The region known as the West Indies includes all of the islands in the Caribbean Sea from the northern coast of South America to the tip of the Florida peninsula.

Three main groupings of islands comprise the West Indies, the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico).

The Lesser Antilles (the Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, and Grenada). And the isolated islands of the North and South American continental shelf (the Bahamas, including the Turks and Caicos Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire).

The population of the West Indies is basically descended from an early plantation society. A majority of the blacks’ ancestry was African slaves, while many of the whites are descendants of Spanish, French, British, or Dutch colonists.

The link between England and the West Indies in the early 1800s is present in Jane Austen’s Persuasion through an examination of the men who have served time around the islands as members of the navy. Also, many British ideals about society including class and economic distinctions rubbed off on its colonies.

Christopher Columbus established the first permanent European settlement on Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) in the year 1493 (they say). FE-DT.

The Spanish interest in these islands laid in the gold and other precious metals that could be mined. As the gold resources became exhausted the islands became transformed into important ports for trade. The indigenous Indian populations had practically been extinguished due to foreign invasion and the English and French began fighting for land in the West Indies as early as the 1500s. Each nation wanted to prevent any of its colonies from trading with another country.

From 1697 until 1814 there were countless conflicts over land between England and France. Britain’s strong navy enabled it to gain control of a lot of land and by the end of 1810 all European colonies (except for those of Spain who at the time was allied with Britain) were in Britain’s hands. However, in May of 1814, Britain returned most of the land to France as dictated by the terms of the Treaty of Paris.

There were several reasons for the persistence of colonial rule in the West Indies. Since the early 18th century, British-controlled islands became dependent upon sugar and relied heavily on the British market for their crops. Although sugar production was expanding rapidly in the late 1700s, plantation owners still found themselves in financial hardships.

This strengthened bonds to England which in turn fostered a system of racial hierarchy. Even more important was the naval and military protection England offered the West Indies. The islands were quite vulnerable to water attacks from the French which could threaten their dependence on external supplies of food, clothing, and slave labor.

Sugar production and trade dominated a majority of the islands’ economie s. The sugar plantations also had a major influence on social and racial distinctions. Slave labor, mainly originating in western Africa, was employed in order to run the sugar plantations. Slave living conditions were horrible and many failed rebellions against slavery were staged. According to the law, only whites were considered full citizens. Any of the emancipated mulatto population and the few free blacks enjoyed limited civil rights.

Looking at Jamaica in the early 19th century demonstrates how power and status were inversely proportional to group size. 25000 whites ruled over 40000 mulattos and 340000 blacks. This system of slavery resulted in economic flourishment which financed industrial revolutions in England and turned it into a modern state.

The decades of the Anglo-French wars (1793-1802 and 1803-1815) ushered in prosperous times for the West Indies. Prices for sugar, along with other crops, reached record high levels which sustained Britain’s economic development during wartime. The burgeoning sugar trade also helped Britain halt Napoleon’s efforts to cut of trade with European markets. The reciprocal dependence of the British Isles and their colonies can be seen here.

The West Indies provided their motherland with money it desperately needed, but this money could not have been obtained without the protection England offered the islands.

It was quite dangerous to be a British sailor or soldier, like Capt. Wentworth, who was serving in the West Indies. The threat of disease was far greater than that of opposing forces. Due to the importance of these colonies, many servicemen guarded the islands during the eighteenth century.

If war broke out troop numbers would be increased, and due to the geographic variables Britain’s extensive navy always played a decisive role in defense. One reason sailors enjoyed the prospect of war was it gave them an opportunity to earn prize money. In addition, colonial legislatures often presented officers with generous awards for meritorious service. These factors may have led to Capt. Wentworth’s financial success.

The strong British navy and the command they exerted over the sea enable d Britain to enforce the abolition of the slave trade. British abolitionists felt that the slave trade was helping their rival country of France because they were re-exporting slaves to their own colonies.

This issue seemed to transcend class lines in Britain and was often interwoven with pressures for reforming Parliament. West Indian societies were shaken by the successful slave rebellion in Saint-Domingue in the 1790s that resulted in Haiti's independence in 1804 which creating the first black republic in the Americas.

This event spawned the overall breakdown of the slave society in this region. In 1803, Denmark abolished the slave trade followed by Britain (1807), France (1817), Holland (1818), Spain (1820), and Sweden (1824). In May of 1804 a bill for the abolition of slavery was passed by a large majority in the House of Commons. It was then held up in the House of Lords until an order-in-coucil which forbade bringing any African slaves to a colony was issued.

Further parliamentary delays occurred and a new Abolition Act easily passed both houses and attained the King’s assent on March 25, 1807. In 1823 the Anti-Slavery Society was founded, and the British government declared a major effort towards abolishing slavery. Plantation owners feared that success would lead to the downfall of the sugar cane industry which would in turn affect their personal profits. Slavery itself was finally abolished in the British colonies in 1833.

Emancipation did not result in as many changes as the slave owners feared. This was due to the fact that most of the land was part of plantations which supported the established order of life and class consciousness.

Even though it was difficult for emancipated slaves to procure land, they now had the right to purchase property, were able to sell their labor, migrate, or squat on land. While this created a new peasantry in many of the islands the continuation of the plantation system and of white elitism maintained the traditional color and cultural inequality.

Structural alterations in Britain’s empire was evident by the decline of the West Indies after the defeat of Napoleon. Even though Britain dominated the world’s sugar production, after 1815 sugar prices fell sharply. This, along with the Abolition Act of 1807, restricted any further growth of British slave plantations which caused Britain’s share of sugar exports to start declining.

Britain began to exercise different trade interests as seen by the decline of domestic exports to their West Indian colonies (it fell from 21% in 1804-1806 to 11% in 1824-1826). The erosion of West Indian trade along with political uncertainty stemming from freed and rebellious slaves ultimately undermined the power of the planter class in the West Indies.

Traditional important British qualities which are personified in Persuasion were not only contained to Great Britain. The importance of wealth and land ownership can be seen throughout the history of the West Indies. Most of the years involved some form of warring over control of the land. Even within an island there were class conflicts, but these were often based more on race than simply money (although if you were black or mulatto this prevented you from acquiring much money anyway).

Decolonization has aided the West Indies in establishing a new identity, but some areas have experienced almost 500 years of European imperialism, which dictated their social and economic scenes. The rise a new peasant class after the 19th-century slave emancipation and economic diversification into the realms of industry, tourism, mining, and oil and natural gas drilling in the 20th century have transformed the economic base in most societies. Although, plantations continue to occupy much of the of land, their social significance has declined throughout the years.

The source is: Jennifer Wisotsky