The habitation is the groundwork of the economy. It produce and transform the cane, the tobacco, the cotton,or coffee in order to sell the product on the metropolitan market. The cane represent the main production Caribbean, therefore the habitation is often a sugar factory
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The extent of a habitation is: 180 hectares in Guadeloupe and about one hundred in Martinique. In 1742, Martinique count about 456 sugar factories.
The Habitation is a close space where the master reign. His family and the executives who surround him form: THE WHITE GROUP. The other group (the most important) entail black slaves who live and work in the habitation. The most are "
nègre de jardin ", there are too: "nègres de talent
" and to finish the commandant and domestics (cooker...) who receive some privileges. The master's home is high up to avoid noise, and domineer the slaves. One fabricate the sugar in the sugar factory,near the mill. The mill activeate rollers who permit to crush the cane. The "vesou" fall in a canal toward the sugar factory.
FUNCTION and CHARACTERISTICS of BUILDINGS
Differents buildings are:
a)The Mill
Slaves use mills to crush and squeeze out juice. There are four differents type of mills: water mill, windmill, animal mill and to finish steam mill. It is the same process for all the habitations: a pendulum is activated, give a movement of rotation to three cylinders who squeeze out cane's juice . The sugar cane juice, called "vesou" in Martinique was transferred to the boiling roomalng a channel hewn ot of stone "the cane juice channel" (the rapid oxydation of the "vesou" meant that he whole circuit had to be cleaned with ashes twice a day).
(Photos taken by Maithé)
b) The Furnace
In the 1èth century each cooper had its owne furnace. An improvement , called "the english system " dating from the beginning of the 18th century (about 1720), was composed of a single furnace, a heating tunnel under the coppers and a chimney to ensure the furnace drew well. Crushed sugar cane, called "bagasse", was used for fuel.
c) The Boiling Room
The "vesou" was boiled in four fixed coppers called the "crew". The syrup, which was ladled from one copper to the next , was purified ans stirred to aerate it throughhtout the boiling process, then cooled in the fight vat, called the "cooler".
d) The Ash box
Under the grate of the furnace, some of the ashes were usted to clean the cane juice channel.
e)The Curing house
Aftre the "cooler", the sugar was put into conicalshaped pots, called "moulds". The molasses dripped out thought a hole in the bottom. The moulds were placed on earthenware containers to collect the molasses and put to dry in the curing house, whose many windows meant that it was well-ventilated.
f)The Vinegar Factory
The moasse collected from the "moulds" was disilled to make "guildive", tafia, rum and "coco merlot", an industrial alcohol which was ancestor to our agricultural rum which is made from the pure "vesou".
g)The "Gragerie" or Cassava mill
The cassava root (manios is ths scientific name) was grated ("gragé" in creole) and the flour used to make cassava bread.
the slaves wanted preservate their african culture with the music ,for this they invented their own types of song whose adapted elements of African and European musical traditions. Today, slave music is groupped in three major categories :religious,work and recreationals songs.The work songs helped slaves to synchronyze the group tasks and eased the burden of difficult labor.Slaves sings the recreationnal songs for share their hopes and dreams between them during the free time. THe religious songs were singed by christians slaves who ask to god the freedom and the equality between races
In 1833 England issues the abolition of slavery. In Paris, men like Tocqueville, Broglie, Lamartine, Bissette and Schoelcher carry out the same free trade combat. March 4, 1848: the law abolishes in its turn slavery.
The official decree of abolition is voted by the II Républic on April 27 1848 thanks to the efforts of Victor Schoelcher (1804-1893), under-secretary of State to the Marine charged with the colonies.
The governor Layrle promulgates it on the island on May 27 without waiting the late arrival of the text.
Slavery was abolished the same year in the island of Saint Martin for the French part, but only in 1863 for the Dutch part.
Then the Guadeloupe took part in the elections which followed and allowed the election of Victor Schoelcher as a deputy of the Guadeloupe and Martinique.
"Let us say and say to our children that as long as there will remain a slave on the surface of the Earth, the control of this man is a permanent insult made with all the human race."
The Atlantic milking comes along with the creation of the new type of slaves: it's the status of ebony. The ebony is considered like a delicate good. With the reification of the ebony, his owner must impose the worst ill treatment or many pretext of rebellion or a simple resistance. It’s necessary for the Black Code to impose the status of slave. In particular, he declares "the slaves must be furniture" (article 44). Certain articles protect partially slaves.For example by imposing the Christian baptism, by forbidding the Sunday work.
The articles regulate the punishment by fixing a progressive scale of ill treatment according to the gravity of the "fault blamed"(article 42).
It’s forbidden to torture slaves, the whip, and the amputation of the ear, the marketing of the warm iron of flower of lily, and obviously the death are authorized in the indicate condition. The crushing majority of articles must concern the homework of the slaves and the punishments which are reserved for them if they break them.
