Exploitation and mistreatment of slaves on the island of Puerto Rico!

It has come to our attention that the island of Puerto Rico relies on enslavement to maintain its growing sugar industry.

According to the testimony of a witness who visited the island, the slaves are extremely unhappy; their work day begins at three o’clock in the morning and lasts until 8 o’clock in the evening, and the compensation for this work is the pleasure of eating the sugar cane. Slave work is limited only by the pleasure of the master. Sundays and holidays are supposed to be a day of rest for the slaves, but this is rarely observed by the overseers and masters, as the slaves are being forced to work two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening.

As a result of this maltreatment, there have been reports of several runaway slaves. They willingly exchange their lives on the sugar haciendas for the unknown risks of a life in hiding. These slaves have fled the haciendas more than once, all along knowing the consequences of being caught. This can only be viewed as a strong indication that the slaves do not enjoy any aspect of their lives on the island. If the slaves are unlucky enough to be caught, they are either flogged or tortured in front of the other slaves, in the hope of terrorizing the other slaves with the thought of running away. The leaders of the conspiracy are executed at once. Of the slaves that have not run away, they are kept in bondage and deprived of the most basic human rights by a system that stands to gain from the labor. Many of these slaves who have remained in captivity stay on the haciendas in order to organize the fellow slaves to revolt, to kill their masters and overseers, and to set fire to the sugar fields. With this quest, they risk being jailed or worse, killed.

Moreover, it is said that slaves are the primary source of labor on the larger estates, and free laborers are providing supplementary labor. The free laborers are hired by the smaller sugar estates, which lack the needed number of slaves to cut, plant, and process the sugar cane. The number of these free workers in Puerto Rico has increased by 49,000 persons compared to the number of slaves, which has risen by 10,000 persons. However, the planters are still hesitant to hire free workers because of a believed lack of discipline and stamina. The planters are also convinced that only the slaves are able to withstand the harsh conditions bred by the sugar estates. In addition, the planters prefer to work with the slaves because they have complete control over them and because many of the slaves come from sugar-producing areas; thus, they are already skilled and familiar with the sugar cane industry. Lastly, the work of this group has proved more costly than the work of the slaves.

However, this exploitation did not prove successful for long. See next week's issue for more information on slaves revolts on this island!

Sources:

Figueroa, Luis A. Sugar, Slavery, & Freedom in Nineteenth-Century Puerto Rico. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2005. Print. Accessed through Google Books.

Wagenheim, Olga Jiménez De. Puerto Rico: An Interpretive History from Pre-Columbian Times to 1900. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener, 1998. Print.

Racial categories surface on the island of Puerto Rico!

It has come to our attention that severe racial distinctions have appeared on the Spanish-controlled island of Puerto Rico. It is safe to say that the starkest contrast on the island is the division between plantation owners, or free, white males, and the African slaves. However, there are other categories appearing, as well.

We have discovered from this year’s census (1765) that the island has 44,883 persons, and 88 percent of that total (39,846) are free persons and 11.2 percent (5,037) are slaves. More specifically, the towns of San Juan and San Germán have significant populations of slaves. For instance, San Germán has 5,950 total persons; 5,373 are free and 577 are slaves, which means 9.6 percent of this population is not free. In San Juan, there are 4,506 total persons; 3,562 are free and 944 are slaves, making 20.9 percent of this population slaves. It is also evident that around 90 percent of this population cannot read.

On this island, natural reproduction is a very significant factor in this demographic expansion; thus, there are a higher number of females on the island. Immigration also played a major role in the population explosions that are occurring; Spaniards have complete authority over the immigrants, but they are welcomed to the island if they convert to Catholicism, obey the laws, and promise to contribute to the prosperity of the colony. It is also apparent that two-thirds of the inhabitants are children under sixteen years of age. A huge percentage of these children are being born out of wedlock, due to the increasing occurrence of relations between the plantation owners and the slave women.

This is causing the racial composition of the island to be altered dramatically; officials are changing the category of “black” inhabitants to separate the groups by types of lifestyle. There is now a category labeled “pardo,” which refers to persons of mixed racial parentage and a lifestyle resembling that of the whites, and “moreno” which is a term used to refer to free blacks and mulattos who are living according to the African cultural standards. Life for the slaves is said to be short, nasty, and brutish. But clearly, the number of slaves compared to free white males is only small fraction of the total population.

Also, thousands of Canary Islanders are relocating to Puerto Rico. They are lured by the growing expectation of obtaining land and by the rising commercial traffic between the Canary Islands and the Caribbean. These islanders have a long history of cultivating sugarcane, which makes them very welcome in Puerto Rico where the sugar industry is being revived.

Moreover, it is apparent that thousands of white foreign settlers from Ireland are immigrating to the island because of Puerto Rico’s lenient immigration policy. This is adding to the already diverse ethnic composition of the island. Many of the Irish have strong ties to the Spanish government, so they are using these ties to improve their economic and social positions through land grants, tax breaks, and commercial licenses. Thus, names such as Fitzpatrick, O’Daly, Kiernan, Power, or O’Neil are beginning to become important sugar growers and power brokers in San Juan.

