Labor, material welfare, and culture in hydrologic plantation enterprises: A study of slavery in the British colony of Berbice (Guyana)

This dissertation examines how the hydrologic agricultural complex that was established in Berbice had an impact on slave life in that society. The establishment of polders in the Guianas gave plantation slavery in that region a distinct configuration that makes it no longer tenable to explain that region's development solely in terms of the socio-economic factors that shaped the Caribbean islands. This dissertation brings to the forefront other factors besides political, social and economic power. It argues that environmental and ecological considerations have a significant role to play in the development of the plantation as a socio-political entity and a deciding impact on the socio-cultural outlook of Africans and their descendants in this area.; This dissertation will consist of nine chapters including the Introduction and the Conclusion. Chapter two will discuss the ecology of the Guiana coastal area and the expansion of plantation agriculture on the lower Berbice River and the sea-coast. Chapter three will provide a general discussion on the establishment and maintenance of the hydrologic infrastructure on the plantations, and the impact of the environment on the plantation structure. Chapters four and five discuss slave labor requirements for the production of coffee, cotton, and sugar and timber. These chapters will also analyze the concerns of the slaves vis a vis the planters labor expectations. Chapter six is an examination of the health of the slave by focusing on the disease environment of the lower riverain and coastal areas. Chapter seven discusses forms of slave resistance in Berbice slave society. Chapter eight is an examination of the evolution of slave culture, specifically the slaves' belief in the efficacy of water spirits as manifested by their participation in the Mama Minje dance.; The records of the Colonial Office, housed at the National Archives of the United Kingdom in Kew, are the major sources for this study. Among those, the reports of the Fiscal and the Protector of Slaves were of singular value in providing a voice for the enslaved people of Berbice.