Caribbean Studie

C) The development of systems of productions: Slash and Burn, Encomienda, Slavery, Indentureship, the Plantation system. A system of production refers to the way in which an economy is organizes to provide commodities to sustain society. Slash and Burn When the Spaniards arrived the Arawaks and Caribs were producing Agricultural surpluses and trade was mostly organized around feeding and providing for the wants of the community. The arawaks and caribs used a slash and burn technique in their agricultural production.

By the method they would slash (cut down) trees and bushes from the land and then burn them in order to release nutrients into the soil. They would then grow crops in these fields and when they became nutrient deplete they would move unto new plots and repeat the process. Encomienda The Spaniards however brought ideas about how the system of production should be organized. Their main motivation eas the acquisition of precious metals. The Spaniard introduced the Encomienda system of production as a way to organize the enslaved labour in the colonies for productive work.

By the encomienda system, a Spanish colonist would be awarded a number of Indians to work for him in the mines and in the fields. In return, the colonist were responsible for teaching them Christian principles, paying them wages and looking after them generally Slavery and Plantation system African slavery was introduced in the 17th century to provide labour on the newly introduced sugar plantations. The Africans were kidnapped from West-Africa and forced to work on Sugar plantations in the Caribbean.

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Under this system the profits were then repatriated to Europe and used to promote manufacturing and industrial strength in Europe. Slavery can be considered to be a total institution because it dominated every aspect of African lives to ensure that they provided profit. They controlled what the Africans ate and what they were allowed to do. The slaves were expected to work long hours on the plantation in the sugar fields without pay and live in poor social conditions. Peasantry groups Peasants are usually small-scale farmers who own their own land, on which hey produce most of their own food; and which they produce items for internal sale in markets and in some instances export. These peasantries were usually established on the peripheries of plantation areas wherever they could find land; on abandoned plantations and in the mountainous interiors of the various territories. Different to the mono-culture nature of the plantation system the peaantry was a diversified agricultural system producing numerous crops such as cocoa, rice, bananas, citrus, coffee. )Responses of Caribbean people to oppression and genocide: Resistance, revolution, development of peasant groups. Indians The native Indians devised techniques to resist the European settlers. The earliest account of this was from 1493 when Taino men killed Spanish settlers in Hipaniola because they ill-treated native women. There were a number of leaders who would organize their people to fight back against the Spaniards. HATUEY in Cuba. However they were no match to the superior military might of the Spanish.

The Caribs were much more effective in their resistance attempt. As a people the caribs were highly mobile often moving from place to place in their dug out canoes and this allowed them to elude capture. They did not fight open battles but often engaged in guerilla warfare, employing poisoned arrows, poisoning water supplies and raiding Spanish settlements. Gradually the superior weaponery of the Europeans drove them out of their islands. However, the Europeans eventually formed treaties to ensure their survival. Today they are still caribs in Dominica, Grenada, St.

Vincent. Africans African slaves resisted their situations in many ways. There was non-violent resistance where the African alves would refuse to work, damage work equipment, purposely misunderstand instructions and compose songs which would mimick the white man. Where the white Christians would try to force their religion on them they hybridize there to form they own religions; Rastafarianism, shouter Baptists, Orisha, etc. Also there is the folk-lore in the form of Anansis stories which recounted African oral folklore.

Maroonage; this was running away to settle in the interior away from the plantation and form native African villages Jamaica, Suriname, Guyana. These maroon villages acted as a beacon of hope for those on the plantation and also helped to maintain African customs and ways of life. Maroon villages exist to this day. They would also resist through music in the form of drums . Indians The Indians in many instances openly protested their poor living conditions and hardship. In some instances they engaged in large scale open protest and rebellion against the Europeans.

One of the most notable examples of this were the Leonora Riots on Leonora estate in Guyana in 1969. Indians also simply ran away or refused to work. They would also establish small businesses on the side and engage in peasantry. This entrepreneurship was a productive form of resilience and it led to their quick independence from the plantation. Peasantry groups At the end of slavery, ex-slaves escaped to available lands in their territories as a form of rebellion against the formers masters. The Indian indentured labourers also often escaped to peasantry at the end of their periods of indentureship.

Peasants are usually small-scale farmers who own their own land, on which they produce most of their own food; and which they produce items for internal sale in markets and in some instances export. These peasantries were usually established on the peripheries of plantation areas wherever they could find land; on abandoned plantations and in the mountainous interiors of the various territories. Different to the mono-culture nature of the plantation system the peaantry was a diversified agricultural system producing numerous crops such as cocoa, rice, bananas, citrus, coffee.

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