Colonialism and Migration; Indentured Labour Before and After Slavery

299 Pages·1986·17.99 MB·English

by  Ernst Van Den Boogaart

COLONIALISM AND MIGRATION
COMPARATIVE STUDIES IN OVERSEAS HISTORY
PUBLICATIONS OF THE LEIDEN CENTRE
FOR THE HISTORY OF EUROPEAN EXPANSION
Vol. 1 - H.L. WESSELING (ed), Expansion and Reaction
Essays on European Expansion and Reactions in Asia and Africa, by F. Braudel, H. Brunschwig,
S.N. Eisenstadt, J.C. Heesterman, J.L. Miege, R. Robinson, I. SchOffer, H.L. Wesseling, and E.
Ziircher.
ISBN-13:978-94-010-8436-9
Vol. 2 - P.C. EMMER and H.L. WESSELING (eds), Reappraisals in Overseas History
Essays on Post-war Historiography about European Expansion, by C. Bayly, H. Bley, L. Blusse, H.
Brunschwig, A. Hopkins, J.L. Miege, N. Steensgaard, J. Stengers, H.L. Wesseling, and G.D.
Winius.
Hardcover ISBN-I3:978-94-010-8436-9; Paperback ISBN-I3:978-94-010-8436-9
Vol. 3 - L. BLUSSE and F. GAASTRA (eds), Companies and Trade
Essays on Overseas Trading Companies during the Ancien Regime, by P .H. Boulle, K.N. Chaudhuri,
P.C. Emmer, O. Feldbaek, F. Gaastra, A.H. de Groot, E. Kato, P.W. Klein, D. Lombard, O.
Prakash, E. Schmitt, N. Steensgaard, and G.D. Winius.
ISBN-13:978-94-010-8436-9
Vol. 4 - R. ROSS (ed), Racism and Colonialism
Essays on Ideology and Social Structure, by D. van Arke1, R.F. Betts, E. van den Boogaart, V.A.
February, L. Poliakov, T.O. Ranger, J. Rex, R. Ross, R.T. Smith, and D.A. Washbrook.
ISBN-13:978-94-010-8436-9
Vol. 5 - R. ROSS and GERARD J. TELKAMP (eds), Colonial Cities
Essays on Urbanism in a Colonial Context, by R.F. Betts, L. Blusse, C.G. Clarke, G.A. de Bruijne,
x. Guillaume, M. Karasch, A.D. King, D. Kooiman, P.J. Marshall, J.L. Miege, J.L. Oosterhof, R.
Ross and A.C. van Oss.
ISBN-I3:978-94-010-8436-9
Vol. 6 - C.A. BAYLY and D.H.A. KOLFF (eds), Two Colonial Empires
Comparative Essays on Colonial India and Indonesia, by C.A. Bayly, S. Bayly, Dharma Kumar, C.
Fasseur, J.C. Heesterman, W. R. Hugenholz, M. Kuitenbrouwer, D.H.A. Kolff and F. Robinson.
ISBN-I3:978-94-010-8436-9
Vol. 7 - P.C. EMMER (ed), Colonialism and Migration; Indentured Labour before and after
Slavery
ByE. van den Boogaart, P.C. Emmer, S.L. Engerman, H.A. Gemery, H. Gerbeau. A. Graves, W.A.
Green, F. Mauro, G. Moltmann, M. Schuler and B. H. Slicher van Bath
ISBN-13:978-94-010-8436-9
Subsequent volumes will deal with Colonialism and Labour Migration and Colonial Wars.
COLONIALISM AND
MIGRATION; INDENTURED
LABOUR BEFORE AND
AFTER SLAVERY
edited by
p.e. EMMER
Contributions by E. van den Boogaart,
P.C. Emmer, S.L. Engerman, H.A. Gemery,
H. Gerbeau, A. Graves, W.A. Green, F. Mauro,
G. Moitmann, M. Schuler and B.H. Slicher von Bath
1986 MARTINUS NIJHOFF PUBLISHERS ...
a member of the KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS GROUP _
DORDRECHT / BOSTON / LANCASTER .....-
Distributors
jor the United States and Canada: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 190 Old Derby
Street, Hingham, MA 02043, USA
jor the UK and Ireland: Kluwer Academic Publishers, MTP Press Limited,
Falcon House, Queen Square, Lancaster LAI lRN, UK
jor all other countries: Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, Distribution Center,
P.O. Box 322, 3300 AH Dordrecht, The Netherlands
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Colonialism and migration.
(Comparative studies in overseas history; 7)
Bibliography: p.
1. Indentured servants--America--History-
Congresses. 2. America--Emigration and immigration-
History--Congresses. 3. America--Population--History-
Congresses. 4. Labor supply--America--History-
Congresses. I. Emmer, P. C. II. Series: Comparative
studies in overseas history; v. 7.
HD4875.A837C65 1986 331.11 '73 85-21809
ISBN-13:978-94-010-8436-9 e-ISBN-13:978-94-009-4354-4
DOl: 10.1007/978-94-009-4354-4
Copyright
© 1986 by Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1986
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of
the publishers,
Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, P.O. Box 163, 3300 AD Dordrecht,
The Netherlands.
Contents
PART I: Introduction
I. E. VAN DEN BOOGAART and P.C. EMMER, Colonialism and
Migration: an Overview 3
PART II: European Indentured Migration to the New World
2. B.H. SLICHER VAN BATH, The Absence of White Contract La-
bour in Spanish America during the Colonial Period 19
3. HENRY A. GEMERY, Markets for Migrants: English Indentured
Servitude and Emigration in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Cen-
turies 33
4. ERNST V AN DEN BOOGAART, The Servant Migration to New
Netherland, 1624-1664 55
5. FREDERIC MAURO, French Indentured Servants for America,
1500-1800 83
6. GUNTER MOLTMANN, The Migration of German Redemptioners
to North America, 1720-1820 105
PART III: Indentured Migration after Slavery
7. MONICA SCHULER, The Recruitment of African Indentured La-
bourers for European Colonies in the Nineteenth Century 125
8. WILLIAM A. GREEN, Plantation Society and Indentured Labour:
the Jamaican Case, 1834-1865 163
9. P. C. EMMER, The Meek Hindu: The Recruitment of Indian La-
bourers for Service Overseas, 1870--1916 187
10. HUBERT GERBEAU, Engagees and Coolies on Reunion Island:
Slavery's Masks and Freedom's Constraints 209
]I. ADRIAN GRAVES, Colonialism and Indentured Labour Migration
in the Western Pacific, 1840-1915 237
VI
PART IV: A Comparison: Indentured Labour Before and After Slavery
12. STANLEY L. ENGERMAN, Servants to Slaves to Servants: Con
tract Labour and European Expansion 263
