Introduction
The documentation of slavery in Barbados offers a profound insight regarding the contrast between morality, Christianity, and capitalistic influence. The Portrait of Barbados focuses on Richard Ligon’s testimony concerning servitude due to the high demand for labor in the plantations. Ligon’s (1657) accounts demonstrate a significant margin in lifestyle quotient between the servants, enslaved people, and masters. On the one hand, the slaves, mainly Africans, worked in the plantations and encountered poor treatment. On the other hand, the servants, mostly of mixed origins, overworked in the households to ensure the comfort of the master. The core simulacrum of the Barbados society in 1600 enshrined the classification of necessary human rights based on ethnic affiliations among personnel.
Discussion
The core foundation of economic prosperity in Barbados during the 1600s encapsulated a redefinition of relationships among personalities. Ligon (1657) stipulates that he escaped from the turmoil in England after the civil war to seek fortunes abroad and arrived in Barbados in 1647 and 1650 as an explorer. Despite the hurdles Ligon encounters involving illness in Barbados, forcing his deportation to England and incarceration, he scripts a proficient insight into tropical plantation societal emergence in 1657. Transcendentally, a significant percentage of masters owning plantations entailed the Britons. Over the decades, the property valuation index differentiated to the point of contradiction between servants and slaves. Ligon (1657) establishes that the masters optimally valued slaves on account of lifetime longevity of ownership against the five years for the servants. As a result, the slaves experienced better treatment than servants due to the accrued benefits to the master.
During the 1600s, a noteworthy populace sought quality materials for production and manufacturing in the enterprise sector. Ligon (1657) articulates that in frequent incidences, he witnessed dismal and inhumane treatment towards the slaves to ensure optimal performance on output scalability. In one of the incidences, the overseer adroitly beats a male slave’s head, leading to profuse bleeding. The core mandate among the slaves enshrined coordinating each other to enhance competence on yielding and profitability for the masters. A positive result from their efforts meant consistent rewards, meal privileges, and the master purchasing more wives for the male slaves. In a different spectrum, the servants encountered dexterous employment status. An excellent example is the denial of meal perks, mainly meat. The masters argued that due to the short-term ownership of servants, the prioritization aligned with the slaves for longer and beneficial associations.
During the slavery period, the majority of plantation owners professed Christian beliefs and practices. Ligon (1657) attests that loyal slaves and servants attained the civil liberty to participate in Christianity to seek salvation. However, the slaves evidently showed pride in ethnic traditions, mainly the musical culture. Ideally, the core indicator of unity among the slaves engulfed sharing conventional cultural beliefs to affirm the social identity against Christianity. Further, Ligon (1657) articulates that the musical elements among the African slaves proved entertaining and engaging. Primarily, the foundation of the Barbados plantation society featured a multidimensional phenomenon improving self-realization and awareness.
Conclusion
Consequently, the portrait of Barbados optimally influences the interpretation of historical constructs on slavery and socio-economic development. Despite the inhumane treatment among the servants and slaves, individualism fostered cultural diversity and value exchange. Fundamentally, the constitution of Barbados’s societal framework emanates from the involvement of servants, slaves, and masters in relationship building, economic improvement, and the determination of social justice. It is the key responsibility of relevant stakeholders to develop institutions that enhance social identity based on identifying sociocultural practices and principles of individualism within the religiosity concept.
Reference
Ligon, R. (1657). Chapter 10: The west Indies. In A true and exact history of the island of Barbados. pp. 171-179.