Slave Society in the Danish West Indies: St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix

Slave Societyin the Danish West Indies provides a rich account of thedevelopment and destruction of slavery in St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix, the Caribbean islands which today comprise the United States Virgin Islands. Itsees slavery as fundamental to the entire fabric of colonial society and paysparticular attention to the political and social life of the whites andfreedmen in interaction with the slaves. The Danish West Indian colonies contained a small but significantpart of the slave population of the Caribbean. Each of the islands had adistinct history during the period of slavery: St. Croix was the scene of afull-blown sugar plantation economy; St. Thomas served as a major entrepot, with a small plantation sector and a large role in the transatlantic slavetrade; St. John developed as a plantation economy but for various reasons theslaves came to engage in relatively independent economic activity. Resistance to slavery was persistent, with important rebellionsoccuring in St. John and St. Croix. Although Denmark was the first Europeannation to abolish the slave trade, emancipation did not come until 1848, sothat the gap between abolition and emancipation was longer than in mostterritories. The Danish West Indies also saw unique attempts at theamelioration of the slave system, such as the establishment of schools forslaves. Thus the study of slave society in the Danish West Indies has much totell about the nature of Caribbean history generally. Based on extensive research in the Copenhagen archives, Slave Society in the Danish West Indiesmakes a truly original contribution to the understanding of slave societiesthroughout the Americas.

• | Author: Neville A. T. Hall
• | Publisher: University of the West Indies Press
• | Publication Date: May 01, 1994
• | Number of Pages: 316 pages
• | Binding: Paperback or Softback
• | ISBN-10: 9764100295
• | ISBN-13: 9789764100294