The American’s slaves conditions change according to the geographic situation.
In the colonies of the North, the slaves must work in the house, and in the business, at the same time, in the colonies of the Center; they have to work in the agriculture, and in the colonies of the South, it’s necessary for the slaves to work in the plantation.
The fundamental human right is mostly scoffed.
The women’s slaves are permanently exploited, raped by their owners and the families are often destroyed because their members must be sold in separates plantations.
Ill treatments like mutilations, burns, and murders are in theory forbidden by the law, but are not rare until XIX th century.
The slaves have for one or two years, two helmets and a painting .They surrender in fields to rag or even any nudes. The black code was not thus respected, on the clothing plan. The domestics carried sheets whites while the workers carried white paintings. Nevertheless, they have something to protect theirself during the bad weather.
Sundays and holidays, men receive a shirt, a pant of colour and a hat, while the women have a skirt of white painting. The owners must get it to them. Nevertheless the slaves have to dress their children themselves.
Dreams of the slaves was to have beautiful shirts and beautiful white paintings to reveal their blackness, their beauty.
The slavery is a part integral of the economique development of the sugar factory. The slave trade allows to have a commercial work force within the framework of the production of sugar. Thanks to the coasts of Africa the French slave traders can bring goods in exchange for slaves, to return their loads towards West Indies then to bring back it some sugar with the product of the sale of the slaves. This type of business is necessary for the supply of foods, rifles, weapons, textiles, and of iron on islands. The business colonial of sugar is very profitable. The increase of the saving is in connection with the increase of the number of slaves. The slave trade and the triangular traffic between France, Africa and the Antilles, pillar(prop) of the slave system brings a big economic wealth.
The music jazz is an at the same time sound and body unit. It is the parody, cheerfulness, the festival, the merry exchanges, it characterizes the freedom of the individual. However it expresses too; the pain, oppression, it is in charge of complaints and of mockeries, irony, revolt and claims, it opens the right to the solo, the improvisation and the freedom of exchanges.
This philosophy of the jazz which worked the great American black vernacular dances was taken again by the community white and diffused in the whole world.
It leaves the Cake walk, the Charleston, Lindy hop to arrive from there at the Rock'n'roll, Funk, the Station-wagon dance hall until the current rap and Hip hop.
The exception has this "natural" philosophy of the jazz is the scenic dance which comes us from Broadway where it was influenced by large innovative choreographers who were at the beginning mainly traditional like George BALLANCHINE, Gérôme ROBBINS and to remain more "jazz" Jack COLE.
These choreographers did not have a spirit of improvisation to the African direction of the term.
What brings us to the paradoxism between:
Jazz: freedom of the body, improvisation, black strict design afro American of the philosophy of the jazz in opposition with: Jazz: theatrical and scenic dance current (which is not any more one improvisation). This paradoxism is explained by the fact why the jazz was born from the meeting of two cultures; the American culture afro and European culture.
These cultures met at a certain time of the history what explains why one has several tendencies in the development of the jazz:
The American tendency afro; The scenic tendency the theatrical tendency
To define the dance jazz it is necessary to disregard music jazz. Currently one practises the dance jazz on music rap (but the rap is not it the jazz of today?). It is necessary to know however what is the characteristic allowing to define a music as a music jazz, it is in with dimensions "the percussion" of the rate/rhythm. All that is related to the jazz is based on the percussion. Precisely, Rap is not other than a rhythmic and vocal percussion. Let us quote an outstanding example which enormously contributed to the development of the American negro music: the music of James BROWN, it is at the "percussive" base primarily.
In order to supplement this definition and of going in our research beyond the music, it is necessary for us to examine the movement and its specificity which is different from the African dance. To differentiate itself from the primitive dance, which was brought in France by Ernst DUPLAN, an Haitian. This "primitive" dance is a derivative of the African dance, but the difference is placed in the improvisation. The dance jazz has a clean vocabulary resulting from a melting cultural pot, each country of the world recognizes there and integrates into it the roots of its own country.
A large musician of jazz: "Yew you gotta ask, you aint got it!"
The difficulty in defining this word lies in the plurality of direction which derives from the dance africaine.Le jazz is not only one music which forces the body with the movement, it is not only music or dance, it is vocal expression, language, communion and expression of the existence of each community to each generation what explains its topicality and its relevance.
The word "jazz" is rather recent in the vocabulary, it was written for the first time in 1917. For the meaning of this word there are several tracks but none is certain:
"Jas": Senegalese slang with strong sexual significance. "Jasm":(dictionary of 1860) energy, dynamism, vitality. "Jazz": would derive from the word eye, chase (drives out). "Jazz": definition of musicians: it would seem that at the time of the mintrelsy there was a musician, dancer who was called
"JASBO" it was very popular and each time that he played the public shouted "we want more Jasbo".
