... The British abolished the slave trade in 1807, but not the institution itself. In 1816, slaves rose up in the largest major slave rebellion in the island's history. Twenty thousand slaves from over seventy plantations rebelled. They drove whites off the plantations, but widespread killings did not take place. This was later termed "Bussa's Rebellion" after the slave ranger, Bussa, who with his assistants hated slavery, found the treatment of slaves on Barbados to be "intolerable," and believed the political climate in the UK made the time ripe to peacefully negotiate with planters for freedom... Bussa's Rebellion failed. One hundred and twenty slaves died in combat or were immediately executed; another 144 were brought to trial and executed; remaining rebels were shipped off the island...Slavery was abolished in 1834 in Barbados, today's "History of" country.
ADDED: Here— at the U.K. National Archives website — is a school lesson on Bussa's rebellion, with nice scannings of original documents for students to read. And here's a drawing taken from the rebels that "appears to stress the rebels' loyalty to Britain and to the Crown while conveying their earnest desire for liberty."
Posts
20 comments:
Also, great beaches.
I'm enjoying this historical series. There is a neat thing in the human development index that UNESCO or the United Nations has developed that rates each country with regard to its place in the index. It would be nice to get along with the snippet of history, a ranking. Thanks for the series. It's fun. I don't know where Barbados is exactly, but it's fun to get the picture and the snippet about their revolution.
The great thing about Barbados is they don't mind if you wear Bermuda shorts.
One of the most emblematic episodes in our relationship happened on Barbados, or at least in Barbadian waters.
The Blonde and I went snorkeling and the people who ran the boat chummed the water with bread to get the fish to come. They came.
As I up was clearing my my mask, "a whole herd" (her expression) of yellowtail crowded in front of You-Know-Who's mask. Next thing I know, I'm being pulled under and thrown in the path of these killer herbivores.
Ever since, Barbados is known as the land of the Killer Yellowtail.
Rihanna is from Barbados.
edutcher gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "sleeps with the fishes."
"They did this to blacks in Barbados?! One more reason to pay back those bitter clingers."
--Obama's response after being told what's on Althouse today by a White House iffy sites monitor.
TIL that besides English, Bajan Creole is widely spoken in Barbados, and it is closely related to Gullah which is spoken in South Carolina.
South Carolina was famously settled, at least initially, from Barbados. There are some arguments that mass African slavery came to North America with the Barbados settlements in the Carolinas, rather than in the initial few shiploads of African slaves brought into Jamestown.
George Washington's only trip outside of the North American Colonies was to Barbados. He contracted smallpox on the trip
Most of these "smallholders" left before the perfection of sugar production a few decades later. They were trying to grow foodstuffs, logwood, and tobacco. They were not able to compete with the mainland colonies in producing these commodities, and eventually sold out to larger planters who figured out sugar was the way to go. The English thought much more highly of the Sugar Islands than they did the other atlantic colonies in the 17C, because sugar brought in much more money.
"Barbados Slim! The last I heard, you were in Barbados!"
Ann Althouse said...
edutcher gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "sleeps with the fishes."
Now what was that about?
I just told a funny little snorkeling story. She doesn't like anything that much in her face - including the pups.
No comparisons or anything.
I rented a mini-moke on Barbados last spring and drove around the entire island. One of my friends told me I was crazy and was going to get robbed, but I had an absolute blast.
I will say that the road signage outside of Bridgetown is abysmal...much of it is literally little white arrows nailed to palm trees...but the local people who helped me could NOT have been nicer, including a gentleman who actually went out of his way to lead me to my destination when I was hopelessly lost.
I would definitely do it again!
Sounded like sex w the fish, Ed.
It does?
Oh, the "chummed the water with bread to get the fish to come. They came".
Like the man says, you can read that several ways.
(actually, it sounds more like sex among the fishes)
I'll continue with my theme of snowfall history for the countries you describe.
It should go without saying that Barbados has never had any snow. In fact, I might as well jump ahead and report on all the "B" countries:
Belize, Benin, Brunei, Burkina Faso and Burundi have never had snow.
Botswana may be in this category too, though there are some decades-old unconfirmed reports of occasional light snow.
Bhutan, Bolivia and Burma get mountaintop snow.
Brazil gets snow on a semi-regular basis in higher elevations in a couple of southern states, though most of the country never gets any.
Belgium, Bosnia and Bulgaria regularly get snow, at least in certain areas. Of the three Bosnia gets the most (Sarajevo hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics) and Belgium the least.
Belarus is usually completely covered in snow all winter.
Peter
A major discussion in the past that I'll bring up again: "Why do Carribean blacks who've come to America seem to so me better than our indigenous African-Americans?
"God always saves endavour"
but Inspector Morse is gone...
"...rebels were shipped off the island."
Without a destination? Dropped off mid-ocean? Left to fend for themselves on an atoll? Given money and land to start over elsewhere?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Post a Comment