Savanna-la-Mar | |
|---|---|
Parish Capital | |
 Westmoreland Parish Court House | |
| Nickname: Sav-la-Mar | |
| Country | Jamaica |
| County | Cornwall |
| Parish | Westmoreland |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Bertel Moore |
| Population | |
| • Estimate (2011) | 22 600 |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) |
Savanna-la-Mar (commonly known as Sav-la-Mar, or simply Sav) is the chief town and capital of Westmoreland Parish, Jamaica. A coastal town, it contains an 18th-century fort constructed for colonial defence against pirates in the Caribbean.
Savanna-la-Mar was originally established as a settlement in Spanish Jamaica. [1]
In 1780, the town was completely destroyed by a powerful hurricane known as Savanna-la-Mar hurricane. [2] It was rebuilt, as the port was important to the Atlantic slave trade as well as the sugar trade.[ citation needed ]
After Great Britain abolished slavery in 1833 and before the abolition of slavery in the United States in 1865, officials of the Caribbean colonies would sometimes order the examination of enslaved people that were held captive on American ships that came to its Caribbean ports. They were to choose between staying in the colony and working to gain their freedom, or remain captive on the ship sailing to the United States. In the cases of the Enterprise at Bermuda in 1835 and the Creole at Nassau in 1841–1842, a total of more than 200 enslaved people gained freedom (by means unknown).[ citation needed ]
In at least one case, residents intervened and put themselves at risk to help others gain freedom. On 20 July 1855, Jamaicans boarded the United States brig Young America, which had put into Savann-la-Mar. They had learned that the cook, a man named Anderson (alias Nettles) had escaped slavery and therefore was considered to be a fugitive. They took him to shore, where he managed to gain freedom. (He boarded the ship with free papers in the name of Nettles.) The Jamaican magistrates did not interfere. The United States consul, R. Monroe Harrison (1768–1858), complained to the British colonial government about the incident. [3] He also published a letter in The New York Times a few days later warning shipmasters against having blacks as part of their crew on ships putting into Jamaica, at the risk of losing them. [4]
A slave rebellion is an armed uprising by enslaved people, as a way of fighting for their freedom. Rebellions of enslaved people have occurred in nearly all societies that practice slavery or have practiced slavery in the past. A desire for freedom and the dream of successful rebellion is often the greatest object of song, art, and culture amongst the enslaved population. Many of the events, however, are often violently opposed and suppressed by slaveholders.
The Swedish slave trade mainly occurred in the early history of Sweden when the trade of thralls was one of the pillars of the Norse economy. During the raids, the Vikings often captured and enslaved militarily weaker peoples they encountered, but took the most slaves in raids of the British Isles, and Slavs in Eastern Europe. This practice lasted from the 6th through 11th centuries until formally abolished in 1335. A smaller trade of African slaves happened during the 17th and 18th centuries, around the time Swedish overseas colonies were established in North America (1638) and in Africa (1650). It remained legal until 1813.
The Haitian Revolution was a successful insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolt began on 22 August 1791, and ended in 1804 with the former colony's independence. It involved black, biracial, French, Spanish, British, and Polish participants—with the ex-slave Toussaint Louverture emerging as Haiti's most prominent general. The revolution was the only slave uprising that led to the founding of a state which was both free from slavery and ruled by non-whites and former captives. It is now widely seen as a defining moment in the history of the Atlantic World.
Maroons are descendants of Africans in the Americas who formed settlements away from slavery. They often mixed with indigenous peoples, eventually evolving into separate creole cultures such as the Garifuna and the Mascogos.
The Creole case was a slave revolt aboard the American slave ship Creole in November 1841, when the brig was seized by the 128 slaves who were aboard the ship when it reached Nassau in the British colony of the Bahamas where slavery was abolished. The brig was transporting enslaved people as part of the coastwise slave trade in the American South. It has been described as the "most successful slave revolt in US history". Two died in the revolt, an enslaved person and a member of the crew.
Westmoreland is the westernmost parish in Jamaica, located on the south side of the island. It is situated south of Hanover, southwest of Saint James, and northwest of Saint Elizabeth, in the county of Cornwall. The chief town and capital is Savanna-la-Mar. Negril, a famous tourist destination, is also situated in the parish.
Slavery in the British and French Caribbean refers to slavery in the parts of the Caribbean dominated by France or the British Empire.
Slavery in the Spanish American colonies was an economic and social institution which existed throughout the Spanish Empire including Spain itself. In its American territories, Spain displayed an early abolitionist stance towards indigenous people although Native American slavery continued to be practiced, particularly until the New Laws of 1543. The Spanish empire, however was involved in the enslavement of people of African origin. Although the Spanish often depended on others to obtain enslaved Africans and transport them across the Atlantic, the Spanish Empire was a major recipient of enslaved Africans, with around 22% of the Africans delivered to American shores ending up in the Spanish Empire.