"Jass": card deck the definition and the comprehension of the jazz are difficult for the Westerners because we need, following our education, of rational explanations. The characteristic of the African culture is spontaneousness and vitality, the Westerners fail to define the jazz term because they need
to call upon an analytical step, made up of logical, rational and clear concepts. This spontaneousness their is foreign.
Us, Western:
if one speaks about jazz, one speaks about music if one speaks about song, one speaks about Gospels if one speaks about movement, one speaks about dance jazz One should seize the jazz like a whole, to seize it as a whole cultural, musical, and body.
The dance jazz knows unforgivable repulsions unfortunately because it is not right a vulgar gesticulation, it is not a derivative of modern or American folk dance step than one derived more from the musicals such as West Side Story.
It is all that at the same time and it is the contribution of the research of the choreographers such as: Modern Kathérine DUNHAM, Jack COLE and more recently choreographers like: Alvine AILEY, Donald Mc. KAYLE, Talley BEATTY and of the professors like Matt MATTOX and LUIGI which enabled us to more deeply include/understand the scenic aspect of the dance jazz.
In the United States the question arose of knowing why the jazz liked so much and was so popular among the young people. Often one called the dance jazz "Soul dance" (dance of the heart). The "soul" could mean the sensitivity, the lived experiment, the state of triad with the rates/rhythms of its own body or that of the others.
To dance jazz it is to be able to carry out all the gestures which one wishes without concern of betraying an artistic current or a school.
In English class, we studied a text entitled "Selling negreos". It is extracted from "Uncle Tom's Cabin" which was written by Harriet BEACHER STOWE in 1852.
The story deals with a woman called Hagar who fears she might be separated from his son Albert. She is so anxious because at first, she had a very large family but she had been separated from her children. The scene is during a slave public auction.
What makes me furious is the fact that the masters separated families without taking into account of the feelings from the mother to her child or children. I think the masters didn't comport themselves like human-beings when they do a so cruel separation.
Today, everyone knows how great are the feelings of a "black mother" to her children. She protect them until her die and I think that it is the result of mainy separations between mothers and children during slavery.
On this date, lots of events are organised to commemorate the abolition of slavery.
Moreover, this date allows Martinicans to think about their roots. They can also think about their life conditions. They can realise that there is not by chance if they are free today but thanks to their ancestors, the "marrons". In fact, freedom was a big battle for them, the stronger slaves, the more persevering blacks. They fight themselves until die in order that their rights became legaly.
So, May 22nd is and will always be a day of hapiness as well as a day of memories and recognitions about the blacks ancestors. It is thanks to them if blacks are not considerated like things or dogs but like human-beings.
I decided to talk you my life of slave. I am in a plantation of the south of USA. I am sixteen. I live with my mother, my brothers are in another plantation and my father is dead.
At 5h00 am, a hight-ranking slave wake us up with the sound of the whip. Then we have to do the prayer, and after the master call the register. Next we go to the field to a hard working day.
At midday, we have two hours to make lunch and eat. We haven't a lot of food but we can cu ltivate our veggies . Then the work start again and we have to return to the field. And we continue as long as there was light.
When the night is falled we are to go and get grass to the animals. And after we can go our shack to make dinner.
Around midnight we go to bed, exhausted, to a short night of sleep.
Today slavery has been abolished for 158 years in Martinique.
Slavery is at the base of our traditionnal culture . In fact many dances borned during this period as "bélé , danmyé, haute-taille, quadrille, ladja" which were dancing in contrysides.
"mazurca, valse créole, biguine" were dancing on the town by refined people.
Plantations : "Prisons without wall, odious manufactures producing of the tobacco, the coffee, sugar, and consuming slaves."
Augustin Cochin, "History of the abolition of slavery" 1861.
