Denmark maintains a number of colonies outside Scandinavia, starting in the seventeenth century and lasting until the twentieth century.

Christian IV (reigned 1588–1648) had first initiated the policy of expanding Denmark's overseas trade, as part of the mercantilist trend then popular in European governing circles.

Denmark had established its own first colony at Tranquebar, or Trankebar, on India's south coast, in 1620.

In the Caribbean Denmark had started a colony on St Thomas in 1671 and St John in 1718, and purchases Saint Croix from France in 1733.

Denmark maintains its Indian colony, Tranquebar, as well as several other smaller colonies there, for about two hundred years.

The Danish East India Company operates out of Tranquebar.

During its heyday, the Danish East Indian Company and the Swedish East India Company import more tea than the British East India Company—and smuggled ninety percent of it into Britain, where it sells at a huge profit.

Both of the Scandinavia-based East India Companies fold during the course of the Napoleonic Wars.

Denmark also maintains other colonies, forts, and bases in West Africa, primarily for the purpose of slave-trading.

European plantations require laws to regulate the plantation system and the many slaves imported to work on the plantations.

This legal control is the most oppressive for slaves inhabiting colonies where they outnumber their European masters and where rebellion is persistent, such as Jamaica.

During the early colonial period, rebellious slaves are harshly punished, with sentences including death by torture; less serious crimes such as assault, theft, or persistent escape attempts are commonly punished with mutilations, such as the cutting off of a hand or a foot.

Slaves can only be freed with the consent of their master under British rule,  and therefore freedom for slaves is rare.

British colonies are able to establish laws through their own legislatures, and the assent of the local island governor and the Crown.

British law considers slaves to be property, and thus does not recognize marriage for slaves, family rights, education for slaves, or the right to religious practices such as holidays.

British law denies all rights to freed slaves, with the exception of the right to a jury trial.

Otherwise, freed slaves have no right to own property, vote or hold office, or even enter some trades.

The development of agriculture in the Caribbean requires a large workforce of manual laborers, which the Europeans have found by taking advantage of the slave trade in Africa.

The Atlantic slave trade brings African slaves to British, Dutch, French, Portuguese and Spanish colonies in the Americas, including the Caribbean.

Slaves are brought to the Caribbean from the early sixteenth century until the end of the nineteenth century.

The majority of slaves are brought to the Caribbean colonies between 1701 and 1810.

Abolitionists in the Americas and in Europe become vocal opponents of the slave trade throughout the nineteenth century.

The importation of slaves to the colonies is often outlawed years before the end of the institution of slavery itself.

It is well into the nineteenth century before many slaves in the Caribbean will be legally free.

The trade in slaves is abolished in the British Empire through the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in 1807.

Men, women and children who are already enslaved in the British Empire will remain slaves, however, until Britain passes the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833.

When the Slavery Abolition Act comes into force in 1834, roughly seven hundred thousand slaves in the British West Indies will immediately become free; other enslaved workers will be freed several years later after a period of forced apprenticeship.

Slavery is abolished in the Dutch Empire in 1814.

Spain abolishes slavery in its empire in 1811, with the exceptions of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Santo Domingo; Spain ends the slave trade to these colonies in 1817, after being paid ₤400,000 by Britain.

Slavery itself will not be abolished in Cuba until 1886.

France will abolish slavery in its colonies in 1848.

The exploitation of the Caribbean landscape dates to the Spanish conquistadors starting in the 1490s, who had forced indigenous peoples held by Spanish settlers in encomienda to mine for gold.

The more significant development came when Christopher Columbus wrote back to Spain that the islands were made for sugar development.

The history of Caribbean agricultural dependency is closely linked with European colonialism. which alters the financial potential of the region by introducing a plantation system.

Much like the Spanish exploited indigenous labor to mine gold, the seventeenth century had brought a new series of oppressors in the form of the Dutch, the English, and the French.

By the middle of the eighteenth century sugar is Britain's largest import, which makes the Caribbean colonies that much more important.

Sugar, a luxury in Europe prior to the eighteenth century, becomes widely popular in the eighteenth century, then graduates to becoming a necessity in the nineteenth century

This evolution of taste and demand for sugar as an essential food ingredient unleashes major economic and social changes.

Caribbean islands with plentiful sunshine, abundant rainfalls and no extended frosts are well suited for sugarcane agriculture and sugar factories.

