Barrington Watson. Washer Women. Date Unknown, Image via nationalgalleryofjamaica.wordpress.com.
The 1500s- 1600s
Even though Spain was previously unmatched, it still left territories to the Caribs who fiercely opposed them. These settlements were the first targeted by Spain’s colonial foes (name them). Moreover, even in Spain’s main colonies like Santo Domingo, Hispaniola and Havana, the protections were lax, allowing the interception of cargo bound for Spain. These colonies possessed precious materials, such as gold. They promised a wealth that made the Caribbean a contested area often cast in the middle of Imperial rivalries and wars.[1] The first of these interceptions were undertaken by French and British pirates who regularly looted Spanish ports and ships in the Caribbean, rendering their towns scarcely equipped in treasure by the 1600s. Aside from this, French corsairs also attacked frequently, beginning in 1522. Naval squadrons led by Jean Florin seized four ships believed to be carrying Montezuma’s treasures and other riches captured by Cortes following his conquest of Mexico.[2]
It is vital to understand that the colonial powers were at great war with each other at this time, which was due to the desire for power and religious antagonism. When Spain reigned supreme over the Caribbean, the French were also a mighty power with a wave of Protestantism taking over the country. This greatly contrasted and led to hostility with the Spanish crown. Upon seeing the treasures brought in by Florin’s missions, their interests piqued in the West Indies and the wealth it could accrue for them in the 1530s. The French spurred an aggressive campaign. By 1555, French corsair Jacques de Sores had managed to capture Hispaniola and burn it to the ground. The French and the Spanish would soon sign a peace treaty in 1559, which ended hostilities in Europe. However, due to French entanglement in religious civil wars, the enthusiasm of individual French ships headed by privateers and pirates who still raided the Caribbean went unchecked.[3]
Additionally, the French were not the only colonial power posing a threat to Spain. England also ended its alliance with Spain. The dissolution transpired following the failed marriage of Prince Henry and Princess Catherine of Aragon in 1509. Other pivotal elements included the rise of Protestantism and the reign of Queen Elizabeth, who was anti-Catholic in 1558. Not only did she openly support the Dutch revolution, but she also assisted Huguenot forces in France. With tensions already brewing for decades, they intensified when the English crown made several momentous decisions. They dispatched more than 7,000 troops to the Netherlands, executed the Catholic Mary Queen of Scotts, legalized privateer plunders against Spain’s Caribbean possessions and vessels, and ordered a preemptive attack against the Spanish Armada stationed in Cadiz in 1587.[4]
Religious antagonism, coupled with the success of British privateers who looted Spanish settlements, ports, and ships, created a dynamic rift between the powers. This rift came to a head in the Anglo-Spanish War in 1585, whose battles mainly took place within the Caribbean. Spain retaliated with its tragically famous naval attack, which ultimately destroyed their “invincible” armada in 1588. Spain rebuilt its forces in Havana and continued to feud with England until the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603. Still, the war had dealt a fatal blow that ended the Spanish reign as the most powerful nation. This defeat ultimately opened up the West Indies for conquest from other colonies and began the Game of Empires. The empire with most colonies would be the new ultimate power.[5]
The Dutch entered the Game late sailing to the West Indies in 1593-94. This inactivity was primarily due to Spain and the Netherlands warring since the 1560s. The Dutch presence was focused mainly on rebelling against the King of Spain, their hereditary overlord. During the war, Dutch corsairs mostly attacked in European Wars, never venturing into the Caribbean until the Spanish placed a general embargo on Dutch traders in the Iberian Peninsula in August 1598. This restriction was vital to bringing the Dutch into the West Indies territories as it cut off their access to two essential products. The first was high-grade salt, which they previously obtained from the east coast of Portugal and was vital to their trades in herring. The second was tobacco, which Europeans had first gotten from the Arawaks after discovering the New World. The panacea to this problem was found near the tip of the Araya Peninsula on the coast of Venezuela, spurring a minimum of 768 Ditch vessels to sail here between March 1599 to December 1605. The Dutch robbed and sank Spanish ships and coastal shipping, but they also aided other colonial powers against Spain. French smugglers utilized protection provided by Dutch salt hulks, and English merchants reentered the West Indian trade. Spain, who could not afford to dispatch ships to the Caribbean due to bankruptcy, instead decided to destroy crops and depopulate regions most likely to trade with its enemies.[6]
However, as the Spanish Empire declined, European powers established the power in the Caribbean more forcefully as the French, British, and Dutch formed a long-term presence. They were bringing millions of African slaves along with them to support the lucrative plantation system in the West Indies. The Caribbean has three fundamental divisions: the Lucayan Archipelago, the Greater Antilles, and the Lesser Antilles. The Lucayan Archipelago consists of The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Meanwhile, The Greater Antilles consists of Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. The Lesser Antilles is the most extensive and broken up into three sectors: The Leeward Islands, Windward Islands, and the Leeward Antilles. The Leeward Islands include Anguilla, Saint Martin / Sint Maarten, Saint Barthélemy, Saba, Sint Eustatius, St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, Dominica, and Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre (often combined as Guadeloupe) which has the dependencies of La Désirade, Marie-Galante, and Îles des Saintes archipelago. The Windward Islands, however, include Martinique, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago. Lastly, the Leeward Antilles includes Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire, as well as islands and dependencies of Venezuela.