With the origin of the slave system
At the beginning of colonization, the colonists having obtained a small concession are made help by "volunteers" come from France, to clear and emphasize their grounds. They plant initially pétun (tobacco) then indigo. Cultures which require little labour and are of a good output. With the discovery of the manufactoring process of sugar, any change in a few decades. Sugar is at the time, the most remunerative of all the products of export. Its production excites all covetousnesses. The rich person colonists, the flibustiers nouveau riches and even the religious orders, crammed by the hope of enormous profits, launch out in the adventure and build sugar plantations with turn of arm. More than one hundred in less than 30 years (1660-1690). The investment is heavy. The sugar plantation is not satisfied to exploit vast fields of canes, it is also a true preindustrial establishment, very advances some over its time. The cane, cut once, not supporting transport, all the production process must be carried out on the spot. The mills to extract the juice, the boilers to crystallize sugar, the additional buildings, are built in the heart even property. The trouble, it is that one needs arms to make function the whole. The "volunteers" are not enough numerous. The governor of the island tries well to make some come in greater number of France, going even until obtaining that condemned or beggars are sent to him, but the newcomers being far from being enough with the task, another solution should soon be considered. It is thus, which taking as a starting point the the model of the Spanish plantations, the growers from Martinique will call upon slavery. The first slaves are bought to Dutch traffickers or English who practise the draft of the blacks and pour their human cargoes on the quays of Saint-Pierre. But the growers are always far from the account. the lifespan of a slave seldom exceeding 25 years, they must be ensured of a constant renewal. The kingdom of France smelling the good bargain authorizes and encourages the installation of a circuit of draft between the coasts of Africa and those of Martinique. French ships start to make the shuttle, and in less than 100 years, more than 100 000 African are off-set on the island. Their work, their sufferings, their deaths will enrich the growers and will do of Martinique one of the most advantageous French possession. Whole cities of the Atlantic coast, Nantes and Bordeaux... theirs owe their prosperity, and at the time of Louis XIV, nearly 400 000 people live in France with the commercial with the Antilles and the draft of the blacks.
1848: Abolition of slavery and bankruptcy of "the saving in plantation" The plantations which dominate the economy of the XVII and XVIII centuries (500 about 1750) disappear or are reconverted in the medium of XIX following the slump in prices of the sugar and the abolition of slavery (1848). At that time, the sugar extracted beet produces in Europe seriously competes with a sugar from Martinique whose production cost flies away with the disappearance of servile labour. After the emancipation, the growers try to save their exploitations by replacing in the fields of canes their former slaves by "free workers" who they make come from Africa and Asia. But in spite of mechanization, the wages paid with the newcomers increase the costs of exploitation considerably. Many plantations close their doors then, or are reconverted on a remunerative market: Rum. At the beginning of the XX century, Martinique becomes world exporting first of this drink, before a terrible blow again comes to strike its staggering economy: the eruption of Mount-Pelé in May 1902.
Plantations
Several of these old plantations, in ruins, in exploitation, transformed into distilleries or hotels can be visited today. Habitation Céron
This old sugar refinery built about 1650, on the commune of the Prêcheur, is one of the oldest plantation of the island. Opened to the public, it preserves the ruins still today (the plantation was destroyed by the eruption of 1902), of its street Case Negro where was piled up the slaves, like all its buildings of production: hydraulic mill, boilers, purgery...
A very beautiful plantation transformed into museum. The house of Masters, classified historic building, is visited and offered the unique opportunity to be immersed in the way of life of the growers of the XIX century and to discover architecture and creole furniture. The plantation accomodates also an old distillery of rum and its wine storehouses of ageing.
"BLACK CODE " is the legal text most monstrous of modern history.
Promulgated by LOUIS XIV on 1685, Black code ruled Blacks's slavery in West Indies, in Louisiane and in Guyane.
This code wake up of sixty articles managing life, death, buy, auction, freeing and religion of slaves. If, of one religious viewpoint, Blacks are considered likes geings susceptible of safety, they're legally definite likes movable estate be able to pass on and negotiated.
More simply, at point of view religious, slaves are a soul, legally, they aren't at all.
All slaves were to be baptized and educated as Catolics, and to be free, it was necessary for them to pay taxes. Slaves didn't have the right to run away, it wasn't allowed to them to rebel or escape and if that occur, they were punish severaly by masters, and them who run away were called " chestnut niggers ", niggers revolted.
A slave could expect to be sold at least once or more in his lifetime, it's for that slaves couldn't marry with other slaves,or then, they were separated by the masters, or the wedding vows was changed :
instead of " until death do you part ", it was said " until death or distance do you part ". Slaves were prohibited to own something.
As regards the masters, it was forbidden for them to torture slaves, and they must provide for slave's needs in clothing and food.
So, at slavery time, it would be better to be dead than to be a slave !!!
Map of the triangular trade. Click the 'Triangular trade' and 'Trade goods' buttons to play the animations.
A triangle of money
The profits made from the global trade of sugar, tea and coffee were the major driving force behind the triangular trade. For centuries it provided substantial quantities of venture capital for the industrial revolution and the development of the western European economy.
The first slave traders
Sugar nippers. Repro ID F0908
The trade involved a number of prominent people at the time. For example, Sir Robert Rich (later the Earl of Warwick) owned plantations in Virginia.
Rich was one of the founders of the London-based company of Adventurers to Guinea and Benin. The company was established to trade with West Africa and supply enslaved Africans to the Americas. Charles I granted a licence to a group of London merchants in 1632 for the transportation of enslaved people from West Africa.
