Peasantry
Peasantry
Peasantry
Hill-Pinder
Caribbean Studies
2007- Describe the contribution of peasant groups to
the development of Caribbean society in the period of
emancipation.
(20 marks)
The peasant groups have made a significant
contribution to the development of Caribbean society in
the period after emancipation. The peasantry may be
described as a class of people who owned small plots of land from
which they gained a livelihood They contributed in several
ways including diversification of export crops in the
period after slavery, establishment of free villages
which played a major role in post-emancipation
Caribbean society and the development of roads and
markets in the interiors of the larger islands.
One of the ways in which peasant groups contributed to
the development of Caribbean society is through the
diversification of the export crops. Sugar was king in
the period of slavery but after 1820s it experienced
increasing competition from extra-regional countries
including India, Brazil and USA. These countries had
vast amounts of land and resources. The introduction of