The Plantation Slaves of Trinidad, 1783–1816
A Mathematical and Demographic Enquiry

This book aims to estimate the levels of plantation slave mortality and fertility in Trinidad.

A. Meredith John (Author)

9780521361668, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 January 1989

276 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.58 kg

"...useful tables, graphs, detailed notes, and impressive bibliographies...well-written." Latin American Anthropology Review

This study of the slave plantation of Trinidad is based on the Trinidadian slave registration of 1813, 1815, and 1816, when the Registrar of Slaves recorded information on 17,087 plantation slaves. The principal goal of the study is to draw plausible upper and lower bounds on the levels of plantation slave mortality and fertility in Trinidad in the early nineteenth century. The book examines in detail the collection of the slave registration data in 1813 and the ensuing controversy over slave smuggling. Further chapters describe Trinidad's population in 1813, including what little is known about the free population, the methods used in studying the mortality and fertility of the plantation slaves, the findings about plantation slave mortality and a discussion of these findings. The final chapter discusses the conclusions in a wider historical context.

List of figures
List of tables
Preface
1. Introduction
2. Trinidad, 1498–1813
3. The slave registration order
4. The population of Trinidad
5. Plantation slave mortality: methods
6. Plantation slave mortality
7. Plantation slave fertility
8. The plantation slaves of Trinidad
Appendices
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], African history [HBJH]