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Abstract
This article examines resistance by the enslaved and newly freed people of Trinidad between 1802 and 1849. Though there was no major slave rising, marronage was endemic right up to the 1830s, and in 1805 the discovery of an abortive "plot" by enslaved people of western Trinidad revealed some of the dimensions of cultural and ideological resistance on their part. The crucial years 1823 to 1825 and 1832 to 1834 are examined in order to tease out evidence of resistance and of planter attitudes to unrest by their labour force. Finally, the analysis is extended past Emancipation to consider the meaning and significance of the riots in Port of Spain in 1849.
Introduction
No major rising by the enslaved people occurred in Trinidad during its short experience of plantation slavery (1780s to 1830s). This contrasts with nearby Tobago, which experienced several significant rebellions between 1770 and 1802, as well as with Barbados, Demerara and Jamaica, each erupting in large-scale risings in 1816, 1823 and 1831, respectively. Nor did Trinidad have large, organized Maroon communities such as those in Jamaica and Suriname; indeed, Alvin Thompson's comprehensive study of runaways and Maroons in the Americas (2006) makes no mention of Trinidad.1
Of course, many of those enslaved in Trinidad did seek to escape from bondage. Marronage was endemic, and there were many small Maroon camps scattered throughout the island right up to the early 1830s. There is some evidence for collective and organized resistance by groups of the enslaved, and Trinidad's Free Coloureds and Free Blacks, as is well known, also organized to protest oppression under the British regime after 1797. This article will examine some aspects of resistance to enslavement in the island, concentrating on the period between 1802 (when Trinidad was ceded to Britain) and 1834 (when slavery was formally abolished) . The analysis will be extended to the post-emancipation period with a brief discussion of the 1849 riots in Port of Spain. One purpose of the article is to assess the impact of events in - and people and ideas from - the French Caribbean islands on these various kinds of resistance in Trinidad.
Marronage in Trinidad
According to B.W. Higman, "the largest proportion of maroon slaves identified in the initial...