Year 9 Day 10 History Of Grenada: Part 2
31 January 2016 | Prickly Bay Marina, Grenada
Dave/Mostly Sunny
Yesterday, I presented the first part of the history of Grenada. As you could see, the “ownership” of the island was based on a series of violent takeovers first by the Carib people ousting the Arawaks people in the 13th century only to have the Carib people ousted by the French in the 17th century. The takeovers were brutal with many bloody battles and murders and tortures being common. A typical case of men being cruel to men who hold different values. Some things never change…
The take overs continued but this time it was the British’s turn. Grenada was captured by the British during the Seven Years' War on 4 March 1762 by Commodore Swanton. However, this time with the French being so outnumbered, the takeover was nonviolent as no shots were fired. Grenada was formally ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Paris on 10 February 1763.
In 1766 the island was rocked by a severe earthquake that had as its epicenter at a location near Antiqua. It had a magnitude greater than 8. Most masonry buildings were totally destroyed on the island and the island’s economy was severely impacted as islanders struggled to survive. To get an idea of the devastation that such an earthquake could cause back in this era, you can read the account of the 1690 earthquake which had a similar magnitude and epicenter by clicking on this hyperlink http://www.uwiseismic.com/Downloads/EqEC_1690_document.pd
The result of the poor conditions on Grenada caused by the earthquake, in turn, led to a bloody slave uprising in 1767. It was successfully put down. In 1771 and again in 1775 the town of St. George, which was constructed solely of wood, was burnt to the ground - after which it was rebuilt using stone and brick. This was a hard time for those who lived on the island.
During a portion of the American Revolutionary War the French were able to return to Grenada in force resulting in the capitulation of the few British forces stationed there. A British relief force was defeated in the naval Battle of Grenada on 6 July 1779. However, the Treaty of Versailles in 1783 restored the island to the British crown.
What followed was a time of prosperity which saw the expansion of sugar and cotton plantation growing rapidly. The dark side of this prosperity was the fact that what accounted for the growth in economic conditions on the island was the rapid increase of slaves to work the plantations. In fact, Grenada became a major location where the slave ships arriving from Africa would stop to sell their human cargo. Between 1784 and 1792 Grenada imported over 13,500 slaves and exported over 31,000 more to the other islands and into the United States.
The rather prejudicial rule of the British, who were still stinging from the loss of the American colonies with the French’s help, resulted in non-British people (e.g., French Catholics, mulattos and free blacks) to be banned from holding a government office, voting and, basically being relegated to a second and third class citizenship. The result of this unwise governance by the British resulted in a slave revolt called Fedon’s Rebellion. Julien Fedon was actually the owner of Belvedere Estate. As you may recall, this was the plantation that Mary Margaret and I explored last week.
Fedon was the son of a French jeweler and a free black former slave and was born in Martinique. The family moved to Grenada in the 1750s, when the island was under French rule. In Grenada, Fedon married Marie Rose Cavelan, a mulatto, in 1787 and they settled on a plantation in Saint John Parish known as the Belvedere Estate. Fedon was appointed commanding general of the French republican forces on Guadeloupe.
Fedon began his revolt in Grenada on the night of March 2, 1795. The purpose of the revolt was to abolish slavery, grant citizenship to former slaves, and overthrow British colonial rule, returning power to the French people. With the help of around 100 freed slaves and mulattoes, Fedon fought against the island's landlords and white British settlers and shop owners.
The rebels' attacks were coordinated against the villages of Grenville and Gouyave. They looted and burned houses and dragged British settlers into the streets to be executed. After returning to the mountains of Belvedere, the rebels joined a large group of slaves who had abandoned the plantations where they worked. In the mountains, Fedon built several fortifications to withstand British attacks.
During the rebellion, about 14,000 of the 28,000 slaves on Grenada at the time were allied to the revolutionary forces; some 7,000 of them were killed. Many French people who had seen Grenada ceded to the British in 1763 joined as well, along with some French Catholics who had been excluded from civil and political rights because of their religion and wanted to oust the British.
On April 8, 1796, a brother of Fedon died in a British attack. To avenge the death of his brother, Fedon ordered the execution of 48 of the 53 prisoners he was holding on the mountain, including Governor Ninian Home.
From their base in the mountains, Fedon’s rebels were able to control the whole island except for St. George Parish, the seat of government. Their attack on St. George failed, and historians consider this the source of the rebellion's eventual defeat. Also, on many occasions, Fedon allowed the British to regroup and gain strength without launching an attack.
The day after the failed attack on St. George, the forces of Fedon were defeated on the steep hills and ridges near Mt. Qua Qua. The few surviving rebels flung themselves down the mountain. Fedon was never captured, and his whereabouts after the revolt are unknown. Some historians believe he tried to flee the island by canoe, which may have sunk.
After the rebellion was put down, the British remained in control of Grenada but tensions remained high until slavery was abolished in 1834. In 1877 Grenada became a Crown Colony, which lasted until 1967 when it became an associated state within the British Commonwealth.
The History of Grenada to be continued tomorrow.