The British began their colonial conquests with Bermuda in 1612. Following this, they split the island of St. Kitts with the French in 1623. The British then colonized Barbados in 1625, which served as a base to colonize multiple neighboring islands. These islands were Nevis in 1628, Antigua and Montserrat in 1632, Anguilla in 1650, Jamaica in 1555 under English Admiral William Penn’s seizure and Tortola, which was previously settled by Dutch Buccaneers in 1672.[7]
The French utilized their shared colony with the British to colonize the much larger and neighboring Guadeloupe in 1635. Following this occupation, Martinique was colonized by the French as well. Using Martinique as a base, they colonized St. Lucia in 1643, and Grenada in 1649. Following this, St. Barts and St. Martin were subjugated in 1648, St. Croix in 1650, Dominica in 1715, and St. Vincent in 1719. French Buccaneers settled on Tortuga, which was north of Hispaniola in 1625. After failed attempts by the Spanish to destroy it, King Louis XIV established the settlement in 1659. Cap François was found on the mainland of Hispaniola in 1670. After the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick, the Spanish ceded the western third of Hispaniola, modern-day Haiti to France.[8]
The Dutch settled in many of the Islands. They began their conquest with Tobago in 1628. St. Croix followed briefly in 1634 before the British also settled it. As British colonies surrounded the island, this led the Dutch to abandon it before 1650. After this exit, St. Croix was settled by the French, who lost it to the British in 1713. Following this in 1631, they established settlements on Tortuga and Sint Maarten before losing the former and later Anguilla to the Spanish. After this defeat, they settled Curacao and Bonaire in 1634 and Sint Eustatius in 1636 followed by Aruba in 1637, Saba in 1640, and Tortola, Anegada, Virgin Gorda, Anguilla, Sint Thomas and Jost van Dyke before 1640. In 1648, they eventually regained half of Sint Maarten, sharing the island with France. They also, for a short time, colonized Puerto Rico in the 17th century. This conquest completed what they deemed the Dutch West Indies in the 17th century, which soon excluded Tortola, Anegada and Virgin Gorda in 1672 and 1680 respectively when the British took over.[9] Lastly, Denmark-Norway became the last notable Caribbean colonial power when they first ruled part and soon all of the present U.S. Virgin Islands in 1672. [10]
The purpose of colonization and the utility of colonies differed among the various powers. The main reasons were expansion and settlement, profit and production, and lastly, trade. Simultaneously, British and French colonies, including St. Kitts, Barbados, Martinique, and Guadeloupe, were tobacco plantations. Secondly, other territories such as Jamaica and the Dutch Islands were primarily used as trading posts or bases to carry out trade with Spanish America and privateering. Many of these trading posts eventually turned into plantations. For example, the Dutch Islands were soon used to provide salt, while Jamaica was used to produce sugar. Most British and French West Indian colonies flourished, unlike the Dutch and Danish islands, which never became popular places of settlement.[11]
[1] Parry and Manderson, A Short History of the West Indies, 28.
[2] Parry and Manderson, A Short History of the West Indies, 28.
[3] Parry and Manderson, A Short History of the West Indies, 29-34.
[4] Parry and Manderson, A Short History of the West Indies, 44.
[5] Rogozinski, Jan. A Brief History of the Caribbean: from the Arawak and the Carib to the Present. (New York, NY: Facts on File, 1992), 34-35.
[6] Rogozinski, A Brief History of the Caribbean: from the Arawak and the Carib to the Present, 42.
[7] Rogozinski, A Brief History of the Caribbean: from the Arawak and the Carib to the Present, 65-70.
[8] Rogozinski, A Brief History of the Caribbean: from the Arawak and the Carib to the Present, 75-81.
[9] Rogozinski, A Brief History of the Caribbean: from the Arawak and the Carib to the Present, 57-63.
[10] Rogozinski, A Brief History of the Caribbean: from the Arawak and the Carib to the Present, 81-82.
[11] Rogozinski, A Brief History of the Caribbean: from the Arawak and the Carib to the Present, 66.
Water, Fire & Ash 