The Impact of Historical Processes in the Caribbean

The Impact of Historical Processes in the Caribbean.
Migratory movements and the establishments of patterns of settlements by different groups within the Caribbean from pre-Columbian times to the present.
The development of systems of productions: Encomienda, Slavery, Indentureship and the plantation system.
Responses of Caribbean people to oppression and genocide: resistance, development of peasant groups.
Movements towards independence
Political enfranchisement
Movement towards Independence
“From emancipation until the end of the nineteenth century Caribbean people were shaking off the mental, psychological and emotional trauma associated with enslaved and bonded labor.” (Mohammed, 2007)
The abolition of slavery in 1834 in the British colonies did not result in any meaningful change in the social, economic or political wellbeing of ex-slaves. However, freedom from slavery created a demand for greater freedoms, and so began the movement to independence.

Universal Adult Suffrage/Political Enfranchisement
“Political enfranchisement refers to the right of a people or nation to determine their own affairs.” (Mohammed, 2007). This propelled the process towards Constitutional Decolonization, which is the process whereby the colony achieves independence.
The widespread unrest in the 1930s forced the colonial masters to instate elected representation. There were no restrictions put on the population – except that of age in being eligible to vote and elect members to the legislature.
1944 Jamaica, 1945 Trinidad and Tobago, 1950 Barbados, 1951 Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia, St.Vincent, Guyana and St. Kitts.
Political Enfranchisement
This refers to the right of a people or nation to determine their own affairs.
Once emancipation was achieved it was only a matter of time before Caribbean people start to develop the skills and expertise necessary to challenge the status quo; the first of which was the Morant Bay Rebellion in 1865.
Caribbean people also migrated to different regions in the years to come to work for better wages. Some went to work on the Panama Canal, the modern sugar industry in Cuba, Puerto Rico in textile factories, the oil refineries of Curacao and Aruba and the oil fields of Venezuela.
Returning soldiers who had served in the world wars were unwilling to settle for their low status in society and thus formed their own organizations to speak out against the injustices of the society.
Many were influenced by the philosophical ideas of Marcus Garvey black pride and consciousness. By the 1930s people launched riots and strikes in order to bring about changes. This time also saw the rise of charismatic leaders such Uriah Buzz Butler, Alexander Bustamante of Jamaica, Arthur Cipriani of Trinidad Nathainel Crichlow of Guyana and Grantley Adams of Barbados.
Creation of political parties- JLP & PNP in Jamaica; Barbados Progressive Leagues; Peoples National Movement led by Eric Williams all assisted in the move towards self governance and Nationalism.
The Moyne Commission had recommended that all colonies move towards Adult Suffrage that is, every adult should have franchise. Adult Suffrage came into being in Jamaica 1944 which stipulated that every man/ woman over 21 should be given the right to vote. This gave them the opportunity to make laws to effect changes in the respective colonies.
Adult Suffrage gained support from the Nationalist Movements such as Graveyism and Pan African Movement; the intelligentsia, literary works of writers and the media in the decolonization process.
Trade Unions were also formed to enable better working conditions and treatment of workers of which were the Barbados Workers Union and Jamaican Industrial Trade Union.

Economic enfranchisement
This is a condition whereby a country or nation achieves the right to determine how it will develop its systems of production.
The genesis of this enfranchisement can be found in the movement of the newly freed people to establish themselves as new proprietors and which evolved into the formation of free villages and peasantry.
Caribbean people in their quest for self governance also wanted the opportunity to control their economy.
The plantation economy was diversified to include alternative crops such as banana, cocoa, coffee, arrowroot which were cultivated by peasant farmers on small landholdings. This strategy of economic diversification attempted to make small farmers self sufficient and resilient to face the economic hardship. It kept them independent of the planter and the low wages offered on the plantations. It gave them the opportunity to organize themselves for the export market and develop some sophistication in making trading connections with the wider world. In spite of this yearning to become economically viable peasants were meted with oppression from the ruling class who charged high rents for land or face eviction. Planters refuse to sell lands to peasants in order to block their efforts to seek credit facilities; some were sabotaged.
Efforts at economic diversification did assist the colony in establishing a more balanced economy and provided the peasants with a sense of independence.

The Development of Systems of Productions: Encomienda, Slavery, Indentureship and the Plantation System.
Encomienda System
In 1498, Columbus introduced the encomienda, a practice which granted the natives to the Spanish for labor in return for food, clothes and Christian teachings. In 1502, Nicolas de Ovando arrived with a decree legalizing the encomienda and in 1509 Ferdinand decreed that it should be introduced throughout the empire. The Laws of Burgos, in 1511, Antonio de Montesinos (or Antonio Montesino) was a Spanish Dominican friar on the island of Hispaniola (now the Dominican Republic and Haiti) attacked the encomienda and its abuses. The Spanish Crown decided that the system was necessary as the only source of labor but that it could be better organized and the rights of the indigenous people properly protected. The Laws of Burgos (1511) stated that;
The natives were freemen.
They were to be connected to Christianity.
They were to be made to work.
In 1537, Charles V reaffirmed that neither the natives were to be enslaved nor their property taken away. If already in enslavement it was to be null and void.
The New Laws
Bartolome de las Casas, another Dominican friar also attacked the encomineda after 1511. As a result of his agitation, The New Laws of the treatment of the Indians were passed in 1542. Poor treatment of the nation resulted in genocide (the destruction of a race).
For example;
Hispaniola Jamaica
1492 – 300,000 Tainos 1492 – 60,000 Tainos
1598 – 500 Tainos 1655 – None

