Research shows that the British colonial wealth extraction system still influences the regionâs tourist industry
by Eleanor Shearer
Between 1640 and 1807, Britain transported about 387,000 enslaved west Africans to [Barbados]. Extraordinary violence, from whippings to amputations and executions, were a regular feature of their lives. On the Codrington Plantation in the mid-18th century, 43% of the enslaved died within three years of their arrival. Life expectancy at birth for an enslaved person on the island was 29 years old. This was the incalculable human cost of the transatlantic slave economy.
On the back of this suffering was built extraordinary wealth for European colonial powers. Historian Joseph E Inikori has estimated that in the 18th century, 80% of the value of export commodities in the Americas was generated by enslaved Africansâ labour...Two-thirds of the economic value of the sugar industry went to Britain, via the merchants who shipped unrefined sugar across the Atlantic, the businesses such as Lloydâs of London that insured them, and the sugar refineries that created the final product.
...Islands such as Barbados now have a ârebranded plantation economy built for leisure instead of sugarâ, says Fiona Compton, a St Lucian artist, historian and founder of the Know Your Caribbean platform. She highlights how most of the regionâs hotel chains, cruise lines, airlines and booking platforms arenât owned locally. For every dollar spent in the Caribbean, 80 cents will end up overseas, thanks to large foreign firms repatriating their profits.
This is why Fiona Compton and her Know Your Caribbean team established Caribbean Green Book âto keep tourist dollars in local hands.â