La Amistad was a 19th-century two-masted schooner, owned by a Spaniard colonizing Cuba. It became renowned in July 1839 for a slave revolt by Mende captives, who had been captured and sold to European slave traders, and illegally transported by a Portuguese ship from West Africa to Cuba in violation of existing European treaties against the Atlantic slave trade. Two Spanish plantation owners, Don José Ruiz and Don Pedro Montes, bought 53 captives, including four children, in Havana, Cuba, and were transporting them on the ship to their plantations near Puerto Príncipe. The revolt began after the schooner's cook jokingly told the slaves that they were to be "killed, salted, and cooked." Sengbe Pieh, a Mende man, also known as Joseph Cinqué, unshackled himself and the others on the third day and started the revolt. They took control of the ship, killing the captain and the cook. In the melee, three Africans were also killed.
Bristol, a port city in south-west England, was involved in the transatlantic slave trade. Bristol's part in the trade was prominent in the 17th and 18th centuries as the city's merchants used their position to gain involvement. It is estimated that over 500,000 enslaved African people were traded by Bristol merchants.
In the American Revolution, gaining freedom was the strongest motive for Black enslaved people who joined the Patriot or British armies. It is estimated that 20,000 African Americans joined the British cause, which promised freedom to enslaved people, as Black Loyalists. Around 9,000 African Americans became Black Patriots.
Afro-Costa Ricans are Costa Ricans of African ancestry.
Buckra or Backra is a term of West African origin. It is mainly used in the Caribbean and in the Southeast United States. Originally, it was used by slaves to address their white slave master. Later the meaning was broadened to describe white people in general.
Santiago was a Spanish territory of the Spanish West Indies and within the Viceroyalty of New Spain, in the Caribbean region. Its location is the present-day island and nation of Jamaica.
The Crown Colony of Jamaica and Dependencies was an English colony from 1655, when it was captured by the English Protectorate from the Spanish Empire. Jamaica became a British colony from 1707 and a Crown colony in 1866. The Colony was primarily used for sugarcane production, and experienced many slave rebellions over the course of British rule. Jamaica was granted independence in 1962.
A scramble was a particular form of slave auction that took place during the Atlantic slave trade in the European colonies of the West Indies and the United States. It was called a "scramble" because buyers would run around in an open space all at once to gather as many bondspeople as possible. Another name for a scramble auction is "Grab and go" slave auctions. Slave ship captains would go to great lengths to prepare their captives and set prices for these auctions to make sure they would receive the highest amount of profits possible because it usually did not involve earlier negotiations or bidding.
For a history of Afro-Caribbean people in the UK, see British African Caribbean community.
The Enterprise was a United States merchant vessel active in the coastwise slave trade in the early 19th century along the Atlantic Coast. Bad weather forced it into Hamilton, Bermuda waters on February 11, 1835 while it carried 78 slaves in addition to other cargo. It became the centre of a minor international incident when the British authorities freed nearly all the slaves. Britain had abolished slavery in its Caribbean colonies effective 1834. At that time it advised "foreign nations that any slavers found in Bermuda [and the Bahamas] waters would be subject to arrest and seizure. Their cargoes were liable to forfeiture" without compensation.
Abolitionism in the United Kingdom was the movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries to end the practice of slavery, whether formal or informal, in the United Kingdom, the British Empire and the world, including ending the Atlantic slave trade. It was part of a wider abolitionism movement in Western Europe and the Americas.
Slavery in Cuba was a portion of the larger Atlantic Slave Trade that primarily supported Spanish plantation owners engaged in the sugarcane trade. It was practised on the island of Cuba from the 16th century until it was abolished by Spanish royal decree on October 7, 1886.
"...It is only a few days since that the brigantine Young America, Capt. ROGERS of Baltimore, arrived at Savannah-la-Mar, when the black cook or steward, being desirous of getting rid of that vessel, and the master not wishing to let him go, a band of half-savage negroes went on board and took him out by force, and insulted the captain in the most shameful manner, while the magistrates looked on and countenanced the atrocious act....You would greatly oblige me if you would be pleased to caution masters of vessels against shipping negroes to come to any port in this island, as they are sure to have trouble."According to the Consul, the man in question had boarded the Young America with papers showing he was a free man named Nettles. Later he claimed his name was really Anderson, he'd been held as a slave and was escaping from a Mr Robinson. If this proved true, the Consul said, there was no hope of re-enslaving him, as he would have become free "on touching British soil."
Media related to Savanna-la-Mar at Wikimedia CommonsCoordinates: 18°13′N78°08′W / 18.217°N 78.133°W
