Area of Research To what extent were the planters in the British West Indies able to manage their plantation to maximize efficiency and profitability up to 1838? Rational Essay In the British West Indies, there was a great demand for sugar as during the Mid 18th Century Sugar Revolution. The planters had derived many different strategies to maximize the efficiency and profitability of their plantation, such as the division of land, the layout of the plantation, the division of labor, the organization of buildings, the regular importation of slaves and the location the plantation.

The planters also tried to maximize the efficiency and profitability of their plantation by laying out the plantation in a specific way. Usually the plantation would be divided into three sections, where each section was separated and used for different purposes. One third of this land in the sugar plantation was used for sugar production. Sugar was not an exhausting crop so the land could be used for a long period of time. Another third of the land was used for planting food crops such as plantains, cassava, yams and fruit.

The final third of the plantation was used for the woodland and were used for some slave huts. The woodland was used to provide timber for the buildings and firewood for furnaces. The slaves lived in a village which was separate from the other plantation because the whites did not want to be constantly reminded of hoe unpleasant slaves were. Their Village’ consisted of slave huts which were made by the slaves themselves using timber or mud-and-wattle. The slaves were required to have provision ground of their own where they can plant food crops and make money from selling them at the market.

The provision grounds were not located next to the huts but were placed in the less fertile parts of the plantation. By laying out the plantation in this way, the planters managed the efficiency and by extension the profitability of their plantation. Figure 1 Another way to maximize profitability and efficiency of the plantation is by the layout of the plantation buildings. Two of the main buildings involved in the sugar production process were the boiling, the mill and curing house, which was usually located centrally on the estate. These buildings were essential to production so they were usually constructed first.

Figure 2 The planters invested in building the Great house. The bottom half of this Great House was made of stone and the planters used it as storage, storm cellars and as a stronghold in case of a slave revolt. The living part, however, was made of wood and had one large hall, as a dining room, sitting room, office and banquet hall. The positioning tot the Great House snowed the plan e t or’s desire tort comfort but it also showed their fear of the slaves. The Great House stood on a hill about one kilometer away from the heat and noise of the plantation.

The planters and their family members can use the verandah to relax but they can also use it to keep a close eye n the slaves. For extra safety, some planters built their home in the centre of the plantation. Figure 3 The slave huts were built with wattle and thatch were very small and had only one room, one door and one window. The planters preferred that the slaves did all their domestic work outside so that they would be in plain sight of them. Figure 4 The planters used the division of labor to maximize profitability and the efficiency of their plantation.

The whites were responsible for administrating punishment, planning work and supervising the work done by laborers. The whites ere responsible for controlling the slaves and to do so they enforced different laws. The whites would sound an alarm every morning to start the days work and one at the end of the day. This was a good way to ensure that all slaves were working on the plantation when they were needed. Planters now ‘owned’ the slaves so they felt they had complete power over them. Laws stated that white men and women were allowed to punish the slaves and control all of their physical needs.

Another way for the whites to strengthen their domination was to make the slaves feel inferior to them. The planters ensured that a slave could not leave the plantation without a ticket and the slaves also needed the permission of the planter to purchase land. According to the text Liberties Lost, written by, Hilary Mac Buckles and Verne A Shepherd, the slave laws were designed to degrade black people as humans and to protect white privileges. The slaves were divided into three groups, domestic, skilled and the field slaves.

The white indentured slaves worked in and around the Great House. They were butlers, cooks, house cleaners, washer women and seam- stresses. They were considered to be privileged because they were better fed and reseed. In the text Liberties Lost, written by Hilary Mac Buckles and Overnice A Shepherd, Barry Wightman stated that 70 per cent of all domestic slaves in the plantation households were females. The skilled slaves worked as distillers, tailors, craftsmen and black smith and the highly skilled slaves were involved in the processing of sugar cane into sugar.

Figure 5 The field slaves were considered to be the lowest of all three types. According to the text Pre- Emancipation History of West Indies, written by Isaac Deckhand, the field slaves were divided into three gangs according to their strength and ability. The first gang consisted of the strongest men and women and they were responsible for cleaning the land, holing, digging drains, planting, cutting and milling of cane. The second gang consisted of the older slaves, young boys and girls and pregnant They were responsible tort much lighter work like weeding. The third and women. IANAL gang consisted of children who were responsible for collecting pig good, weeding, carrying firewood and sweep. The field slaves, even though considered to be the lowest gang, were the most important of the three groups because they did most of the work in the sugar production process. According to the text Liberties Lost, written by Hilary Mac Buckles and Verne A Shepherd, the field gangs made up 70 per cent of the enslaved on an estate. Figure 6 To ensure that maximum profitability is obtained there was a regular importation of slaves through the Trans-Atlantic Trade.

A major reason for the regular importation was due to the harsh conditions faced by the slaves. Many slaves died due to poor living conditions, diseases such as yellow fever. Planters needed to get more laborers as those died. Another reason was because the demand for sugar increased in Europe. The slaves were imported from West Africa because Africans were accustomed to the climate in the Caribbean and they also did agriculture in Africa. The slaves endured many hardships in their Journey from West Africa to the Caribbean.

This Journey was called the middle passage and the slaves were left bundled below deck and would only be allowed to come on deck when supervised. They were given very little space on these ships and due to poor sanitation, many of the slaves died due to diseases such as dysentery and malaria. In the text, Liberties Lost, written by Hilary Mac Buckles and Verne A Shepherd, some 10 per cent of the Africans dies before they arrived in the New World due to the harsh conditions of The Middle Passage.

Figure 7 Another way in which the planters sort to maximize the efficiency and profitability of their plantation was by the location of the plantation. The plantation was located on flat lands, usually near sea ports. This was for the convince of easier transport to and from the port after trade. This would eventually maximize their profitability and efficiency because it would cost a lot less to transport goods to from sea ports. Planters in the British West Indies would have been able to maximize efficiency ND profitability in sugar production with the help of the points mentioned above.