Atlantic connections

This dissertation is an analysis of the slave trade to Jamaica between 1775 and 1807. It sketches a historical portrait of the experiences of African men, women, and children who were forcibly transported to Jamaica during this period. This work examines the dynamics that influenced, not only Jamaican demand for enslaved labour, but also African supply mechanisms and how the interplay of demand and supply shaped the demographic contours of the trans-Atlantic slave trade to the island. It argues that individual histories of the enslaved prior to their arrival to the island (i.e. in Africa) shaped both African expectations of and African responses to the realities of slavery in Jamaica. These individual histories were shaped by the age, sex, ethnic background, and socio-economic status of the enslaved brought to the island.