LEARNING THE ROPES IN THE TROPICS: SLAVERY AND THE PLANTATION SYSTEM ON THE ISLAND OF SÃO TOMÉ

• Published in: African economic history 2011-01, Vol.39, p.35-71
• Main Author: Caldeira, Arlindo Manuel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Africa; Agricultural land; Agricultural production; Archipelagos; Coasts; Commercial production; Economic analysis; Economic history; Europe; Islands; Plantations; Slavery; Slaves; Sugar; Sugar cane; Sugar crops; Sugar industry; Sugars; Tropical diseases
• ISSN: 0145-2258; 2163-9108
• DOI: 10.1353/aeh.2011.0001

The aim of this article is to highlight the singular nature of the process by which the archipelago of São Tomé and Príncipe became the leading producer of sugar in the world between 1530 and 1560. The pioneering role played by this diminutive equatorial archipelago in the emergence of the Atlantic economy has not been sufficiently appreciated. However, this was where two models of economic and labor organization - European and African - systematically mingled together for the first time. This was also where the system of production for growing and processing sugarcane, which Europe subsequently implemented in the tropics on a large scale, was first developed. Researchers who have published on the economy of São Tomé have, naturally, emphasized the importance of sugar production in the history of the archipelago. But, almost always, they have focused on commercial aspects, directly associating production on São Tomé with the island of Madeira and as depicting it as a continuation of the model implemented in the latter archipelago.1 In turn, global histories concerning sugar have generally either totally ignored the archipelago or paid very little attention to it due, perhaps, to the fact that the most productive phase on the island of São Tomé was relatively short.2 One of the most notable exceptions is an essay on historical geography by Jock Galloway who, while analyzing the global history of sugar from its origins to the twentieth century,3 acknowledged the singular nature of the São Tomé and Príncipe archipelago and its role in the process of implementing a sugar plantation system, breaking with past experiences.4 This approach was later reprised by Joseph C. Miller in an article highlighting São Tomé's contribution towards instituting what he calls the 'sugar mill complex'5 and that has subsequently become a classic on Atlantic slavery. However, neither Galloway nor Miller investigate the broad chronological and thematic scopes required to understand the natural and historical conditions amidst which the plantation system emerged on the Island of São Tomé: both have underestimated the African contribution, which in their work is essentially limited to the labor force factor. This contribution aims to go beyond these confines based upon a comprehensive analysis of available sources. Reprinted by permission of University of Wisconsin, African Studies Program