The triangle of trade
The Transatlantic Slave Trade consisted of three journeys:
The outward passage from Europe to Africa carrying manufactured goods.
The middle passage from Africa to the Americas or the Caribbean carrying African captives and other 'commodities’.
The homeward passage carrying sugar, tobacco, rum, rice, cotton and other goods back to Europe.
A slave ship? Repro ID E9146
By the 1790s there were 480,000 enslaved people in British Caribbean colonies. It is estimated that 11-12 million Africans were transported across the Atlantic into slavery. Many more had died during capture and transportation.
In the first third of the 18th century, Britain’s involvement in the slave trade grew enormously. During the 1720s nearly 200,000 enslaved Africans were transported across the Atlantic in British ships.
The middle passage
The middle passage across the Atlantic was brutal. Enslaved Africans were packed into tight spaces and given barely enough food and water to stay alive.
The slave ship Brookes. Repro ID F0872
It is estimated that on average 10% died en route rising to 30% on a bad voyage. European sailors who crewed the ships also stood a high chance of not returning due to sickness during the voyage.
One of the most graphic and well-known images connected with the slave trade is the plan of the Brookes. This shows how overcrowded a slave ship could be and yet still remain within the legally permitted capacity.
How did the merchants get away with it?
Account book of the snow 'Molly', a slave ship. Repro ID F2506
Sailors who did return brought back tales of what they had seen during their voyages. However, only a few spoke about it publicly for fear of being refused further work by the powerful merchants, ship owners and captains engaged in the trade.
It was a very profitable business often making a high rate of return on investment, as account books from the period show. Powerful trading interests tried to prevent any regulation or abolition of the slave trade using a fierce campaign of misinformation, lies and delaying tactics.
Telling the truth
Slave in chains. Repro ID E9148
In order to expose the truth publicly about the triangular trade it was necessary to show conditions on the ships and plantations.
To counter the historical European notion that African people were 'little more than savages’, African and British abolitionists worked tirelessly to demonstrate the truth.
They showed objects illustrating the great cruelty and suffering caused by the trade.
They revealed images showing the degrading treatment of enslaved people.
They also displayed the sophisticated African artefacts.
These items shocked the British public, and educated them about Africa, plantation life and enslavement.
1502 - 15th of June - Christopher Colombus, on one of his last travels to America, makes a stop in a small island called Madinina (the island of flowers) or Mantinino (the island of women) by its inhabitants. Covered by a luxuriant rain forest, the country is occupied by the Caribs, an Native-American ethnic group, linked to the Galibis now living in Guiana. The Caribs have recently conquered the island, defeating the Arawaks (Tainos), who still live in the northern islands of West Indies (Hispaniola, Cuba...) 1635 - July - Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc, a noble from Normandy (western France), settles down on the Western coast, near the current city of Saint Pierre. The Compagnie des Iles d'Amérique (American Islands Company), founded in Paris, in 1626 by Louis the XIII th's Prime Minister Richelieu, decides to exploit the new french colony. Tobacco and cotton are the first agricultural production, while relations with the Caribs are sometimes conflictual. After many fights, the Carib tribes are defeated and slaughtered by 1658. The survivors flee to the islands of St Martin or Dominica, where they still live in a reserve. Despite their military defeat, some Caribs remain in Martinique, and progressively mix to the population. The labor force is composed by Europeans engaged with a three-years-long contract, and a few African slaves bougth to the Spanish. With the arrival of Dutch sugar-manufacturers from Portuguese-owned Brasil, a new economic era begins.
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BITTER SUGAR
Martinique, as well as most of the Carribean Islands, becomes a major sugar producer at the end of the XVII th century, using Africans as labor force. Brougth to America in horrible conditions, these men and women, selected young and healthy, manage to create a specific culture, despite the bad treatment and constant violence they endured. The process is roughly the same around the Caribean Sea, from Brazil, Bolivia and Colombia to Louisiana. Evrywhere they have been brought, the sons of Africa take a major part in the shaping of the contemporary american cultures, should they be of Anglo-Saxon, French, Portuguese, Dutch or Spanish ascent. A mix of Western-French language, Native-American vocabulary (anoli for lizard, manicou for opposum, toloman for arrow-root...) and African syntax, the Creole language still bears the marks of the conditions of its birth. The same is true for the whole west-indian culture, which still contains aboriginal technics like the making of manioc flour or basketwork, or the knowledge of plants (traditional phytotherapy), legacy of the Caribs.
