St Vincent in the late 18th century
The Windward islands were a target for European powers who wanted to govern them for commercial advantage.
By 1750s, French settlers were living on parts of St Vincent in reasonably good terms with the indigenous peoples whom the French called the Black Caribs and the Red Caribs.
But Britain and France were at war from 1756-1763, initially in North America but then also in India and the conflict spilled over into the Caribbean. Both countries were looking to enlarge their influence, possessions and trading rights.
In 1762, Britain took control of the French-occupied areas of St Vincent (you can find out more about Rodney who led the expedition in this exhibition:
War and resistance in the Caribbean: The monuments at St Paul's | St Paul's Cathedral )
In 1763, a peace treaty confirmed that St Vincent would stay British, along with Grenada, Dominica and Tobago. In return, the French are given back Guadeloupe, Martinique and St Lucia.
The British create a commission to parcel up the land for sale – as you can see in this map:
Map courtesy of the National Archives of the UK.
The top 1/3 of the island (marked by a red boundary line on the map) were designated as 'Carib Lands', that is to say, the space on the island reserved for the indigenous peoples. Not content with the southern 2/3 of the island, the British increasingly encroached onto the lands held by the indigenous people. The Caribs resisted all infringements on their independence and this led to the First Carib war 1769-73, at the end of which the Carib chief Chatoyer agreed to a fragile truce.
Excerpt of a British map of the 1770s showing place names in the Carib lands - to compare with modern-day St Vincent. Map courtesy of the National Archives of the UK.
During the American revolutionary wars, Britain captured St Lucia and France retook Dominica and St Vincent in 1778 and 1779 but, when the wars ended in 1783, St Vincent was again what Chris Taylor has called a “bargaining chip” in his book The Black Carib Wars: Freedom, Survival, and the Making of the Garifuna (2012).
– Britain got control of St Vincent once more.
When war between Britain and Revolutionary France erupted in 1793, the overseas colonies belonging to Britain, France and their European allies, including the Caribbean, were also dragged into the war.
The indigenous people of St Vincent were mostly inclined to side with the French, who abolished slavery in 1794, than the British who maintained enslaved African Caribbean people on their plantations. The Garifuna chief Chatoyer urged the French on St Vincent to join him and his forces to overthrow the British. His letter can be seen in the below photograph and a transcription of the French and a translation are beneath it.
Image courtesy of the National Archives of the UK.
Au chateau Bel-air le douzieme jour de mars et le premier de notre liberté
Declaration
Quel est le Français qui ne se reunisse à ses frères dans un moment où le cri de la liberté se fait entendre à ceux
Rassemblons nous donc citoiens nos frères a l’entour du drapeau qui flotte dans cette isle, et empressons nous de coopérer au grand œuvre si glorieusement commencé Mais s’il existoit encor des hommes timides, des Français retenu par la crainte, nous leur declarons au nom de la Loi, que ceux qui ne seront pas rassembles dans la journée a l’entour de nous, seront regardés comme traitre a la Patrie, et traités comme Ennemis
Nous leur jurons que le fer et le feu vont être employés contre eux, que nous allons incendier leur biens et que nous egorgerons leur femmes et leur enfans pour anéantir leur Race
Marc ordinaire de Joseph Chatouyé General
At Chateau Bel Air, the 12th March and the first of our freedom
Declaration
Which is the Frenchman who would not join his brothers at a moment when the cry of freedom makes itself heard to them
Let us join together therefore, our brother citizens, around the flag that floats on this island and let us hasten to cooperate on the great work so gloriously started But if there are still timid men, Frenchmen held back by fear, we declare to them in the name of the Law, that those who do not assemble around us in the course of the day will be regarded as traitors to the fatherland and treated as enemies.
We swear to them that the sword and fire will be used against them and that we will set fire to their possessions and cut the throats of their wives and children to annihilate their race.
The ordinary mark of Joseph Chatouyé general
Chatoyer is killed fighting the British in 1795 but resistance on the island only ends after the surrender of French Revolutionary forces led by the Black indigenous general Marinier from St Lucia in June 1796. He and 350 men, women and children are taken to Britain as prisoners of war. The defeat of the French forces on St Lucia the month before (2000 taken prisoner of war) and Grenada leaves the British without opposition. They remove the indigenous Garifuna from St Vincent, holding them first on Baliceaux (one of the Grenadines), where half of those taken there die due to the inhospitable conditions and disease, before the survivors are taken to Roatan off the coast of Honduras.