The French Empire regulates slaves under the Code Noir (Black Code), which is in force throughout the empire from 1685, but which is based upon French practices in the Caribbean colonies.

French law recognized slave marriages, but only with the consent of the master.

French law, like Spanish law, gives legal recognition to marriages between European men and black or Creole women.

French and Spanish laws are also significantly more lenient than British law in recognizing manumission, or the ability of a slave to purchase their freedom and become a "freeman".

Under French law, free slaves gain full rights to citizenship.

The French also extend limited legal rights to slaves, for example the right to own property, and the right to enter contracts.

The Danish West India and Guinea Company has flourished during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries from the North Atlantic triangular trade routes.

Enslaved Africans from the Gold Coast are traded for molasses and rum in the West Indies.

The Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea from 1733, when the Danes purchased the island of St. Croix from the French West Indies Company, have been divided into two territorial units, one British and the other Danish-Norwegian.

The Danish West India company administers St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas until 1754, when the "Chamber of Revenues" of the Danish king, Frederick V, takes control, making the islands royal Danish colonies.

Roberto Cofresí, one of the last successful pirates in the Caribbean, is defeated by an international naval force when his ship, the Anne, is captured on March 2, 1825, as the result of a naval campaign carried out by an alliance between the Spanish Empire forces in Puerto Rico, the Danish government in Saint Thomas and the United States Navy.

The campaign had been instigated by economic losses suffered by all of the parties involved due to the pirates' actions, as well as diplomatic concerns caused by their use of the flags of Spain and Gran Colombia, which menaces the fragile peace between the naval powers.

There are additional personal motivations by several of those involved, who had been directly attacked by the freebooters themselves.

Among the diplomatic concerns caused by Cofresí was a robbery carried out by several of his subordinates, which in turn served as the catalyst behind an incident that threatened war between Spain and the United States known as "The Foxardo Affair", eventually leading to the resignation of his rival, pirate hunter David Porter.

Sailing under the authorization of the Danish West Indies, the coalition employs two local ships, including a former victim of the pirates named San José y las Animas, and the USS Grampus of the West Indies Squadron.

A ship from Gran Colombia, named La Invencible, also provided support during the initial stages.

The final naval engagement takes place on March 2, 1825, and began with a trap set at Boca del Infierno, a passage off Jobos Bay, Puerto Rico.

The flagship of Cofresí's flotilla, the sloop Anne (otherwise known as Ana), had been baited by the set up.

Unable to effectively counter the surprise attack and outnumbered, the pirates abandon the ship and escape to shore, where they are later captured by Puerto Rican authorities and placed on military trial.

With the subsequent execution of Cofresí, the West Indies Anti-Piracy Operations will be considered a success and he will come to be known as "the last of the West India pirates".

The West Indies (1828–1971 CE)

Emancipation, Empire, and the Quest for Unity

Geography & Environmental Context

The West Indies comprises three fixed subregions:

• Northern West Indies — Bermuda, the Turks and Caicos, northern Hispaniola, and the Outer Bahamas(Grand Bahama, Abaco, Eleuthera, Cat Island, San Salvador, Long Island, Crooked Island, Mayaguana, Little Inagua, and eastern Great Inagua). Anchors include the Bahama Banks, Bermuda’s naval dockyards, the Caicos salt pans, and the northern valleys of Hispaniola.

• Eastern West Indies — Trinidad, Saint Lucia, Barbados, most of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Anchors include the Kingston–San Juan sea lanes, the Hispaniolan cordilleras, the Caroni and Naparima plains of Trinidad, and the Windward–Leeward channels that structured trade, migration, and naval passage.

• Western West Indies — Cuba, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and the Inner Bahamas (Andros, New Providence, Great Exuma, and neighboring islands). Anchors include Havana Harbor, the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, the Andros Barrier Reef, and the Cayman Trench.

Fertile volcanic soils, limestone valleys, and strategic sea lanes made these islands central to Atlantic commerce and imperial rivalry from the age of sugar through decolonization.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

The tropical climate brought seasonal hurricanes and variable rainfall. Deforestation and plantation monoculture caused erosion and flooding, while earthquakes periodically struck Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. By the 20th century, hurricanes became a recurring test of infrastructure and governance. Marine resources, from coral reefs to fisheries, sustained local economies even as tourism and oil refining reshaped coasts.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Plantation economies dominated the 19th century, producing sugar, coffee, cocoa, and bananas under systems of wage labor that replaced slavery after emancipation (1834–38 in the British colonies, 1848 in the French, 1863 in the Dutch, 1886 in Cuba, and 1898 in Puerto Rico).

