The campaign to abolish the British slave trade in British territories. 'An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade' was passed by Parliament on March 25 1807, which officially abolished the slave trade in the British Empire, though 'illegal' slave trading continued.
Apprenticeship
This word is used in general terms to describe the position of an apprentice working under a legal agreement for a low wage as an initiatory training in a trade. The apprenticeship system was applied to previously enslaved people, between 1834 and 1838, who were forced to work as ‘apprentices’ for their old ‘masters’. This system was not implemented in all Caribbean islands.
The original boucaniers were the native inhabitants of the West Indies who had developed a method of preserving meat by roasting it on a barbecue and curing it with smoke. Their fire pit and grating were called a boucan and the finished strips of meat were also known as boucan. In time, the motley collection of international refugees, escaped slaves, transported criminals and indentured servants who roamed along the coasts if the islands became known as buccaneers and the term came to describe an unscrupulous adventurer of the area.
Bilboe
(or bilboes) is a tool of corporal punishment and torture. It is made up of a heavy iron bar with two loops of iron that can be tightened, reducing movement of the wearer. The bilboes were popular in England and America in the colonial and early Revolutionary periods.
Black Carib
This was the term initially used by colonial elites and the colonial government to describe people of mixed African and indigenous Carib heritage.
Black Loyalists
Black Loyalists is the name given to formerly enslaved Africans or free people of color of the North American continent who joined the British Army against the colonists in the American Revolutionary War.
Brigands’ War
This war took place in the Windward Islands, between 1794 and 1798, and is also called 'The Second Carib War'. One island caught in this conflict was St Vincent, where ‘Black Carib’ chief Chatoyer led a revolution which lasted until June 1796.
British Empire
Countries throughout the world conquered or settled by England/Great Britain during the period from the 16th to the 20th centuries. Most had achieved independence by the end of the 20th century, and many are now members of the Commonwealth.
Term imposed on the various indigenous peoples of the Caribbean islands and parts of Central and South America by Europeans on their arrival to the region. Carib also refers to people of duel indigenous and African descent.
Chartered Company
Chartered companies were generally formed and legitimised under a royal or an equivalent government charter. Chartered companies sought government sponsorship and protection for their efforts to colonize new areas or open new trade routes. The best known examples are the Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company. Governments took an active role in order to receive profits, and expand to new territory..
Chattel Slavery
Persons who are the recognised property by law of another and provide slave labor from birth to death.
Colonial administrators
Civil servants appointed locally, or from London, to run the colonial governments.
Diaspora refers to a 'scattered people'. The traditional definition refers to any dispersed community which has members residing in at least two outlying areas, as well as a centre of origin.
The Fedon Revolution refers to the period in Grenada between 1795 and 1796. Julien Fédon led the revolution against British rule and slavery. The revolutionaries were made up of French speaking free people of colour and enslaved people.
The Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) was the most successful slave revolt in the Western Hemisphere. Under the military leadership of Toussaint L'Ouverture it established Haiti as a free, black republic.
Hamerton Treaty
Following the Moresby treaty, the Homerton treaty, signed in 1845 which further restricted the slave trade with the export of slaves to his Arabian dominions forbidden.
Workers bound by contracts stipulating that their labour is given to a specific employer for a fixed period of time. Such contracts are usually enforced by criminal law.
Emerging in Europe from the 16th century, the joint-stock company were created to invest in risky trading journeys of long duration. Investers pooled their money to buy a ship, cargo and crew. If the ship returned successfully, the profits were divided up and the company was dissolved. By the 17th century, joint-stock companies began to remain in existence for more than one voyage after the creation of a 'stock market'.
Escaped slaves who formed autonomous communities accross the Caribbean. Maroon derives from the Spanish word cimarron, which originally referred to escaped domestic cattle, meaning wild and untamed.
Morant Bay Rebellion
The 1865 Morant Bay rebellion started in Morant Bay, in the parish of St. Thomas, Jamiaca. The rebellion was led by Paul Bogle, and was an important turning point for Jamaican society. Click here to read more about Jamaica's History
Mulatto
A term used to describe a person of mixed black and white heritage.
Moresby Treaty
Great Britain had been gradually limiting the Muslim slave trade in the Indian Ocean since the 1820. In 1822 Sayyid Said agreed to sign the Moresby Treaty which made ‘illegal’ to trade slaves to Europeans throughout his dominions. He also agreed to limit the slave traffic to ports in his African and Oman states.
Middle Passage
The ‘Middle Passage’ was the route the slave trading ships took throughout the Trans Atlantics Slave trade. The Middle Passage was the long, and dangerous journey where casualties were high.
A movement encouraging unity between Africans, and those throughout the worldwide African diaspora. Leading pan-Africanists include W. E. B. Du Bois, Sylvester Williams, George Padmore, and Booker T. Washington. They fought for independence from colonial rule, and promoted the view of a Global African community.
Partus sequitur ventrum
Partus sequitur ventrum was the legal doctrine established during slavery in the United States. It was a rule passing inherited slavery down the line through slave mothers, instead of the father. Status inherited maternally is something only done with livestock, and the African American slaves. It was a dehumanising process, but also a way for slave masters to avoid the responsibility of illegitimate children born of slave women.
Plantation
An estate under private ownership, used to grow large scale crops such as sugar cane or cotton, on which slaves and indentured labourers worked.
Plantation system
A system of dividing land into private estates. The land and the slaves who worked, were regarded as property under private ownership
Set up in in 1672 was a slaving company set up by the Stuart family and London merchants. It was the first major English slaving company based in London. The company helped in the establishment of trading posts on the West African coast. The letters DY were branded on the captives. DY stood for the Duke of York, who was then owner, and would later become King of England, Scotland and Ireland. Click here for more on Slaving companies
Sovereignty allows the exclusive right to exercise supreme political authority over a geographic region, group of people. A sovereign is the supreme lawmaking authority.
The Atlantic slave trade, was the capture, sale and exploitation of African slaves by Europeans from the 15th century to the 19th century. Sometimes known as the ‘triangular trade’ referring to the points of the trade in Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe,
Treaty of Tordesillas
The Treaty of Tordesillas, signed in Spain, June 7, 1494, divided the world outside of Europe between the Spanish and the Portuguese. By the treaty Brazil and the East Indies becomes Portuguese, the rest of the Americas, and Philippines become Spanish.
The West Indian was first raised in 1795 and was disbanded in 1927. British colonial infantry regiment which was made up of predominantly, freed slaves from North America, and enslaved men from the Caribbean and West Africa.