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SLAVE TRADE AND SLAVERY
The development of cane sugar production, in the second half of the XVIIth century, demanded a growing amount of labor force, that Europe could not provide. Slave trade quickly appeared as the best solution, leading to the massive deportation of Africans kidnapped on their native soil. The continuous human flow (mortality rates during the crossing or in the plantations were extremely high, not counting massive suicides) was organized in what is remembered as the Triangular Trade. Leaving the seaports of Nantes, Bordeaux or La Rochelle (Atlantic coast of France), boats would arrive on African shores of Senegal, Niegeria or Angola. They would there exchange european goods (textile, fire arms, iron bars, down market jewelry) for prisoners, brought to their condition by crime or war, but mostly kidnapped during razzias the Europeans often organized and leaded in the countryside. With their shipments ironically called ebony wood, the boats sailed across the Atlantic to the West Indies. There, the merchants would sell their captives, and buy colonial goods such as sugar, rum, tobacco, indigo or coton. They benefited the fact that, by the special law of Exclusif, the French colonies were not allowed to trade with any country but France. Slavery left an indelebile mark on the Caribean world. Its culture, a synthesis of Native American, European and African elements that met all around the Caribean Sea, bears its scars : social inequality, omnipresent racism (with different expressions), as well as plastic arts, music languages, oral litterature ... Slaves did not always surrender to their unfair destiny. Suicides, abortions poisoning of cattle or land owners were many forms of a constant revolt that culminated into several insurrections. Cimarrons could create durable comunities in countries such as Guiana, Haïti, Jamaica, or Brasil, with the famous Kingdom of Palmares. The small side of Martinique or Guadeloupe did not allow such organisations, yet escaping the plantations, for a short period or forever, was a current practice.
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1848 - THE YEAR OF THE ABOLITION
The beginning of the XIXth century is marked by numerous riots and plantation sackings. In Martinique, many cities witness the growing desire of the slaves to get free : Saint Pierre in 1811 and 1831, Carbet in 1822 ... The abolition of slavery in the British West Indies, in 1833, will invigorate the movement, while the French abolitionnists, headed by Victor SCHOELCHER, develop an active lobbying. The French Revolution of March 1848, ending with the reign of King Louis Philippe and marking the beginning of the Second French Republic, has a wide echo in West Indies, Victor SCHOELCHER being the Minister of Colonies. In April, slaves progressively get 'on strike' in all the plantations of Martinique, demonstrating in the main cities like Saint Pierre. The relationships between slave-owners and the men and women waiting for their freedom have definitely changed. On May the 20 th, the arrest of ROMAIN, a slave who dares to play drums despite the orders of his owner, provokes a riot in Saint Pierre. A huge demonstration around the prison ends when he is set free, the day after. But as 25 persons are killed in an ambush organised by an angry plantation owner, the insurrection gets uncontrolable, forcing Governor ROSTOLAN to proclaim the abolition of slavery in Martinique on May the 22 th. Similar events occur in Guadeloupe on May 27 th, both islands getting rid of slavery before the application of the law voted in Paris on April 27 th. The atmosphere and the events of this period are widely described at the beginning of Patrick CHAMOISEAU's novel, TEXACO
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A NEW DESTINY FOR MARTINIQUE
The Second French Empire, beginning in 1851 when elected President Louis-Napoléon BONAPARTE (Napoléon the First's nephew) proclaims himself Emperor, marks the beginning of a hard period for the people of Martinique. The plantations being deserted by the former slaves, who settle in the 'mornes' (on the sides of the wooded hills) to live on small gardens, new workers are recruited, mostly in India, where France has four colonial settlements, the trading posts of Madras, Pondichéry, Chandernagor and Karikal. Several thousands of young Indian men and women arrive in Martinique, where they face explotation and racism, before getting progressively integrated into the population. The hard working conditions, the low salaries and the general social injustice lead to several strikes by th end of the XIX th century and the beginning of the XX th. 1870, with the Southern insurrection, leaded by Louis TELGA, the agricol strikes of 1900 or 1935 are the consequences of the miserable life of the cane field workers. SUGAR CANE ALLEY, a novel by Joseph ZOBEL, describes this universe, as well as the film based on it, by Euzhan PALCY. Despite the generalisation of primary instruction in France in 1881, the social situation remains brutally unfair. The poor cannot afford to scholarize their children and malnutrition and infant mortality are widespread. In 1902, the volcanic eruption of the Montagne Pelée completely destroys the city of Saint Pierre, killing 30 000. Economic capital of Martinique, Saint Pierre was a cultural spot in the West Indies, fostering a brilliant artistic life. The town would never regain its past importance.