In addition, thousands of refugees from the French-speaking Saint Domingue are arriving on the island, as well. The inhabitants are welcomed on the island, as it represents safety from political turmoil and a chance to recreate the plantation system they produced on their former island. It is also important to note that Spanish prisoners are present on the island of Puerto Rico, which represents another important category on the island. They perform demanding tasks, like repairing military structures, which is a job traditionally carried out by the slaves. Unfortunately, they are poorly fed and forced to live in congested, unsanitary quarters, and a large number of these convicts are being exposed to recurring epidemics of smallpox and spotted fever, malnutrition, and prolonged exposure to the sun.

This demographic expansion that is rapidly growing on the island of Puerto Rico is definitely accelerating the pace of the island’s present colonization efforts and is helping to lay the foundation for the plantation economy.

Sources:

Background Books: Puerto Rico. The Wilson Quarterly (1976-) Vol. 4, No. 2 (Spring, 1980), pp. 151-153         Published by: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars http://www.jstor.org/stable/40255810 

Wagenheim, Olga Jiménez De. Puerto Rico: An Interpretive History from Pre-Columbian Times to 1900. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener, 1998. Print.

Catholicism arrives in Puerto Rico

With the arrival of Spanish settlers to the island of Puerto Rico comes Christianity.

This is the work of mulatto José Campeche, who lives on the island of Puerto Rico and frequently portraits colonial life, including religion.

We have just been informed that religion has become an important part of colonial life on the island of Puerto Rico. It is now a colony overflowing with Catholic believers. Spanish priests have been attempting to spread Catholicism to the indigenous peoples and have been quite successful. However, the main obstacle has been the eradication of the deeply-rooted indigenous beliefs that the natives of Puerto Rico already practice.

            The Taino Arawak, the natives of the island, began the beliefs that the natives of Puerto Rico still practice by the time the Spanish settlers brought Catholicism. They believed in a supreme creator, Yocahu, who lived high in the mountains of El Yunque. They believed in a spirit world in which all living things had a soul, and things in nature, such as rivers, trees, and stones, had spirits in them, as well. The Tainos have the equivalent of the devil in their religion: jurakan. He would call forth the horrible aspects of nature that would harm the natives. (It is from this word that the English word “hurricane” is derived.) There were lesser gods, as well. The natives worshipped a god called cemi, and each village or family had a carved wooden image of their cemi on display. Furthermore, the Taino Arawak believed in the afterlife. They buried their dead very carefully by providing food, water, weapons, and jewelry for the graves.  More importantly, with the arrival of slaves from Africa, elements from their religions spread across the island. Spanish priests encountered their practices of animism, which began the use of wearing masks and costumes during religious festivities.

            Even after initial success, Catholic conversion has had difficulty creating substantial ties to the population because of the church’s constant struggle with poverty, and the settlers of the islands tend to live far away from each other and the municipal establishments, making the spread of Catholicism much harder to conduct. Ideally, every town is expected to support its own church; however, very few churches ever collect enough funds to hire a priest or even provide religious services. Frequently, the island’s treasury is so bare that it cannot meet the obligation to require the state to subsidize the church. Unfortunately, only two of the twenty-four religious institutions in Puerto Rico receive aid from the colonial government at the moment.

            Because of the lack of funds, the bishop has major difficulties bringing trained clergymen from Spain; thus, he has allowed a few Creoles to be ordained and to be sent to the several churches located in the interior of the island. But there have been reports that the Creole priests have been seen at local dances, parties, and cockfights, and they follow the customs of their own parishioners. However, some claim that Creole priests are invaluable to the religious community because as messengers of God, they provide help for the community in times of dire need. Moreover, they are often the only literate person in town, and many inhabitants of the island call upon him to run the school and educate the children.

            Lastly, the settlers on the island use baptisms to enhance the powerful religious ties the families maintain. This practice has been gaining momentum as the population expands and the social conditions have improved. Shortly after birth, newborn children are required to be baptized. The parents of the unbaptized child are required to choose a couple willing to serve as surrogate parents for child, and these vows are confirmed in front of a priest, who sanctifies the act in the name of God. The godparents then become known as “compadres” (co-parents).

This story of religion brings to mind a similar instance on the island of St. Thomas. There, religion has also soared upon the arrival of Dutch settlers, and Christianity has become a major influence on the island. Most notably, though, is the positive influence religion has brought to both islands. On both St. Thomas and Puerto Rico, religion becomes an outlet for literacy, something that is very difficult to obtain, especially for the indigenous peoples. Also on both islands the churches are the center of everything, marking their importance within the community. Lastly, Christianity is spreading to the natives of the islands, as well as to the African slaves, which is a marvelous feat. One can see the impact religion has made when observing the success on both of these islands. (For more information on the religious evolution of St. Thomas, see the book Rebecca’s Revival).

Sources:

Wagenheim, Olga Jiménez De. Puerto Rico: An Interpretive History from Pre-Columbian Times to 1900. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener, 1998. Print.

Levy, Patricia, and Nazry Bahrawi. Puerto Rico. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2005. Accessed through Google Books.