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UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The Political Economy of Anti-Slavery Resistance: An Atlantic History of the 1795 Insurrection at Coro, Venezuela Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/89g7p14s Author Rivera, Enrique S Publication Date 2019 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles The Political Economy of Anti-Slavery Resistance: An Atlantic History of the 1795 Insurrection at Coro, Venezuela A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In History by Enrique Salvador Rivera 2019 © Copyright by Enrique Salvador Rivera 2019 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION The Political Economy of Anti-Slavery Resistance: An Atlantic History of the 1795 Insurrection at Coro, Venezuela by Enrique Salvador Rivera Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2019 Professor Peter James Hudson, Chair On the night of Sunday, May 10, 1795, hundreds of enslaved and legally free people of African and native American descent took up arms to overthrow colonial rule in Coro, Venezuela. The rebels stated that their new society would be free of Coro’s coercive political and economic systems, particularly slavery and taxes. After three days of fighting, however, Coro’s rebels were ultimately defeated, and at least 125 of them were killed in combat, or brutally executed in the days, weeks, and months that followed. Despite this defeat, the Coro rebellion has created an archive that allows historians to unearth new information on the history of capitalism, as well as the radical ideologies that circulated the Atlantic during the Age of Revolution. ii This dissertation bridges the fields of capitalism studies and histories of enslaved people’s resistance movements to examine the role of the Atlantic’s political economy in structuring eighteenth-century Coro, as well as rebel ideology. It argues that Coro’s rebels were inspired, not so much by abstract Enlightenment ideas of liberty and equality, but by their autochthonous political and economic customs, as they were practiced in Coro, and in the Gold and Loango Coasts of West and West Central Africa, from where most rebels descended. This dissertation also intervenes in the history of capitalism, asserting the need to define and periodize capitalism. It begins with a study of textile production in the manufacturing enclaves of Flanders, Brittany, and Devon, and investigates the three joint-stock companies that shaped eighteenth-century Coro: The Dutch West India Company, the South Sea Company, and the Real Compañía Guipozcoana. Through a study of the political economies of the people indigenous to Coro and the Gold and Loango Coasts, it demonstrates that the precapitalist class structure of eighteenth-century Europe, based on peasant production and merchant capital, was unable to completely destroy autochthonous social systems in Africa and the Americas, as would progressively become more common under capitalism. These communalist mores informed the moral economy of the African and native American communities of Coro, and they were the ones that inspired the 1795 insurrection. iii The Dissertation of Enrique Salvador Rivera is approved. Lauren Derby Aisha Finch Jemima Pierre Juan Gómez-Quiñonez Peter James Hudson, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2019 iv Table of Contents Introduction: The Coro Rebellion, Enslaved People’s Resistance Movements, and the History of Capitalism …………..................………………………………………………1 Chapter 1: ‘Precious Objects’……………………………………………………………43 Chapter 2: Joint-Stock Company Capital………………………………………………..85 Chapter 3: The People…………………………………………………………………..154 Chapter 4: Indigenous Labor-Power……………………………………………………206 Conclusion: The Conquest Continues…………………………………………………..237 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………242 v Acknowledgements The love and labors of dozens of people made this dissertation possible. I must first, however, thank God for saving my life and for granting me a new one; one that makes efforts like these possible. I must then acknowledge my parents, Maria Ivonne and Enrique Stewart, for their efforts to improve the conditions of their families and their peoples; efforts that led them far away from home, to Washington, D.C., where they met, fell in love, and gave me life. My parents spoiled me rotten while raising me with the communalistic moral and political values that guide me to this day. They also provided the emotional and intellectual support that made this dissertation possible. I love you both more than words could possibly express. I would also like to give thanks to my grandparents, José Salvador Pérez Gómez, Beatríz Chávez Benedetto, and Justina Tórres Burgos for their indispensible hands in raising me, for providing their unconditional love and support, and for their fabulous senses of humor. I would also like to thank my