Sweet Liberty: The Final Days of Slavery in MartiniqueFrom its founding, Martinique played an integral role in France's Atlantic empire. Established in the mid-seventeenth century as a colonial outpost against Spanish and English dominance in the Caribbean, the island was transformed by the increase in European demand for sugar, coffee, and indigo. Like other colonial subjects, Martinicans met the labor needs of cash-crop cultivation by establishing plantations worked by enslaved Africans and by adopting the rigidly hierarchical social structure that accompanied chattel slavery. After Haiti gained its independence in 1804, Martinique's economic importance to the French empire increased. At the same time, questions arose, both in France and on the island, about the long-term viability of the plantation system, including debates about the ways colonists—especially enslaved Africans and free mixed-race individuals—fit into the French nation. |
Contents
1 | |
That Your Hearts Will Blossom and Again Become French The Early Napoleonic Period | 17 |
Happy to Consider Itself an Ancient British Possession The British Occupation of Martinique | 46 |
Your French and Loyal Hearts The First Decade of the Restoration | 72 |
Illustrations | 109 |
In the Colonies It Is Impossible That a White Would Align Himself With Slaves Shifts in Colonial Policy | 113 |
To Ensure Equality Before Those Laws to Free Men Whatever Their Color Changing Ideas of French Citizenship | 152 |
Other editions - View all
Sweet Liberty: The Final Days of Slavery in Martinique Rebecca Hartkopf Schloss Limited preview - 2009 |
Sweet Liberty: The Final Days of Slavery in Martinique Rebecca Hartkopf Schloss No preview available - 2012 |