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The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of Earth and Mineral Sciences DIGITAL VISUALIZATION OF COLONIAL CARTOGRAPHY: PATTERNS OF WEALTH IN THE SUGAR COLONY OF BARBADOS A Thesis in Geography by Peter J. Koby © 2014 Peter J. Koby Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science August 2014 The thesis of Peter J. Koby was reviewed and approved* by the following: Deryck W. Holdsworth Professor of Geography Thesis Advisor Anthony C. Robinson Research Associate in the Department of Geography Karl S. Zimmerer Head of the Department of Geography *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School. ii ABSTRACT Barbados was one of the most concentrated settings for wealth production in the early Atlantic world, but research is lacking on visualization of patterns of wealth on this sugar island during the colonial era. Colonial maps of Barbados provide information on over 800 sugar plantations through remarkably detailed symbolization. These maps were digitized and georeferenced to modern elevation data, and a database of a dozen variables was constructed from each map's symbology, including size, location, and elevation of plantations, number and type of sugar mills, and their distance from roads and towns. Parish boundaries help situate census records of landowners, servants, and slaves. These data layers reveal patterns of wealth on the island. The project seeks to contextualize these patterns within the broader economic geography of the colonial Caribbean sugar industry as well as address issues of symbolization for historical data and the accuracy of locational information in historical cartography. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures vi List of Tables vii Acknowledgements viii Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Research Questions 8 Significance 10 Chapter 2: Literature Review 13 Chapter 3: Methodology 21 Maps 23 Adding Features 28 Census 31 Determining Wealth 34 Categorizing Wealth 41 Mapping the Wealth 44 Chapter 4: Findings 47 Issues with Historical Data 47 Analysis and Classification 56 Results 61 Case Studies 75 Windmill Study 75 Bridgetown Study 78 Chapter 5: Discussion and Conclusions 82 Discussion 84 Conclusion 88 Bibliography 90 Appendices 98 Appendix A: the Parish of St. Andrew 99 Appendix B: the Parish of Christ Church 105 Appendix C: the Parish of St. George 127 Appendix D: the Parish of St. James 134 iv Appendix E: the Parish of St. John 144 Appendix F: the Parish of St. Joseph 151 Appendix G: the Parish of St. Lucy 157 Appendix H: the Parish of St. Michael 180 Appendix I: the Parish of St. Peter 192 Appendix J: the Parish of St. Philip 205 Appendix K: the Parish of St. Thomas 227 Appendix L: Bridgetown 238 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: A map of Barbados by Richard Ligon, 1657 4 Figure 1.2: A map of Barbados by Richard Ford, 1674 5 Figure 1.3: A map of Barbados by Herman Moll, 1736 6 Figure 2.1: Glyph-style medieval city markers (from Buckley et al. 2013) 19 Figure 2.2: Legend from Ford's map of 1674 showing glyph symbols 19 Figure 3.1: A map of rough boundaries of soil types (Starkey 1939) 36 Figure 3.2: Wealth compared to acreage and total workers 43 Figure 3.3: A section of Ford's map showing the relative homogeneity of symbols 46 Figure 4.1: Regional Allocation Issues with Parish Boundaries 52 Figure 4.2: Sum of Wealth by Parish in Census 63 Figure 4.3: Sum of Wealth by Parish on Ford Map 64 Figure 4.4: Wealth Compared to Acreage and Total Workers: Ford Map 65 Figure 4.5: Average Wealth by Parish in Census 67 Figure 4.6: Average Wealth by Parish on Ford Map 68 Figure 4.7: Plantation Count by Parish in Census 70 Figure 4.8: Plantation Count by Parish on Ford Map 71 Figure 4.9: Class Distribution by Parish 73 Figure 4.10: Wealth by Soil Type 74 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1: Parish Wealth Sums 61 Figure 4.2: Parish Wealth Averages 66 Figure 4.3: Plantations per Parish 69 Figure 4.4: Plantations Classes by Parish 72 Figure 4.5: Soil Averages 72 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to thank Dr. Deryck Holdsworth, my advisor, from whom the original topic for this thesis originated, and who provided multiple sources and leads on data and information over the last two years. Dr. Anthony Robinson provided critiques as part of my committee, and was also a sounding board in the middle of the project to solidify ideas. Dr. Cynthia Brewer was kind enough to travel to Barbados and take useful reference pictures of relevant features, and while not specific to this project, created ColorBrewer, which was indispensable while making maps. Dr. Karl Zimmerer helped coalesce the origins of the topic, and gave final approval of this thesis. It is also necessary to thank the Church of Latter-Day Saints, State College, PA for supplying the Barbados census of 1680, which provides about