Prince Klaas, leader of the supposed slave rebellion on Antigua, on the wheel.
Not every slave shipped to the New World from Africa ended up in the Deep South of the United States. In fact, well over 95% of those who made the journey found themselves in the Caribbean or Brazil, where most were set to doing hard labour on sugar plantations. Conditions were brutal; the Caribbean islands in particular were riddled with disease, and mortality rates were vastly higher there than they were in the US.
This week’s Smithsonian essay takes a look at slavery on the British island of Antigua – and at one slave who decided to do something about it. It’s the vexed tale of inhuman cruelty, of the foundation stone of Britain’s wealth – and of a strange rebellion that bore more than a passing resemblance to the infamous Gunpowder Plot, and which may or may not have had much basis in reality.
