King Sugar

The Caribbean islands, the Cockpit of Europe; where most of Europeans sought out power and fought in wars for dominance over their territories. The Cockpit of the Caribbean, where average white Europeans were enslaved in the midst as cocks and eventually cock fighters; Slave trade was about economics and not race. Invented by the Europeans with absolute power, for their own greed, and of course with war.

Gold, sugar, slaves was the Caribbean trinity represented an enormous accession of wealth and power, and with that greed throughout Europe (Williams 69). As the greed for the Caribbean islands intensified, war was an effect. As stated in our lecture Slavery was usually a result of war, a defeated enemy was understood to be subject to a portion of the defeated population being taken as slaves. War among France, England, Spain, in addition to other nations. War was inevitable, most if not all of Europe wanted the Caribbean; neither would renounce nor share and there was not enough room for France or Britain, let alone all of Europe; war was the result. With war there were losses and enslavement of the average European, whether he be a French, Spaniard, or British man. The Europeans invaded the Caribbean and destroyed the land and their people to the point of extinction. Thus, they turned to average citizens of their own nations to work the hard labor on the fertile land (Williams 95).

The period during European colonization of the Caribbean, thousands of European workers were condemned to involuntary slavery as punishment for their debts or their rebellion against the king. Since the Black Plague epidemic, average white Europeans were sought out to the islands for involuntary labor. This system known as an indenture, a legal and...

... middle of paper ...

...ated inhumanely, rather their masters were obligated to treat their slaves with respect and have the same basic rights as their citizens. Although that may be the case, it goes to show with Du Tertre’s writings that all masters were not abided to the rules, more precisely Kings. However with indenture slavery and their perks of eventually becoming, masters themselves, over time this led to conflict between colonies and their mother countries because the colonies began to see themselves as independent.

Race is not a factor that explains European behavior; of power, greed, and enslavement; it was a system invented with rules and conventions that most at the time would say were benefitted and/or tolerated. This is what I thoroughly understood throughout the course and it is why I believe that average white Europeans were cocks/slaves, as well as cock fighters/masters.