Dr Rita Pemberton

One of the very interesting features of the history of Tobago is the route by which an African population was established.

While some may expect that the identification of this route would permit the determination of the roots of individuals and families of African descent, both the limitations of the existing records and the realities of the island's early history make that a very challenging undertaking. The African population of Tobago came to the island in a variety of ways. It was composed of people who made up the small class of free blacks that was established during the 19th century; the larger body of enslaved Africans who were introduced by the varying European occupants of the island; and the group of liberated Africans who were brought there during the latter half of the 19th century.

The introduction of an African population resulted from the European desire for cheap labour to work on the plantations they established on the island.

The Africans were selected because the Europeans, who formulated a baseless and erroneous notion of white superiority and black inferiority, nurtured the idea that the inferior peoples were intended and best suited to serve the needs of their superiors. In fact, it was projected that it was their station in life to obey the bidding of their superiors, and that faithful compliance through their earthly labours would be justly rewarded with the benefits they would reap in the next life.

However, among the enslavers, there was a further prejudiced classification of the members of the different African nations which was based on their desire for the ideal workers. Their descriptors included: rebellious, lazy, weak, prone to depression, sulky, treacherous, unreliable dangerous, strong and hard-working. Those who could not work as hard as was expected would be brutalised into compliance.

Based on these prejudices, it was the ideal of many plantation owners to obtain captives from the more desired communities. This was not practical because of the nature of the organisation of the trade and the methods used to obtain captives in Africa. The point of departure from the coast of West Africa was not the homeland of most of the captives, who were brought to the coast from various parts of the interior. When the slavers were ready to set sail, their captains were concerned with packing the ship with those who were available and healthy, and starting the journey as fast as possible.

The second factor is that the island had multiple European occupiers. The Courlanders and the Dutch were the first Europeans to introduce captive Africans as enslaved labourers on the estates they established in Tobago during the 17th century. The Courlanders had trading posts in West Africa and brought their own supply of human cargo directly to Tobago. The Dutch, who were long established in the trade in captives, sought to establish a colony in Tobago after the Portuguese expelled them from Brazil. They brought their s