Importance of Slavery to the Caribbean Essay -- History Slave Slavery

immenseness of hard workerry to the CaribbeanThe significance of the role played by buckle downs in the explanation of the Caribbean cannot be overemphasized. N betimes eerything that defines the Caribbean today can be traced back to the approaching of Africans to the sugar plantations several centuries ago. For this reason it is impossible to ignore the issue of thralldom when studying the history of the Caribbean, as we are doing in this class. Through our legion(predicate) readings on the status of slaves and their treatment by the societies in which they lived, we have learn much about the sufferings and ordeals of these deal. The following is an attempt to organize my own picky feelings and reactions, which I have previously posted on-line throughout the descriptor of the semester, to the readings on this subject and to the reactions of other students as well.Imperialism, Plantation Slavery and the Slave Trade 16th-18th CenturiesIt is interesting to note the ever-in creasing reliance on slaves as the novelty to sugar plantations not only occurred but also proceeded to become the important form of economic activity in the Caribbean in the seventeenth and 18th centuries. When the main crop out of the Caribbean was tobacco products in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the slave trade was non-existent. But when this crop failed, in add-on to ginger, coffee and others, the inhabitants began to try sugar. This, of course, took off immediately, and the need for slaves became imperative. Thus began the true slave trade from Africa, which would forever alter the demography of the Americas.Also interesting to ingest are the two forms of non-exploitation society that thrived (contrary to European desire) in the Caribbean the Maroons ... ...e, no current obstacle could stand in their way. The religion, skin color, music and culture of the Caribbean are all based on the difficult past of its people. Despite the rampant poverty that still plagues the region today, many of the people seem queerly content and remain optimistic. This alone speaks volumes about the strength of character these people project. It is a lesson for the rest of the world to learn from. Happiness is far much important than any material goods or trivial pursuits that we will ever pursue. It is certainly something that I will take away from this class, and I commit others do as well.SourcesBeckles, Hilary and Shepherd, Verene. Caribbean Slave Society and Economy The New pressure (New York, 1991).Knight, Franklin W. The Caribbean The Genesis of a Fragmented Nationalism (2nd ed.) Oxford University Press (New York, 1990).