Being a French territory for more than three centuries, as well as Gaudeloupe, Guiana and Reunion Island, Martinique becomes a French Depatment in 1946, as requested by its representants, Aimé CESAIRE and Léopold BISSOL. Being a part of France, Martinique benefits progressively of many social and economic laws. The general context is changing : cane sugar is no longer competitive, the public administrations recruit large amounts of educated people, primary education tends to be general... The economy changes deeply. Agriculture is no longer the basis, bananas for exportation failing to really replace cane sugar, and the service industry dominates widely. Despite a superficial wealth, unemployment is massive, mostly among the young. In 1963, the Bumidom (Bureau of Migrations from Overseas Departments) is constituted, in order to send annually 10 000 people to continental France. There, they mostly occupy the lowest functions in hospitals and public administrations, progressively constituting an important, yet unorganized community. About 400 000 people from Martinique, Guadeloupe or Guiana live around Paris. By the end of the XX th century, Martinique faces a crucial interogation. Being well advanced in the way of assimilation to the French and European culture, it has to be aware of its geographical environment : Caribean countries, much poorer, with which it has scarce contacts, but so much alike, after centuries of a similar history.
FRENCH CREOLE : A LANGUAGE AND A CULTURE
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French Creole is spoken today in several places around the Caribean Sea, where the French influence (mainly through colonisation) has been sufficient. A mix of XVII th century French vocabulary and Western African syntax, with elements from Native American cultures, and others of Anglo-Saxon or Hispanic origin, it appears with several forms :
- In the French Departments of Martinique, Guadeloupe and Guiana, as the popular language, used in alternance with French. - In Haïti (formerly French Saint Domingue), as the mother tongue of more than 8 million people. - In English speaking Saint Lucia and Dominica, the closest neighbours of Martinique and Guadeloupe, which alternatively belonged to France and Great Britain. - In Louisiana, a former French territory that used to exchange with the French West Indies.
According to the word of Milan KUNDERA, 'Creole is the latest Roman language'. Its birth takes place during the shaping of a violent civilisationnal process mixing elements from Europe, Africa, America, and later Asia. Creole is the bitter-sweet result of the colonial era.
The same process gave similar results (although sounding different) in Brazil, in Jamaica, in Curacao. English, Spanish or Dutch language also have creole 'sons' in the Caribean world, like papamiento or other pidgins.
The Africans brought to West Indies were separated from their ethnic relatives, in order to prevent conspiracies. Facing the necessity to communicate with each other, they invented a new language, with some elements of French vocabulary and an African syntax (conjugation of verbs with prefixes like KA, KE...). Time would shape Creole according to the culture progressively emerging from the context. Having a relatively poor vocabulary (to express abstract concepts, for example) French Creole, when spoken, is rich with images and humor, that give it its colour and deepness.
Creole is quite easy to learn or understand (with some French language notions), but more difficult to master, since a long practice is necessary.
A FEW BASES
1 - The subject
Me = MWEN You = OU He / She / it = I (and LI for his, her, or its)
We = NOU You = ZOT They = YO
2 - Conjugation
Creole conjugation is based on prefixes.
Present = KA Past perfect = no prefix Imperfect = TE KA Pluperfect = TE Future = KE Conditional = TE KE
Other verbs have a specific conjugation
SE = To be, is used without any prefix, and becomes TE for the past and KE for the future NI = To have, used without any prefix for the Present
3 - Vocabulary
Most of the vocabulary of French Creole comes from French (sometimes old French). With a little bit of practice, the words can be understood by people having a good knowledge of French. Phonetically, they are simplifications of French word, with some evolutions that are sometimes systematic : I for U, E for EUR.
As far as spelling is concerned ... things are more complicated. The universitarian conventions slowly spread among the West Indian community. Creole being mostly an oral language, the problem is still more theorical than practical (except for the few communication in Creole on the NET !).
A FEW SENTENCES
Polo ni an bel loto : Polo has got a beautiful car Mariz ka domi an kay-li : Maryse is sleeping in her house. Polo fè an laksidan. Loto-i krasé : Polo had an accident. His car is crashed. Boug-la ni chans, i pa ni ayen : The guy is lucky. He doesn't have anything (He is safe). Lè i ké ni lajan, i ké achté an moto : When he has money, he will buy a motorbike. Nou wè Mariz ki té ka dansé épi Polo : We saw Maryse dancing with Polo. Aprésan, zot wè ki kréyol fasil pou palé : Now, you have seen that Creole is easy to speak (isn't it ???)
THE SOUL OF CREOLE LANGUAGE
It is through oral literature that Creole gives its best. Songs, stories mixing european and african legends, jokes and riddles express the everyday life. Images are often funny, strong, both simple and complex. Songs, proverbs and stories, a mix of fairy tales and African stories including animals such as the Rabbit (think of Uncle Remus!) are among the best expressions of the Creole soul.
Creole is definitely a living language. It was created and developped far from libraries and intellectual clubs. Men playing dominos after a hard day in the cane fields or the sugar factories, women combing their daugthers and telling them about family, old time songs and everyday life gave birth to an image full language.
Proverbs are a genuine expression of the creole soul.