sister, Heidi, for always being there for me. No one could possibily understand me better than you and I’m so grateful to have you as a sibling. I’d also like to thank my cousin Jazmin, who is my second sister, and who’s wit has kept me on my toes for as long as I can remember, and who’s spirit continues to inspire me. To my Tía, Beatríz Pérez-Gómez, I’d like to thank you for your refusal take crap from anyone, including me. This, as well as your strength, and your passion for life, have informed the discipline I’ve needed to complete this dissertation. I also want to thank my cousins (and brothers) Emmanuel Rivera and Edward Encarnación for always being there for me no matter what. I must also thank my cousins vi Steven, Rocky, Erika, Djanira, and Michele. Rest in peace to my dear cousin Mónica Rivera. I’d also like to thank my uncles and aunts: Titi Delia, Tío Frankie, Titi Ángeles, Tío Rafi, Tío Georgie, and Tío Tony. Rest in peace to my dear Tía Carmín, and to my Tío Teddy. I love you all very much. I would also like to acknowledge my new family. There can hardly exist a more inspiracional figure than my father-in-law, Ever Córdova. Don Ever’s dedication to his wife, his children, and his grandchild inspire me to follow the loving path he has laid. His miraculous story of overcoming adversity serves as a guiding light, as does his dedication to his people. I’d also like to thank my mother-in-law, Wendy Córdova, for her infectious happiness and laughter, as well as her dedication to her family and her community. To my brother-in-law, Evert Córdova, thank you for loving my wife and daughter, and for accepting me as your brother. A special thanks is due to Richard Ribb, for his emotional, ethical, moral and intellectual support throughout the past few years. Thank you also to the late Daniel Walker whose emotional support made my move to Los Angeles possible. Special shout out as well to Anna Jacobs and Kellen Matwick. This dissertation would not have been possible without the support of various universities, mentors, and professors. Financial support from the University of Maryland, College Park, Vanderbilt University, and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) facilitated the coursework and research that produced this dissertation. I must thank my advisor and mentor, Peter James Hudson, for his support over the past six years. I would not have had a social and political awakening without his intervention at Vanderbilt University, and I would not be at UCLA if it were not for him. Hudson’s dedication has made me the person I am today, and I am eternally indebted to him for vii that. I would also like to thank Jemima Pierre for exposing me to critical perspectives that have had a profound impact on how I think about imperialism, race, and class. I’d also like to thank Robin Derby for her always timely insights in regards to historiography, methodology, and the practical aspects of being a career academic. I’d also like to thank Aisha Finch for agreeing to come on board in support of this dissertation, and for the intellectual contributions she made, both in her own work and through her communications with me. I also want to acknowledge the great affects Juan Gómez- Quiñones has had on my intellectual, political, and personal development, and I also want to thank him for supporting me during my graduate career at UCLA. I’d also like to thank Katsuya Hirano for his seminars on settler colonialism and Marxism and Culture—the form this dissertation has taken is largely endebted to the material I learned in these courses. I’d also like to thank the following graduate student peers and professors at UCLA: Javier Muñoz, Toulouse Roy, Madina Thiam, Preston McBride, Chris Bingley, Beatriz Cruz, Jennifer Cárcamo, Carlos Rivas, Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Robert Brenner, Robin Kelley, Kevin Terraciano, and Fernando Pérez-Montesinos. I’d also like to thank my Venezuelan colleagues for their efforts in making this project possible. I must first thank Luis Dovale Prado for his intellectual and research- related support during much of the past decade. I’d also like to thank Ramón Aizpurua for his generosity, and especially for providing me with his personal transcription of Caracas 426, which made the research and writing of this dissertation much more efficient than it otherwise would have been. I’d also like to thank the archivists and staff at the Bibiloteca Óscar Bullón, the Archivo Histórico del Estado Falcón, the Academia viii Nacional de la História and the Archivo General de la Nación. I’d also like to thank Gina Ojeda and Gregory Tovar. Lastly, I’d like to thank the two most important people in my life today. First, to the love of my life, Sherley Córdova, thank you for loving me, supporting me, and for always pulling me—both intellectually and politically—towards the right path.

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