• Peasant freeholds emerged across Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad, where former slaves cultivated provisions and cash crops. In Hispaniola, smallholder coffee and cacao farming thrived.

• Urban growth accelerated: Havana, San Juan, Port of Spain, and Kingston became centers of trade, education, and politics.

• Migration shaped the region: Indian indentured laborers arrived in Trinidad, Guyana, and Saint Lucia after 1838; inter-island migration filled estates and urban jobs; transatlantic migration linked the islands to New York and London.

Technology & Material Culture

Steamships, railways, and telegraphs integrated the Caribbean into global networks by the late 19th century. Sugar mills, rum distilleries, and port warehouses dominated industrial landscapes. Oil refining began in Trinidad (early 20th century) and later in Curaçao and Aruba. After WWII, airports, cruise terminals, and tourism infrastructure redefined economies. Architecture ranged from Georgian and Spanish colonial to modernist hotels and government buildings, while vernacular crafts—baskets, pottery, steelpan drums, and carnival costumes—remained cultural hallmarks.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• Sea lanes: The Windward Passage, Mona Passage, and Florida Straits were arteries for trade, migration, and naval power.

• Diaspora routes: Caribbean laborers moved to Panama for canal construction, to Cuba and the U.S. for seasonal harvests, and to Britain after WWII (the “Windrush Generation,” 1948 onward).

• Regional travel: Steamers and later airlines linked colonial capitals—Kingston, Port of Spain, Havana, San Juan, and Bridgetown—into circuits of commerce, religion, and politics.

• Military and naval routes: U.S. expansion after 1898 established bases in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda; naval stations in the Bahamas and British bases in Bermuda remained strategic through WWII and the Cold War.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

Caribbean identity fused African, European, and Asian elements.

• Religion: Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Islam, and Afro-syncretic faiths such as Obeah, Vodou, and Orisha coexisted and intertwined.

• Language and literature: Creoles flourished beside English, Spanish, and French; writers such as Aimé Césaire, Claude McKay, and Derek Walcott articulated decolonizing consciousness.

• Music: Calypso, mento, ska, steelband, salsa, and reggae emerged from island streets and festivals, broadcasting Caribbean rhythms worldwide.

• National festivals: Carnival, Junkanoo, and independence parades turned the streets into theaters of memory and resistance.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

Smallholders diversified crops and maintained intercropping traditions to buffer hurricanes and price shocks. Coastal communities rebuilt with coral stone and timber after storms. Water catchment, terrace farming, and fishing cooperatives sustained rural livelihoods. Postwar conservation and marine parks (e.g., in the Bahamas and Virgin Islands) began to protect reefs and mangroves as tourism expanded.

Political & Military Shocks

• Emancipation and post-slavery transitions: Freed populations negotiated wages and land rights amid planter resistance.

• Imperial changeovers: The Spanish–American War (1898) transferred Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the United States; the U.S. Virgin Islands were purchased from Denmark (1917).

• Nationalism and federation: The early 20th century saw labor uprisings and the rise of Caribbean socialism—Butler, Bustamante, Manley, Williams, and Castro among key figures. The West Indies Federation (1958–62) sought unity but collapsed amid national rivalries.

• Independence waves:

  • Cuba (1902, revolution 1959), Dominican Republic (sovereignty restored 1844, renewed independence 1865), Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago (1962), Barbados (1966), Bahamas (1973, beyond our span).

  • U.S. territories—Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and Guam—retained commonwealth or dependency status.

• Cold War and revolutions: The Cuban Revolution (1959) redefined regional politics; U.S. interventions in the Dominican Republic (1965) and elsewhere revealed hemispheric tensions.

Transition

Between 1828 and 1971, the West Indies transitioned from plantation colonies to a constellation of independent and semi-autonomous nations. Slavery’s abolition gave rise to peasantries, diasporas, and new cultural syntheses; oil and tourism replaced sugar as economic engines. The region’s music, literature, and politics voiced both emancipation and aspiration. By 1971, the Caribbean stood as a microcosm of decolonization—its seas crossed by cruise ships and memory, its islands bound by shared histories of survival, creativity, and unbroken connection to the wider Atlantic world.