half of the information in this thesis. The staff were also extremely helpful with transferring the data from microfilm to a digital format. Finally, I cannot give enough thanks to Allison Machnicki, whose continued support and motivation made it possible for me to finish the thesis in a timely fashion without stressing out over the various forms and deadlines. viii Chapter 1: Introduction Within a few decades of the English first visiting Barbados in 1624, Barbados had grown to be the largest sugar-producing region in the world, and “the richest and most populous colony in English America” shortly thereafter (Dunn 1969). Multiple maps of plantations and mills were produced, a remarkable record of the island’s economic geography. These maps, as well as a detailed census of 1679, provide the data from which to symbolize the contours of wealth. Explorations of how to visualize these data contribute to recent developments in digital humanities and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Barbados was predominantly colonized by the English, and officially claimed as an English Colony under King Charles I, but there were also significant populations of Dutch, French, and other nationalities settling the island in the 1600s. Although Barbados was strongly British, its importance in the emerging Atlantic sugar economy also benefited from the Sephardic Jewish community that helped capitalize innovative sugar mills, and a merchant network from Amsterdam to Brazil included Barbados (Schreuder 2002, 2004, 2006). Quakers were also an important part of the merchant community that helped link the plantation world with international markets. Barbados was originally settled with the intention of making it a tobacco- producing island, as tobacco was in demand and easily planted. However, within a few years it was discovered that tobacco did not grow readily in the tropical climate, and other commodities were sought. The production of sugar for human consumption was a 1 luxury until colonization of the West Indies provided a cheap and stable industry of sugar cane production and refinement. Prior to colonization, refined sugar was reserved for the upper classes of society. Until the 1600s, sugar was mostly produced in the Mediterranean, especially Crete, and Atlantic islands, especially the Canary Islands. However, with the colonization by Europeans of the Atlantic islands in the 17th century, it was possible to grow sugar cane with much greater yields, which outweighed the costs of shipment back to Europe (Galloway 1989). By the 1650s the Barbados colonists discovered that sugar cane grew much more readily than tobacco. Three decades later, the island was almost exclusively producing sugar. From a descriptive cartouche on a map from 1674 by Richard Ford, the principal commodities of the time were “Sugar of all sorts viz. Muscovado [brown sugar]… Cotton, Ginger, Aloes, Logwood, Fustick [dye] green & yellow & Lignum vitæ [trade wood]; besides some Indico [dye] & Tobacco, but not near so much as formerly”. Transport of raw sugar cane back to Europe was deemed too costly; the weight of the whole cane stalks and the perishable nature of the plant on long voyages decreased the profit of the final product (Galloway 1989). It was discovered to be more lucrative to set up initial extraction and refining factories in the colonies to pre-process the sugar cane into a non-perishable, lighter, somewhat refined state. The process of refinement first involved trimming the sugar cane and milling it to squeeze out the raw cane juice. On Barbados, mills arose in conjunction with the sugar plantations, and were often the property of the plantation owners. Sugar mills were built in three varieties: wind-, water-, or cattle-driven. 2 Cartographers began mapping Barbados exclusive from the rest of the Windward Islands from at least 1657 (e.g. a map by Richard Ligon was published in 1657, and is the earliest known map of Barbados alone). Early maps were not wholly accurate in terms of the shape of the island, but showed details of the sugar plantations. Symbols displaying the size of plantations and types of sugar mills were common on maps of Barbados from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Ligon’s map, for instance, shows the locations of sugar plantation labeled with the surname of the plantation owner (figure 1.1). Later maps, such as those by Richard Ford (1680) and Herman Moll (1736) incorporated symbolization to differentiate between the types of mills associated with plantations, or the size of the estate (figures 1.2, 1.3). Ford mapped the different types of mills and their number for each plantation, while Moll mapped plantations with symbols showing how many mills were associated with each. In 1657 there were 280 plantations on Barbados located primarily on the western coast of the island, close to the ports of Bridgetown and Speightstown and the roads leading to them.