The Condition of The Slaves in The Settlement and Economic Development of The British Windward Islands, 1763-1775

Abstract

The Peace of Paris, ending the Seven Years’ War in 1763, greatly altered the distribution of existing and potential sugar islands held by France and Great Britain in the Lesser Antilles. The Windward Islands range in area from 114 square miles in Tobago to 290 in Dominica; in the aggregate they contain 670 square miles. Tobago, the southermost island, is also volcanic in origin, has a main ridge of hills, and fertile and well-watered valleys and coastal areas. Beginning in Barbados in the seventeenth century and continuing into the next century in the Leeward Islands, the ecosystems underwent a process of déstabilisation and modification as sugar plantations spread from island to island and from seaboard plains to interior highlands. The British Government and its spokesmen made a concerted effort to publicize and develop the Ceded Islands.