The Amerindian Slave Population in Barbados in the Seventeenth And

38 I. ARTICLES CARIBBEAN STUDIES / VOL. 8, NO. 4 39 in which Amerindians came to a European Caribbean colony under THE AMERINDIAN SLAVE POPULATION OF BARBADOS IN such circumstances), but shortly after arrival they were enslaved. 1 THE SEVENTEENTH AND EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES * In the ensuing years of the 17th century other groups of Indians, from a variety of areas, were intermittently brought to the island Ñ these new immigrants invariably coming as slaves. However, Indian slaves Jerome S. Handler** always formed a very insignificant minority of Barbados' population and by the end of the first few decades o£ the 18th century there are few traces of them existing as a distinctive sub-cultural group. I. INTRODUCTION Most modern writers who have concerned themselves with Barbados' 17th century history have remarked upon the introduction of the The first European colony in Barbados was established in 1627 when original group of Guiana Arawaks [5; 24; 41; 45; 46], but none have a handful of Englishmen arrived directly from the mother country. made any comprehensive attempt to deal with the subsequent history Throughout the first fifteen or so years of the colony's life its cash of these Indians nor with the island's Amerindian slave population as economy rested upon the production of tobacco and cotton which were a whole. Thus, this paper will chronicle the story of Amerindians in largely grown on relatively small holdings cultivated with the help of Barbados and examine their legal and social position on the island indentured servants. The transformation of the island's economy into during the 17th and early 18th centuries. Ethnographic aspect of one based on plantation sugar production and African slave labor Amerindian life on Barbados and the kinds of contributions such effectively began in the 1640s. As emphasis upon sugar increased many Indians may have made to the island's early culture are considered small holdings were obliterated thousands of Europeans emigrated, in a separate presentation [21]. and many thousands more of African slaves were imported to take their place. Within the much better known story of African slavery II. THE EARLY INTRODUCTION AND ENSLAVEMENT OF in the colony lies another dealing with Amerindian slaves: although the AMERINDIANS English seldom used such slaves, they were occasionally employed in Jamaica and some of the Lesser Antillean islands as well as Barbados. There is considerable archaeological evidence that various Amerin- What makes the case of Barbados unusual, however, is that shortly dian populations visited and inhabited Barbados in pre-Columbian after the Island's colonization a small group of Arawaks from Guiana times [5; 8, pp. 16-19], and historical sources attest to the presence was imported to teach the English colonists how to cultivate tropical of Indians on the island during the first decades of the 16th century crops and, generally, to assist in the development of their settlement. [37, pp. 192-195]. It was during this period that the Spanish were These Indians came voluntarily and as freemen (offering a rare instance most involved in raiding the Lesser Antilles for Indians to work the mines of Hispaniola. Possibly such raids were largely, if not entirely, responsible for depopulating the island, and by 1541 a Spanish for as a by-product of a commentator "wrote of the people of Barbados in the past tense" [37, p. 194]. It is difficult to say how often the island was visited by a grant from the National Institute of Health (MH 11434-0 1), in 1965 , and a Europeans in the mid to late 16th century but, It was not settled by any National ScienceResearchrant Foundation (GS 1154) m 1966-1967, was European power. Carlbs from neighboring islands may have visited conducted in Barbados, the United States, England, and Ireland. I am indebted to Neville Connell, Caroll Riley, and David Watts for their helpful Barbados during the latter 16th and early 17th centuries, 2 but an comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Although many primary sources have been searched, references to Amerindians have been Infrequent and often quite cursory. This sparsity 1Edgar Mittelholzer present a fictionalized version of this incident in of materials limits the writer to a broad sketch of the Amerindians' history his novel Children of Kaywana (New York, .1952).. and role in Barbados with conjecture by necessity often taking the place 2 Major John Scott [7 B], without citing his source of information, of concrete evidence. While attempting to state explicitly my own notes that a 16th century European mariner (presumably either Spanish or interpretations, I have also quoted extensively from the sources (modernizing Portuguese) left hogs on Barbados "...which the Indians of St. Vincent the spelling in so doing) so that the reader is in a better position, not only coming to know, they did some years after often visit [Barbados] for to evaluate my own interpretations, but also to offer alternative ones. hunting." Some Arawak groups from South America also may have made **Associate Professor of Anthropology, Southern Illinois occasional landings (see italicized sections of Powell's petition, quoted below). University. 