“TRAGEDY AND GLORY” IN THE “UNFORTUNATE ERA”: UNDERSTANDING THE CREOLIZATION OF SANTO DOMINGO THROUGH THE BOCA NIGUA REVOLT by Jonathan Hopkins B.A., The University of Victoria, 2009 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Interdisciplinary Studies) THE UNIVERISTY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) September 2017 © Jonathan Hopkins, 2017 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a thesis/dissertation entitled: “TRAGEDY AND GLORY” IN THE “UNFORTUNATE ERA”: UNDERSTANDING THE CREOLIZATION OF SANTO DOMINGO THROUGH THE BOCA NIGUA REVOLT submitted by in partial fulfillment of the requirements of Jonathan Hopkins the degree of . Master of Arts Dr. Luis LM Aguiar Supervisor Dr. Jessica Stites-Mor Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Jelena Jovicic Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Catherine Higgs University Examiner Dr. Donna Senese External Examiner iii Abstract This thesis examines a slave revolt that occurred at the Boca Nigua sugar plantation in Santo Domingo (today the Dominican Republic) during the fall of 1796. The Spanish colony’s population at the time were coming to terms with revolution in St. Domingue (the French territory it shared an island with) and Santo Domingo’s cession to France in 1795. I argue the slave rebels who initiated the revolt at Boca Nigua and the colonial officials responsible for subduing it were influenced by creolization. Conceptually, the process involves people from divergent geographic origins arriving to the Caribbean through mass migration, and forging local cultures through the economic and political arrangements found in the colonial world. To illustrate how the peoples of Santo Domingo creolized in the tumultuous 1790s, I utilize microhistory—a theoretical framework that stresses the benefits of a micro scale, human agency, and analysis of big historical developments from a micro perspective. I show rebel slave leaders’ decision to revolt stemmed from their creole designation and identity in the plantation’s social hierarchy. The colonial authorities responsible for quelling the conflict and bringing the offenders to justice approached the situation with the intention of assuring local creole elites order would be maintained. These findings are situated within Dominican historiography as an effort to rethink the origins of the nation and its historic link to creolization. iv Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... vii Dedication .................................................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1: Introducing “Tragedy and Glory” in the “Unfortunate Era” ......................................... 1 Creolization as “Tragedy and Glory” ........................................................................................................................ 1 Microhistory .............................................................................................................................................................. 3 Creolization, Nations, and Nationalism ..................................................................................................................... 4 The Importance of National Navels ........................................................................................................................... 5 Race, Ethnicity and the Nation in Latin America and the Caribbean ........................................................................ 7 National Identity in the Dominican Republic: Addressing Lacunae in the Literature ............................................... 8 The Boca Nigua Revolt as Tragedy and Glory ........................................................................................................ 15 Sources and Chapter Summaries ............................................................................................................................. 18 Notes ........................................................................................................................................................................ 25 Chapter 2: Creolization under the Microscope ............................................................................. 31 Creoles and Creolization ......................................................................................................................................... 32 The Opening of the Spanish Caribbean: The Sugar Revolution and Plantation Societies ....................................... 35 Plantation Slavery and Gender Dynamics ............................................................................................................... 38 Creoles in the Age of Revolution ............................................................................................................................ 39 Power and Indigenization: Theorizing Slave and Elite Creolization ....................................................................... 41 The Microhistorical Approach ................................................................................................................................. 48 v Microhistory and Postmodernism ............................................................................................................................ 51 Notes ........................................................................................................................................................................ 56 Chapter 3: The Creolization of Santo Domingo during the “Unfortunate Era” ........................... 61 Creolization in the Early Colonial Era ..................................................................................................................... 63 Socio-Economic Change in the Eighteenth Century ............................................................................................... 67 Autonomy Interrupted: Hispanicization and Coming War ...................................................................................... 69 Onset of Revolution and the Jeopardization of the Elite Project ............................................................................. 71 Treaty of Basel, 1795: Evacuation, Abolition and Abandonment by the Crown ..................................................... 74 Archbishop Outlines Public Reaction to the Abandonment of the Crown .............................................................. 76 The Need for Appeasement ..................................................................................................................................... 78 Notes ........................................................................................................................................................................ 81 Chapter 4: Creolization and the Boca Nigua Revolt ..................................................................... 86 Primary Sources ....................................................................................................................................................... 88 The Origins of the Boca Nigua Revolt .................................................................................................................... 90 Francisco Sopó and the Role of the Slave Driver .................................................................................................... 91 Slave Leadership and Co-Conspirators.................................................................................................................... 94 Creolization and the Fragmentation of the Slave Leadership .................................................................................. 95 Francisco Sopó's Betrayal? ...................................................................................................................................... 96 Agency of the Slave Leaders ................................................................................................................................... 99 Creolization and the Elite Response ...................................................................................................................... 101 Fear of the Slaves and the Specter of Revolution .................................................................................................. 103 Assuring the Public Order will be Maintained ...................................................................................................... 104 The Battle for Boca Nigua and the Apprehension of the Rebel Slaves ................................................................. 106 vi Assistance from the Monteros ............................................................................................................................... 107 Castigation of Offenders: Sentencing & Execution ............................................................................................... 107 Notes .....................................................................................................................................................................