On solid ground? Manumitted slaves, land ownership and registration in eighteenth-century Sri Lanka

Abstract

ABSTRACT In pre-industrial societies subsistence agriculture played a crucial role in ensuring survival, not just for people born free, but also for those born into slavery. Within the legal framework of colonial structures, certain owners granted their enslaved individuals temporary usage rights to parcels of land upon their emancipation, and in rare cases, even bestowed permanent ownership. This article wants to study land ownership patterns of manumitted slaves in eighteenth-century Sri Lanka, when the island’s coastal territories were subject to the influence of the Dutch East India Company. By examining Dutch-language last wills from the period 1702 to 1765 we analyze the patterns of land donations by former owners to their freed slaves. By establishing connections between these donations and the detailed land registers of suburban districts surrounding the cities of Colombo and Galle, our objective is to uncover the shortand long-term implications of land ownership for the manumitted individuals and their families. Furthermore, this article also reflects on the implications of negotiated registration practices of such land ownership with a colonial power for the manumitted slaves. What did the label ‘manumitted’ or ‘free’ slave entail in Sri Lanka’s society, and how did registration in Dutch bureaucracy influence those labelling practices?