40 I. ARTICLES CARIBBEAN STUDIES / VOL. 8, NO. 4 41 English captain who briefly landed around 1620 remarked that "he send Powell onto Guiana, where the Governor was also an acquaintance, with others did hunt and take hogs without discovering or hearing of in order to deposit a variety of trade goods brought from England 3 any people upon the said island" [46, p. 20]. No colonizing attempts [13, pp. 658-661]. With the help of the Dutch Governor, it was also resulted from this visit, but five years later another English ship, intended to acquire various crops which could be transplanted and returning from Brazil, also reported the island as uninhabited. Upon utilized for commercial and subsistence purposes in Barbados. It was returning to England, the captain of this ship informed his merchant on this trip that Powell encountered the Indians whom he brought back employer that the island had possibilities for colonization [24, pp. 3-4]. to the island. The story is perhaps best told in his own words: A syndicate was formed, an expedition financed and, after an initial failure ere route, a ship, captained by Henry Powell, landed at Barbados "...I proceeded in my voyage to the Main to the riverjf Essequibo and there I left eight men and left them a cargezon of trade for in February, 1627 with about 40 English colonists plus a handful of that place. And I traded with the Indians of the aforesaidMain Negroes who had been captured during the voyage. 4 Again finding for all things that was to be gotten for the planting of this island the island unpopulated the group set to establishing Barbados' first of Barbados. And coming down the river of Essequibo, there was three canoes with Indians of the people that I had traded with, European settlement and the island was to remain under continuous followed me to the river's mouth and upon a small island at the and uninterrupted British rule until its political independence in river's mouth went ashore, a little before night, fair by the ship. Your ,petitioner perceiving that they followed the ship and had November, 1966. a ,desire to speak with me, I went ashore to them and lay that Thus, the English colonization of Barbados was a peaceful one. night upon the island to know their intent to follow me so far. Their answer was that they did perceive by the things that I had Although the islands was soon torn by internal political conflict, the bought of them that I was bound to plant an island that lay to first settlers were not forced to compete with other Europeans for its the northward of them and that they had relation from their control and they encountered no native population. forefathers that had been upon an island that way that was not inhabited and they described the manner of the island to me. About two weeks after he landed, Powell took a small group of And that they had a desire to go with me as free people to manure those fruits and that I should allow them a piece of land, the men and sailed for the Dutch settlement on the Essequibo river in which I did and they would manure those fruits and bring up their Guiana [43 F]. 5 The syndicate, of which Powell was a member, had children to Christianity, and that we might drive a constant trade close connections through one of its principals Ñ William CourteenÑ between that island and the Main for there was many more of the Indians of that place that had a desire for to come for that with an Anglo-Dutch firm. It had been part of the original plan to island the next year if I would come there a gain. And some of them that I brought were the wives and children of men that tarried behind and sent their wives and children with me..." 3 Williamson also suggest the possibility that the 1620 date is incorrect, [27 in 23, pp. 36-381. and that the captain's landing may have taken place a few years later. 4 Although independent sources agree that some Negroes arrived in In the above account, Powell notes that it was the Indians who brought Barbados with the first colonizing party, their number ,is not certain. John up the subject of going to Barbados. Major John Scott, on the other Cleere who was the boatswain on Henry Powell's ship, noted that there were "ten Negroes taken in a prize" while Tuckerman the ship's carpenter, hand, states that Groenewegen, the Dutch Governor of the Essequibo claimed there were only "2 or 3 blacks" [43 B, pp.

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