Page 7 - Bulletin 16 2012

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1907. Until that time local production was confined largely to meat, vegetables and fruit,

in addition to water.

Jamestown, on the north shore, is the only town and capital of the Island (Figs. 1.2 - 1.3):

“On rounding to the leeward of the island, James Town is descried, literally built in a
deep chasm of the rock of width sufficient only to admit of a few streets, which the
reflected rays of a vertical sun would render insufferably hot did not the south-east wind
blow steadily down this aperture at all seasons of the year …. The town contains but one
principal street, about a quarter of a mile in length, and has nothing to attract attention:
the houses are low, and built upon a small contracted English scale, and are by no means
so well adapted to the climate as the cool brick floors and roomy apartments of the Cape-
houses. The station is not healthy, and though less disease prevails than formerly,
dysentery carries off great numbers at the approach of the rainy season …..”

Anon., 1821: 187-188.

From the earliest years of settlement, slaves formed part of the population until their

importation to the Island was outlawed in 1792 and full freedom was granted in 1833.
They worked primarily on the Company’s plantation. It seems they were not easy to

obtain and a variety of sources were used: the Cape Verde Islands, India, Barbados, and
the Gold Coast from all of which they were brought in small groups of 10 - 12.

Sometimes Madagascan slave ships, calling for refreshments, exchanged a certain

number of slaves for the required provisions. Indentured labourers were also part of the
work force, their labour service repaying their passage costs. In 1810, 650 indentured

Chinese labourers were brought from Canton; during the mid-nineteenth century some
African slaves freed from slave ships intercepted by the Royal Navy remained on the

Island while others, after being quartered at Rupert’s Valley, went on to the West Indies

as indentured labour.

A census in 1722 showed a total population of 924 comprising 500 ‘English’ (including
120 military), and 424 Black slaves (including 18 ‘Free Blacks’). (Royle, 2007: Appendix

3, Table 3.1.) From this mixture of backgrounds the people of the Island were formed
over subsequent decades and centuries.