Notes on the Contributors 295
Index 297
Part One
Introduction
3
1. Colonialism and migration: an overview
by
E. VAN DEN BOOGAART and P.c. EMMER
I
European commercial and colonial expansion created the demand for interconti
nental migration via the sea routes. The most important stream went from the
Old World (Europe and Africa) to the New World: America. This continued to
be the case, even after the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century,
when most colonies on the continent of America had detached themselves from
their parent countries. In addition, a stream of migrants between Asia and
America came then into being. The intercontinental migrations within the Old
World, directly connected with European expansion, were small compared to the
mainstream to the Americas. Within all these streams of migration there were
considerable changes in the ethnic composition and social status of the migrant
population from the 16th century onward to some time into the 20th century.
Only the minority of the approximately 10 million migrants who were brought
over from Europe and Africa to the Americas between 1492 and 1820, were
conquerors, managers, missionaries, merchants, craftsmen or farmers who could
set themselves up in business. Most of them were labourers, destined for planta
tions in tropical and subtropical America. Ofthese, the majority by far consisted
of the approximately 8 million African slaves; roughly 25% to 30% of the 2
million European migrants are also referred to as 'bonded labour': indentured
servants, engages and redemptioners. It must immediately be added that there is
increasing doubt as to whether it is correct to put these two kinds of 'unfreedom'
under one heading!.
In comparison with the emigration to the New World, it is somewhat warped to
speak of European emigration to Asia and Africa. In fact, the majority of
Europeans set off for African and Asian trading posts, firmly resolved to return
again after a few years. Many managed to do this, but many more died in the
countries abroad or established themselves overseas. For example, against the
995,000 who departed on the ships of the Dutch East India Company between
1602 and 1795, there were only 379,000 who returned; these included a number,
Emmer P.c. (ed) Colonialism and Migration; Indentured Labour before and after Slavery.
© 1986 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, DordrechtiBoston/Lancaster.
ISBN 90 247 3253 O.
4
which has not yet been estimated, who made the journey more than once. Just as
with the emigrants from Europe to America, there existed a nett outflow to Asia2•
Moreover, the sailors and soldiers of the Companies trading with Asia (by far the
largest occupational category among the migrants) were recruited from the same
group of unmarried young men with limited work experience, as were the
indentureds and engages destined for America. For that matter, not all in the last
named group intended to emigrate permanently. Seen from the perspective of the
demographic situation and the labour market in Western Europe, we are con
cerned here with closely related migratory movements.
At present, quantitative information about the nett outflow from Europe to
Africa and Asia via the overseas trading routes is only available for the Dutch
East India Company. These figures make one suspect that the joint Portuguese,
Dutch, English and French nett outflow between 1500 and 1821 possibly totalled 2
million people, and therefore it might have been of the same order as the outflow
from Europe to America. Alongside European-Asiatic migration, trading com
panies were responsible for a migration stream of Asian and African slaves to
their trading posts and to the Cape Colony'. The scanty facts that are known to us
create the impression that this was a matter of some hundred thousand people in
the above-mentioned three centuries. In contradistinction with the migration
streams between the Old and the New World, the contribution of free, white
labour dominated in the migration streams within the Old World, which were
caused by Western European commercial expansion.
Between 1821 and 1920, the Western hemisphere continued to attract by far the
greatest number of migrants. Approximately 41 million Europeans went to the
independent republics on the continent of America (at least 33 million to the
United States), while 2 million African slaves and rather less than 1 million Asian
contract workers were shipped to the American plantation islands and coastal
areas, which were mostly still European colonies. In contrast with the period
before 1800, the majority of emigrants to America were now Europeans and free
wage-earners4•
It is more difficult to find exact figures for migration between parts of the Old
World, directly connected with Western European colonization after 1800. It
seems that, between 1800 and 1920, approximately 1 million people departed from
Europe to Africa, primarily North and South Africa, and two to three million to
the South Asiatic and Pacific colonies. The internal Asiatic migrations of contract
workers under European - and later also North American - supervision, such as
those from the Pacific Islands to Australia, from the British East Indies to
Malacca and from China and Japan to Hawaii seem to have comprised approx
imately 500,000 people. The principal Asiatic-African streams of contract work
ers went from the British East Indies and China to Mauritius and Reunion