The second great watershed in Caribbean history…

The second great watershed in Caribbean history results from the abolition of slavery in the nineteenth century.

In the British Caribbean this comes between 1834, when a law is passed by the British Parliament to abolish slavery throughout the empire, and 1838, when the apprenticeship system collapses prematurely.

The apprenticeship system is designed to ease the transition from slavery to freedom by forcing the ex-slaves to remain on their plantations for a period of six years.

Its main purpose is to prevent the immediate large-scale abandonment of estates by the workers, although, with cruel irony, it is the masters and not the slaves who are awarded compensation for the loss of their "property."

The system proves too cumbersome to administer and is prematurely terminated in 1838.