by Smith, Skye
New Holland (not to be confused with New Amsterdam which later became New York) included the eastern bulge of Brazil from Salvador to San Luiz and including Recife (the closest port to Africa). The Portuguese and Dutch were not much interested in the small islands in the Caribbean because they shared vast Brazil. The Dutch did create a string of colonies through the Caribbean to serve as supply depots for ships traveling from New Holland to New Amsterdam.
The French and the English tried to colonize the small islands, but most colonies failed either because of the warlike Kalinago (Carib) tribes, or because of raids by squadrons of Spanish ships which were trying to stamp out privateers and pirates, or because of abduction by privateers and pirates. The French and English had to keep trying to colonize the islands to have any hope of taking a share of the sugar trade. Since a single Spanish treasure ship could carry a kingdom's worth of gold and silver, French and English colonists were more interested in becoming privateers than becoming sugar planters.
A fringe benefit of the treaties with Spain, that kept England neutral in the European wars, was that the Spanish fleet turned a blind eye to new English colonies on the small islands. Islands where there were both English and French colonies, therefore presented themselves as English. Some colonies (such as Providence) became dependant for trade and transportation on privateers, and privateers pretended to be traders to those colonies so as to keep an eye out for treasure ships.
By 1638 it had come to the notice of the Spanish fleet that colonies on small islands were serving as free ports for privateers and pirates, and so they sent their ships to stop this errant behaviour. The colony of Providence and those of the Virgin Islands were targeted and those colonies barely survived.
18. How did English and French islands differ from Spanish ones?
The Spanish had concentrated their efforts on colonizing the large islands of the Greater Antilles for they did not have the manpower to control the hundreds of smaller islands. In 1640 most of the Lesser Antilles were still controlled by the Kalinago (Carib) tribes. It is difficult to consider the Kalinago as natives, as they had pushed the Taino natives out of those islands during the two hundred years prior to the arrival of Spanish.
The Greater Antilles includes Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica. Except for Jamaica, the rest of these islands were very much New Spain. Their towns had the look of Southern Europe, complete with large stone houses, archways, plazas, cobble streets, monasteries, cathedrals, high walls, and fortresses. Such was the product of 140 years of continual building and organization. The native Taino population was peaceful, the hard labour was done by African slaves, the tradesmen were half-breed, and the church, military, public, and company management were purebred Spaniards.
In comparison, the English and French colonies of the Lesser Antilles were very much subsistence villages. Unlike the Spanish colonies whose creation had been continuously pushed along by the fervour and organization of the military and the monastic orders - the conquistador winners - the English and French colonies had been created by loosely organized companies who had recruited the losers from those societies.
On the small islands the tribes were the fierce Kalinago rather than the meeker Taino. African slaves were still a novelty, so the grunt work was done by Gael slaves (Irish in English colonies, Bretagne in French) or by criminal slaves. What tradesmen came along were escaping religious persecution or paying off debts. The ruling class were managers appointed by company directors or aristocratic lords who never visited the colonies.
The most successful of the small islands should have been Barbados, but the Great Barbados Robbery held them back (see above). St. Kitts (Saint Christopher’s) was moderately successful only because they had committed violent genocide against the local Kalinago tribes. The English were foolishly still trying to grow tobacco rather than sugar, and both crops were taking a toll on their fair-haired labour force.
To the folk of the well-established and well-run towns of New Spain, the English and French colonies must have seemed like infestations of vermin.
THE END of Slavers
The adventures continue in the next book: The Pistoleer - Pirates
* * * * *
* * * * *
The Pistoleer - Slavers by Skye Smith Copyright 2013-14