Enslavement under the Encomienda
The natives were overworked in the mines and the plantations. Unaccustomed to hard work, many died.
The natives were subsistence farmers. They were unable to tend to the crops because of the forced labor.
The Encomienda in the Caribbean Islands
The Capitulations of Santa Fe of April 17, 1492, granted Christopher Columbus one tenth of all that was discovered or gained in his ocean crossings with the remaining nine tenths to go to the Catholic royalty. It is no surprise, therefore, that one of the main motivations for the colonization of the Americas was the enrichment of the Catholic royalty and all of those involved in the conquest. Exploiting natural and human resources became the priority in the Caribbean islands and was put to the test mainly in the recently discovered territories of Hispaniola, Cuba and Puerto Rico.

On the island that Columbus named Hispaniola, the first Spanish settlement in the Caribbean and the Americas was founded: La Isabela. The working conditions, poor food and the distribution of labor at La Isabela soon became the source of controversy and dissent among the residents of the recently conquered territory. In 1494 and 1495, Columbus put down various uprisings by the Spanish and the Indians who were unhappy with their impoverished conditions. In 1496, despite the misfortunes that arose during these first years, Columbus left to return to Spain in search of new sponsors and men appropriate for the job of colonization. He left poverty and desperation in his wake among the Spaniards and indigenous people. The unrest was so extreme that Francisco Roldán led a revolt against Christopher Columbus' brothers, Bartolomé and Diego, who were in charge of the territory in Columbus' absence. La Isabela was suddenly left uninhabited after the Spanish and the rebel Indians settled near the indigenous populations that could provide them with food for their survival.

Roldán's uprising on Hispaniola and the disagreements with the management by Columbus and his family led the Crown to dismiss the admiral and transplant to the Americas the old institution of the encomienda — an institution that was very popular during the period of the Reconquest — with the goal of placating the early settlers. In a similar form to the encomiendas that were developed in Spain, the conquered lands were divided among the Christians and, in the case of the Caribbean territories; the indigenous people were included to be used as serfs. The distribution of land and control over the indigenous people constituted the first forms of unofficial slavery in the Caribbean islands. The native populations of the islands of Hispaniola, Cuba and Puerto Rico were submitted from the beginning of colonization to forced labor in search of gold, building public works and agricultural work.

After a short period under the leadership of Francisco de Bobadilla, commander of the Military Order of Calatrava, the Crown put Nicolás de Ovando in charge of organizing the colonial government on the island in 1501. Ovando took on the task and was able to re-establish order in the colony on Hispaniola, but not before meeting the demands of the first men and those who came with him through the distribution of land and with the enomiendas of the indigenous people to work the land. The encomiendas were not legally an institutional form of slavery in the Americas. The legislation about the treatment of indigenous populations weakly tried to control the mistreatment that the Indians faced through measures that specified the responsibilities for providing housing, food, clothing and, above all, indoctrination of the Indians into Christianity. These measures were empty words, however, and were overruled by the Crown's economic interests. This remained the case under Queen Isabel in 1503 and King Carlos V under the Laws of Burgos in 1512.

Once order was established in the Hispaniola colony, the conquistadors lost no time in using the indigenous workers under their control to begin searching for gold on the banks of the rivers of Hispaniola, San Juan (Puerto Rico) and later on Cuba. The Spaniards had been dazzled by the gold adornments worn by the indigenous chiefs and with the hope of finding abundant gold deposits they began an insatiable search for gold to meet the financial needs of the Crown. The need for constant labor was a pillar of the colonizers' undertakings. The colonization of Puerto Rico, and Cuba a few years later, sharpened the colonists' desire for wealth. As early as 1514, the governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez, told the king, "Here I began to scour the earth and look for where there was gold." The indigenous labor was insufficient, however, and the Spaniards had to capture Lucayas Indians or the feared and mythologized Caribs of the Lesser Antilles, which were considered slaves beginning in 1503.

The gold found meant huge profits for the Crown. In 1503, according to estimates by Eric Williams, profits from the Caribbean were 8,000 ducados, rising in just five years to 59,000 ducados. By 1518, a year before the beginning of the conquest of Mexico by Hernán Cortés, the royal treasury received 120,000 ducados. This initial frenzy soon faded as the Crown realized the insignificant quantities of gold available in the Antilles in comparison to the continental finds in Mexico and Peru. This initial period was fundamental, however, for the political and economic organization of the Crown in the Americas.