External Views as a Result of Colonialism in the Caribbean

Essay Assignment: ‘External Focus’ question

Connor Starks 500654523

Dr. Camille Hernandez-Ramdwar        
CRB100

09/03/2016

The Caribbean has always been a region with an outward look and an external focus, in more than one aspect, since early times when it was first colonized by Columbus back in the early 1500's, and still even up until now in some of its countries and regions such as Jamaica or Barbados. Not necessarily an approved choice, nor at times has it seemed a decision the Indigenous people have seemed to turn away from, this external focus has undoubtedly shaped the culture and economy of this region and arguably has been and has become a way of life in both early times and now, though for different reasons. This is not to say that this external focus has been entirely beneficial for the area and its people in their culture or history, as I will highlight in the colonization of this region specifically for exploitation, however I feel it can be safely argued that this inclination to have a more outward focus that has developed over time has helped with the area and it's people's establishment and survival in more time periods than one.

        The original and initial reason for this external, as opposed to internal, focus within this region is its original settlement back in the start of the 1500's by Christopher Columbus as a Spanish settlement – one as a colony of exploitation, which I will return to. "Columbus's voyage at the end of the fifteenth century brought the Caribbean into Europe's orbit as its first overseas colonial outpost. But for the next century and a half, the Caribbean served essentially as a Spanish transit zone. [...] The Caribbean region itself was not irrevocably harnessed to the European economy as a whole until the mid-seventeenth century, a harnessing that took place during the 'long contraction' of the world economy [...] and because the Caribbean could produce tropical staples, mainly sugar cane and cocoa, that could not be cultivated in Europe." (Richardson, 1992, p.16) This very labour intensive crop quickly replaced just about every other crop, and “as well as being very demanding labour wise, it is very land intensive, so the small farms that once stood were replaced with huge sugar plantations, estimated to be a minimum of 400 acres.” (Williams, 1966, p.4)

        What this meant was that, on top of much stress and damage being done to the land in the early formation of the Caribbean, as well as a new need for labour that was filled by Europeans turning to Africa, there was a huge labour population with hundreds of farms and working individuals, but all of this product and the economy it was generating was being entirely exported back to the 'Mother country' and no interest was taken in the Caribbean region or its people for centuries. As phrased by Goucher et. al (1998), "The sugar plantation was a landed estate that specialized only in export production." What this quote is speaking of explicitly is a colony or settlement of exploitation. In class, we discussed the primary differences between a colony of settlement and a colony of exploitation, and that the signifying difference between the two is that one of settlement is intended for a long term re-creation of the original Mother country, such as Canada has been. On the opposite, one of exploitation is one aimed specifically at using the land for its value and gaining as much as the Mother country may, and then taking all of their interests and investments out once that value and gaining has decreased or slowed, and this latter is specifically what the Caribbean was colonized for and accounts for many of the internal challenges some of the region faces today. Crucial turning points in history, both the agricultural as well as the Industrial revolution, focused primarily on natural as well as human resources – however both of these were controlled and mandated by British forces, meaning that the Caribbean itself did not receive any of the benefits of this economy. Because of this, unfortunately, most of the region was not given the ability to develop sufficiently during these phases due to the colonial powers that ruled them. “Thus, sugar, agricultural products, crude oil, raw minerals were shipped overseas to fuel the industrial complexes of the empire, and the finished, higher-cost products shifted back to the colonies in the mercantilist model. At the dawning of the knowledge age, these countries were singularly ill-equipped to implement the changes necessary to compete in the global information economy.” (Morris, 2005, p.2) This external focus within the region was not for the survival of the people, but rather the exploitation of them and their land by European forces, and it was not until this region and its countries gained their independence that this external focus was cut and the structure and stability of these countries were built upon. This style of colonial rule produced countries ill equipped for life not under European powers, something swiftly taken away at different points in the Caribbean’s history, and leading to an external focus for tourism to fulfill that new loss of a commanding economy. One clear example of this in reference to my previous paragraph is that once colonial powers took their investments and left, countries such as the Dominican Republic were left to find their own markets as a result of no previously established economies or resources. The main result after the colonial era was an external focus to draw tourists in as a way of supplying the Caribbean with an economy, and the land developing a primarily external recreation and tourist economy.    

        This domination and forced assimilation by colonial forces created and maintained both racial and plantocratic views early on, these views forming at the same time that this external economic focus was being set up and fostered. Succeeding this establishment of exploitation, through both the maintenance of these views as well as the efforts of colonizers to not include native populations and their ancestors, a fixation of the Indigenous people in this region to deny their heritage and to instead desire to be acknowledged as of European descent was created. I feel it is arguable, however, that this desire was created simply as a way of surviving in a colonial time. "Under the colonial regime, who got what was determined according to a finely graded scale of racial identity. Those who were White, and closest to being White, could expect property rights and ownership of their own labour, unlike African slaves, and unlike indentured East Indians." (Forte, 2013, p.176) At the time of colonization, and following the introduction of every new people and their culture afterwards, a social hierarchy and power dynamic was being created and consistently revised where being an educated and wealthy white person was considered being superior, and a lack of any of these things lead to being seen socially as progressively lower the fewer you have – a social structure known as a pigmentocracy. Because of this pigmentocracy and lack of power being given to Indigenous persons, the females at the time would do things such as sleep with white males simply as a way of trying to ensure a better life for their children, for to them their fate was already sealed by their skin colour. This is an accurate however unfortunate example of the outward focus I feel has established the Caribbean. This is also very relative to the mixing of cultures I mentioned earlier – it is important to note that these females did not do this as a choice, but rather as what they felt was the best method of survival for their children. This has led to the indirect definition of Caribbean culture (or lack thereof) through the mixing of nationalities of a series of centuries and centuries, one that Tracy Assing seeks to combat within her film, the Amerindians.