Caribbean History From
Colonialism to Independence
AM217
David Lambert
Lecture: The Caribbean and
the making of the modern world
Tuesday 26th April,
11am-12pm
The neo-liberal present
• Today, Caribbean states are focused on
attracting foreign investors to generate new
exports
• Origins in debt crisis of 1980s, which left many
Caribbean governments insolvent
• They approached IMF and World Bank for
financial bailouts
• In exchange they had to agree to fiscal
conservatism, privatisation, currency
devaluation, open markets and policies to
promote foreign investment and non-traditional
exports (collectively known as ‘neo-liberalism’)
The Caribbean and the making of
the modern world
1.
2.
3.
4.
Defining and unpacking globalisation
Historical parallels
Historical continuities
Previous rounds of globalisation and their
legacies
Defining globalisation
• The increasing interconnectedness of many
parts of the world over the last 35 years or so
• Increases in the scale, size and speed of
transnational flows
• Globalisation is not the same as cultural
convergence
• Uneven time-space compression
• Advocates, critics and sceptics
• Is globalisation really such a new process?
Unpacking (contemporary)
globalisation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Economic
Technological
Political
Cultural
Ideological
Environmental
Historical globalisation
What features of the history of the Caribbean from
1492 to the mid 20th century relate to these
aspects of globalisation?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Economic
Technological
Political
Cultural
Ideological
Environmental
Globalisation and Caribbean
cultures
During centuries of colonial rule, Caribbean culture
emerged as a unique and distinctive result of the
myriad contributions of a wide range of African and
Asian traditions, West Indian adaptations, and
many foreign influences introduced by Europeans
or picked up during circular migration for work in
other parts of the hemisphere and in Europe…
R. Potter et al., The
Contemporary Caribbean, p. 388.
Historical globalisation
What features of the history of the Caribbean from
1492 to the mid 20th century relate to these
aspects of globalisation?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Economic
Technological
Political
Cultural
Ideological
Environmental
Globalisation case study #1:
Garment industry
• Very globalised industry
• In 1980s, American
TNCs established
factories in Caribbean
• Leading brands (e.g.
Tommy Hilfiger) and
retail companies (e.g.
Wal-Mart)
• Export-processing
zones
Export-processing zones
Export-processing zones
Kingston
Export-processing zones
Caribbean EPZs
• Good transport links
• Low-wage, often female labour
• “Extra-territorial enclaves” – TNCs pay
little or no taxes or duties
• Have declined since creation of NAFTA
trading bloc in 1994
• TNCs have relocated for cheaper labour
(e.g. Mexico)
Export-processing zones:
“Extra-territorial enclaves”
Caribbean EPZs
• Good transport links
• Low-wage, often female labour
• “Extra-territorial enclaves” – TNCs pay
little or no taxes or duties
• Have declined since creation of NAFTA
trading bloc in 1994
• TNCs have relocated for cheaper labour
(e.g. Mexico)
18th century Caribbean
18th century Jamaica
Sugar plantations:
growing sugar cane
Sugar plantations:
making the sugar
Sugar plantations:
African slaves
Triangular trade, 1650-1850
Triangular trade: early globalisation?
19th century steamship lines
20th century airlines
Caribbean banana industry
Overview of the Caribbean
banana industry
• The industry first developed in Jamaica in the 1860s and
1870s, supplying the USA.
• For most of the nineteenth century, it was necessary for
Europeans to go to the Caribbean if they wanted to eat
tropical fruit.
• Late nineteenth-century developments in refrigeration
and canning enabled the mass consumption of bananas
for the first time.
• From the start, there was competition between US and
British interests in Central America and the Caribbean.
• The Windward Islands banana industry developed in the
context of, and relied on, a protected British market.
• Today, more than 5 billion bananas are sold every year
in the UK.
The development of British
Caribbean banana industry
• In the early twentieth century, the British government
became concerned about US influence.
• Britain sought to tackle both issues by encouraging the
development of a commercial banana industry in its
Windward Island colonies in the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s.
• This occurred through preferential tariffs and licences
that limited the importation of ‘dollar bananas’ to Britain,
especially from Latin America.
• This was also designed to help alleviate the dire social
and economic situation in the British West Indies (there
was social unrest across the region in the 1930s).
Map of the Caribbean
The Windward Islands banana
industry
• The development of the banana industry in the
British Caribbean was centred on the Windward
Islands of Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St.
Vincent and the Grenadines.
• Bananas were known locally as ‘green gold’
because they put a weekly wage into the
pockets of the Caribbean farmer, bringing some
spending power to the poorest communities:
– 70% of population of Dominica, Grenada, St. Vincent
and the Grenadines live off the banana industry
(directly and indirectly)
– In St. Lucia, more than 60,000 people (1/3 of total)
depend on bananas for employment
Recent problems in the Windward
Islands banana industry
The number of farmers now producing bananas for
export has declined from 24,100 in 1993, to
10,200 in 2000.
1. The nature of banana production in the
Caribbean.
2. The marketing strategies of the large
companies who control the banana trade at the
wholesale and retail level.
3. Hurricanes (especially affecting Dominica and
St. Lucia). Compensation is not comprehensive.
4. The structure of international trading
arrangements.
Chronology of the ‘banana wars’
1992 – The creation of the Single European
Market produced the world’s largest banana
market (35-40%). There was need to harmonise
European import regulations.
1996 – USA and Latin American producers lodged
a complaint with World Trade Organisation.
1997 – WTO ruled in their favour.
1998-1999 – dispute dragged on leading to
‘banana wars’, in which US threatened to 100%
import duties on sensitive EU exports.
Chronology of the ‘banana wars’
2001 – immediate dispute finally settled when EU
agreed to phase out all tariffs and quotas.
Heralded as victory for the Bush administration
and ‘free trade’.
2008 – issue drags on. The tariff level on nonACP (African-Caribbean-Pacific) bananas into
Europe remains a sticking point in WTO talks.
2009 – EU agreed to reduce tariffs on dollar
bananas within 8 years at World Trade
Organisation’s Doha Round.
Caribbean banana industry