Conditions of enslavement and resistance by the women in barbados Essay

Conditions of enslavement and resistance by the women in barbados - Essay Example More pointedly and often ignored, the enslavement of women and their resistance to their lot presents not only an interesting historical recount, but in its impact on the island’s culture, a crucial aspect of its development and singular identity as a country rich in African tradition and lore—a tradition kept alive by the passive resistance of slave women. Colonialism and the Beginning of Slavery According to Appiah and Gates ( 1999), some time after 800 c.e. , several South American native tribes began migrating to Barbados; most were eventually driven out by the notoriously fierce Caribs, also from South America. The Caribs eventually took over the population of the island. In the first decade of the sixteenth century, Spanish conquistadors conquered the Caribs and began enslaving Barbados’s inhabitants, removing many to work on emerging sugar plantations throughout the Caribbean and on the mainland. Those remaining quickly fell victim to small pox and tubercu losis. (Barbados.org, 2009) By the time the British arrived in the early 1600s, the island was virtually uninhabited and seemed a prime place for the British to take over for their own expanding plantations in the region. In 1627 the first African slaves along with eighty British colonists landed on the island at Holetown Village. Appiah and Gates (1999) provide the following overview: Barbados was a colony founded entirely on slave labor. As early as the seventeenth century black slaves outnumbered whites by nearly four to one, culminating in the creation of legal and political institutions that dominated and subjugated the island's black majority for more than 300 years. The authoritarian style with which the white minority ruled Barbados was admired and emulated by white colonists throughout the Caribbean... By the mid-seventeenth century Barbados was the prototype for European colonialism, and the demise of that system on the island bears vivid testimony to the ability of Africa n slaves to overcome enormous obstacles on the road to freedom. (par. 3) Most of the slaves were provided by Dutch merchants†¦from Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon. Many, as was usually the case due to the harsh environment of slave ships themselves, died before reaching their destinations. The harshness of the trips is attested to in eyewitness accounts that describe a scene after a gale. â€Å"By the time the tarp was removed and the portholes opened nearly a third of the people below had perished† (World Sagas.com, no date, par. 16). From the very beginning unrest among the slave population was evident. Laws regulating the slaves were quickly put into place and harshly enforced. By the 1800's, there were laws prohibiting slaves from leaving their plantations without permission and curtailment of cultural traditions of communication, such as the beating drums or any other instruments. Runaway-- men and women-- were treated harshly; law s required the return of runaways and leniency for anyone who killed runaways was institutional. The Lot of Women Slaves When it comes to slavery in general, history and other portrayals of enslaved people tend to focus on the role of men. This male dominated history fails to acknowledge and even devalues the role of women at all levels of slavery. Shepherd, Brereton and Baily (1999) in Women in Caribbean History states that until