Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.
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Notes -
Oh man I have sort of a dread reaction whenever someone mentions Haiti. I've listened to some wicked podcasts about the colonization of the Caribbean, oddly the best one was about Napoleon and the French revolution.
The conditions on the sugarcane plantations were basically the 9th circle of hell and the Tainos were not able to handle it and a good chunk of them were murdered straight up or died from disease, the rest made "poor slaves" and most died on the plantations.
The Spanish & French imported african labor as they could stand up to the harsh conditions a bit better. It was one of the most brutal places on earth at the time, it wasn't all race related, a lot of mixed race, Tanios and africans also became tied up in the terrible society that developed there.
"The inability to maintain slave numbers without constant resupply from Africa meant that at all times, a majority of slaves in the colony were African-born" It was so bad they couldn't even maintain the attrition rates without resupply. But it was worth it as vast fortunes were made and it was the jewel of the empire cash flow wise. Turning human pain into coin on a vast scale.
It isn't a puzzle to me that they have had problems ever since. Mississippi and other deep south states are still the lowest ranked in our country, and that is with the backing of the rest of the great US of A. It takes hundreds of years to recover from that type of shit human society.
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