than the British Empire. This led to competition which the planters could not afford, especially with such giants as Cuba and Brazil. The consequence exceeded their assets and a crisis was brought upon them. The British West Indies had long since been enjoying protection for their sugar on the British Markey by means of heavy duties imposed on foreign sugar. After emancipation the shortage of labour had set up sugar prices and at the same time there was no movement in parliament for “Free Trade.” The 1846 Duties Act was passed as a consequence of this. In a short time the British market was flooded with sugar from foreign countries which were producing cheaper sugar then the British colonies consequently the price of sugar fell from £ 18 to £ 10 per ton. By 1848 sugar was selling in London at 22 shillings and 6 pence per cwt., whereas in some of the British West Indian Islands the cost of producing one hundredweight of sugar exceeded this amount. In Trinidad and British Guiana it coast 25 shillings per cwt., and this was exclusive of the cost of shipping. It is evident therefore, that sugar was being produced in the British islands at a loss, except in the smaller islands like Barbados and the Leeward islands which were making a very small profit. Cuba and Brazil, at the same time, were able to sell their sugar at twenty shillings per cwt., and still make a substantial profit. At this time also Louisiana in the Southern United States was producing much more cheaply that the West Indies. All her sugar was absorbed by the United States thus making more Cuban sugar available for the open market, which had the effect of sending the prices down. However, when there were poor crops in Louisiana the United States would buy Cuban sugar thus causing less to be put on the European market. The British West Indian planters would then be able to fetch better prices for their sugar, and prayed for poor crops in Louisiana. This then was the state of the economic affairs in the British West Indies after 1846. The planters sought to remedy the position by trying to modernize their factories, but this took time and money, and they had little money. The planters were extremely worried and made petitions to the British Government. A select committee of 1848, which studied the situation, realised the planters’ difficulties. The British Government, however, could not be encouraged to postpone the equalization of duties on all imported sugar beyond 1854. To assist the West Indian producers in solving their problems, a loan of £ 500,000 was made to them, but Mauritius was also to get a share of it. There was great disappointment in the West Indies over the action of the British Government, and the various assemblies tried to retaliate in different ways. In British Guiana attempts were made to reduce the salaries of colonial officials of colonial officials; Jamaica threatened to refuse paying taxes and to seek annexation to the United States. There was a general decline in the sugar industry and the loan was used in different ways on the various islands, all in an attempt to arrest the situation which could hardly be saved. One great effect of this decline was the “throwing out” of more estates; that is, more estates ceased to function, as sugar production became more and more unprofitable. In those islands like Antigua, St. Kitts and Barbados,|

Write an essay on “The Revolts in the French West Indian Islands towards the end of the Eighteenth century”|

As an arm of the economic and political network of the Americas, the influence of the United States stretches beyond a context. In terms, the United States represents a for the of Caribbean goods. Notably, this is a recent historical trend. The era reflects a time of transition for the when, as powers sought to disentangle from the region (as part of a larger trend of ), the US began to expand its hegemony throughout the region. This pattern is confirmed by economic initiatives such as the (CBI), which sought to congeal alliances with the region in light of a perceived threat. The CBI marks the emergence of the Caribbean basin as a area of strategic interest to the US. This relationship has carried through to the 21st century, as reflected by the . The Caribbean Basin is also of strategic interest in regards to trade routes; it has been estimated that nearly half of US foreign cargo and imports are brought via Caribbean seaways. During wartime, these figures only stand to increase. It is important to note that the US is also of strategic interest to the Caribbean. Caribbean foreign policy seeks to strengthen its participation in a global economy. As an extension of this, Caribbean states do not wish to be excluded from their primary market in the US, or be bypassed in the creation of “wider hemispheric trading blocs” that stand to drastically alter trade and production in the Caribbean Basin. As such, the US has plays an influential role in shaping the Caribbean’s role in this hemispheric market. Likewise, building trade relationships with the US has always figured in strongly with the political goal of economic security in post-independence Caribbean states.|

By the sixteen forties there were clear indications to the settlers of the English and French West Indian islands that the cultivation of tobacco was becoming unprofitable. Tobacco was produced in Virginia in America on a much larger scale than in the West Indies and the quality was superior. While the British West Indies islands were producing 1,000,000 pounds of tobacco annually, Virginia was sending home to Britain about 3,500,000 pounds. The result of this was a glut on the market and a fall in price. The West Indian colonist therefore, had to look around for a profitable crop to replace tobacco, and on the advice of the Dutch, who had been growing it in Brazil, sugar cane planting was introduced around 1645. The changeover from tobacco production to sugar production amounted to what may be regarded as "the sugar revolution," Tobacco cultivation needs relatively little land as it is cultivated more intensively, with the planter giving attention to each plant. The labour force required for this is negligible. Hence the expenditure on the whole outlay is small. Consequently, tobacco was grown on small holdings in the early settlements with the farmer's own family and a few indentured servants providing the labour. The very nature of the cultivation of the sugar cane and the processing of it into sugar was just the opposite of this. Thus the introduction of sugar production in the West Indies necessitated a complete turn over from small land holdings to vast plantations, from a small labour force to a larger one, from little or no capital to great capital expenditure, from unskilled labour to skilled labour to some cases and to erection of factories for manufacture. This was indeed a revolution. The small land owners sold out to "subtle and greedy’ planters who expanded their plantations. Barbados, for instance, which had a large number of small proprietors, became to a matter of ten years an island of large estates. As a result of this, many of the small land owners drifted into the towns and became small businessmen and inn-keepers; others migrated to America, and some took to buccaneering. One other means of increasing the size of plantations was by clearing virgin lands to be turned into sugar cane fields. This agriculture revolution gave rise to a social revolution, particularly insofar as the composition of the population and the life on the estates were concerned. All efforts to procure enough indentured labourers for the sugar estates from Europe failed. Although the white population was considerably increased by this means, thus giving rise to the population of poor whites in the West Indies, it was not until Africa was tapped as a source of labour supply that the required labour force was obtained. Thousands of Negroes were traded into the West Indies from Africa as slaves for the specific purpose of working on the sugar estates. This in turn gave rise to a slave society and a mixed population in the West Indies. The white pattern of West Indian life was changed gradually as the profits of sugar soared and the way of life was adjusted to a sugar economy. Sugar production in its complexity needed a number of skilled workers and technicians and so there was a considerable increase in these types of workmen. The whole face of the land was changed, with vast stretches of sugar cane fields rolling one into the other and windmills and water mills dotted here and there. The quantity of livestock also increased plentifully, for the successful production of sugar could not take place without them. The shipping carried on in the West Indian ports after the change over to sugar was many times what it was before. Ships were needed to transport the sugar to Europe, and to bring food and estate supplies for the slaves and their masters. Many ships also engaged in the slave trade. Thus the tonnage of Dutch, British and French shipping increased considerably during the period. There arose out of it all a wealthy landowning class who comprised the Plutocracy in the British islands, as they obtained and held the power of the Legislative Assemblies in their hands. Though the changeover of necessity was slow, it was sure, and by the end of the 17th century it was evident that sugar had come to stay and the changes had been woven into a pattern of life which was to affect the West Indies, economically, socially, and politically even to this day.|

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Cities of Essequibo Islands-West Demerara Region:

Essequibo Islands-West Demerara Region

Essequibo Islands-West Demerara Inns|

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