Searching For Bussa: An African Slave And A Barbados Hero

Submitted by Yardbroom

Bussa Statue

We know of Bussa as a Barbados “hero” an accolade bestowed on only a select few of our sons/daughters.  A statue  to represent him in all its nakedness and strength, has been erected on the busy Haggatt Hall highway in Barbados, to remind us of our past.

What do we know of Bussa?  It is well documented that he was of African lineage and it is also believed he came to Barbados as an adult slave.  He led a slave rebellion in 1816 at Bayleys Plantation in the parish of St Philip and was killed in the ensuing battle.  He like some of those who were involved in the rebellion paid the ultimate price for the insurrection.  Bussa’s life post the slave rebellion is part of Barbados’ history but I will – with  much conjecture – in this short submission retrace his steps before Barbados.  A tall order because of the lack of specific information that relates directly to Bussa.

It is best to tell you where I am heading, before you are taken on this short journey.  I believe he, “Bussa” came from the village of Bussa which is between Birni Yauri and Jessao on the Niger River.  Before you ask.  It is not simply a matter of choosing a place in Africa with the name of Bussa and supposing he came from there.  So a few feasible pointers are required to support my conjecture.

Little England: A Brief Socio-Political History (II)

Submitted by Looking Glass

 

Barbados was ‘built’ on agriculture. The early settlers grew crops for food, cotton, indigo and tobacco which were exported to England in exchange for items needed. They imported English ‘bondsmen” (indentures) to do the slave labour. By the 1640s the island with its Dutch style red-roof houses set among spacious parks and clean streets with churches at the crossroads was thought to be a delightful place to live. Stores sold products supplied by the Dutch after an English law obligated settlers to trade only with English firms who in turn decided on the prices to be paid. As the Merrymen reminded us Beautiful Barbados was and remains “the Gem of the Caribbean” and a delightful place to live. Please preserve it. In 1645 Thomas Oldmixin introduced a new settler to Bridgetown then asked: “have you ever seen a better island than this….My friend, this is Little England, and some of us believe it is better than the big one.” The pseudonym lingers today.

Early soil depletion and growing inability to compete in quality and quantity with crops grown in Virginia, Carolina and Georgialed to the introduction of sugar by Oldmixin and with it the increased demand of slave labour. By 1700Barbadoswas by far the largest and best sugar producer. In 1732 Samuel Trevelyan (Trevelyan plantation in Jamaica) visited Oldmixin who had the most profitable sugar business to find out the secrets. But Oldmixin would not divulge them. Later Ned Pennyfeather, owner of the Giralda Inn in the city, directed Samuel to Sir Isaac Tatum who provided the information.

By 1800 Blacks far outnumbered whites and continued to increase by black reproduction (those born locally) much more so than by the importation of slaves. Of course slavery and the sins associated with it continued. But contrary to popular opinion not all slave owners/masters treated their slaves badly. Some gave slaves their freedom long before the abolishment, some recognized their black offspring, and a few of their immediate offspring took black (coloured) wives. Some even passed on part of their wealth to their black offspring.

• Related Link: Little England: A Brief Socio-Political History (1)

Little England: A Brief Socio-Political History (1)

Submitted by Looking Glass

Contrary to some beliefBarbados was not discovered byColumbus, nor was it ever owned and or control by the Portuguese. It was first discovered by an English trader in 1625. Except for a handful of Arawak Indians who had fled the Caribs ravage ofDominica and Amerindians it was unpopulated. By the time settlement of the island began in1627 the Arawaks had migrated toGuyana or had died out. Settlement was financed by private English capital and with the blessing of the Crown. By the 1630s the island had been settled by English settlers and English indentures. They grew food and products like cotton, indigo and tobacco for export toEngland andAmerica. The first slaves were not black but white indentures (the legal name) from the motherland who after five years of servitude were each given 5 acres of land (Drax Hall) and their freedom.

The slave trade wasn’t planned but started by accident. The first blacks arrived in the early 1630s when a British ship with indentures bound for the island encountered a Portuguese slaver, attacked it and found a cargo of 8 slaves who were sold in the city of Bridgetown. Eventually the Dutch ship captains bought camels and black slaves from their brethren in Africa for as little as $9.0 and sold them for up to $30.0 in Bridgetown. Thomas Oldmixin a wealthy tobacco farmer bought three of the first eight and his former indenture, John Tatum bought one. The two men along with Tatum two sons Will and Isaac would become very prominent in the political development of the country.