The cardinal Richelieu, in the name of king Louis XIII, created the COMPAGNIE DES ISLES D'AMERIQUE (Company of Isles of America) ( 1635-1650 ) to colonize the islands of the Lesser Antilles. The actual conquest of Martinique began with the arrival of a French adventurer, Pierre Belain d' Esnambuc,on September 15th, 1635. In 1550, the sugar cane had already become the only culture of the islands.The first meetings between the Caribs and the French were rather cordial.However as the Caribs were gradually deprived of their lands,they decided to rebel against the French. After several years of conflicts,the French under the rule of Beausoleil eventually chased away the Caribs of Martinique in 1658 .The latter took refuge in the island of Dominica and Saint Vincent.
The beginning of the XIXème century is characterized by an increasing agitation, the revolts of slaves, multiplying in Martinique: 1811 in Saint Pierre, 1822 in Carbet... Insurrection of 1831 in Saint Pierre, February 9 and 10, fact of many victims. The abolition of slavery in the English colonies, in 1833 accentuates the claim of freedom, while the free trade movement in France, directed by Victor SCHOELCHER, exerts an increasing pressure on the authorities. 1848 - The Revolution of Mars 1848, leading to the inversion of Louis Philippe and the introduction of IIème Republic, is not without echoes in the Antilles. The hope comes owing to the fact that Victor SCHOELCHER is named Ministre for the Colonies. As of April, the demonstrations of slaves make reign an insurrectionary climate. Waiting of the proclamation of the stamping from all the slaves put an end to work on the plantations and upset the relations. Thus, when May 20, on dwelling of Saint-Pierre, slave ROMAIN, which plays of the drum to accompany his/her comrades who grate the manioc, in spite of formal prohibition by the geror, is imprisoned, it is the riot. A demonstration around the prison of Pierre Saint makes it release the 21. Of return of the city, a group come from the Preacher, locality in the North of Pierre Saint is taken in a ambush assembled by a grower. Twenty five people are killed, which starts a generalized insurrection. Newcomer of Extremely-Of-France, administrative capital, Governor ROSTOLAN is constrained by a crowd determined to on proclaim May 22 the abolition of slavery. The things occur in a similar way to the Guadeloupe, May 27. The symbolic system of May 22, 1848 is strong. Indeed, the decree of Victor SCHOELCHER, April 27 in Paris, is not directly at the origin of the end of the mode of slavery. This one resulting well from the direct action of the slaves who conquered their freedom instead of waiting until it is granted to them. The events of May 1848 are in particular reported in Texaco, of Patrick CHAMOISEAU.
(Photos taken by Maithé)
Plantations : "Prisons without wall, odious manufactures producing of the tobacco, the coffee, sugar, and consuming slaves." 
With the origin of the slave system
At the beginning of colonization, the colonists having obtained a small concession are made help by "volunteers" come from France, to clear and emphasize their grounds. They plant initially pétun (tobacco) then indigo. Cultures which require little labour and are of a good output. With the discovery of the manufactoring process of sugar, any change in a few decades. Sugar is at the time, the most remunerative of all the products of export. Its production excites all covetousnesses. The rich person colonists, the flibustiers nouveau riches and even the religious orders, crammed by the hope of enormous profits, launch out in the adventure and build sugar plantations with turn of arm. More than one hundred in less than 30 years (1660-1690). The investment is heavy. The sugar plantation is not satisfied to exploit vast fields of canes, it is also a true preindustrial establishment, very advances some over its time. The cane, cut once, not supporting transport, all the production process must be carried out on the spot. The mills to extract the juice, the boilers to crystallize sugar, the additional buildings, are built in the heart even property. The trouble, it is that one needs arms to make function the whole. The "volunteers" are not enough numerous. The governor of the island tries well to make some come in greater number of France, going even until obtaining that condemned or beggars are sent to him, but the newcomers being far from being enough with the task, another solution should soon be considered. It is thus, which taking as a starting point the the model of the Spanish plantations, the growers from Martinique will call upon slavery. The first slaves are bought to Dutch traffickers or English who practise the draft of the blacks and pour their human cargoes on the quays of Saint-Pierre. But the growers are always far from the account. the lifespan of a slave seldom exceeding 25 years, they must be ensured of a constant renewal. The kingdom of France smelling the good bargain authorizes and encourages the installation of a circuit of draft between the coasts of Africa and those of Martinique. French ships start to make the shuttle, and in less than 100 years, more than 100 000 African are off-set on the island. Their work, their sufferings, their deaths will enrich the growers and will do of Martinique one of the most advantageous French possession. Whole cities of the Atlantic coast, Nantes and Bordeaux... theirs owe their prosperity, and at the time of Louis XIV, nearly 400 000 people live in France with the commercial with the Antilles and the draft of the blacks.
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