Archéologie de l'esclavage à la Martinique (1635-1660)

ARCHEOLOGY OF SLAVERY IN MARTINIQUE (1635-1660). I. Considerations on the word «problematic» and its meaning. A mode of investigation but not the application of a set model. II. Archaelogy of slavery centred on the arrival of slaves in the French colonies of America through the writings of those who had lived there between 1625 and 1654. III. Arrival of slaves in St. Christopher and St. Kilts between 1627 and 1628. Few slaves were captured on Spanish boats in that period. N.B. Slavery was prohibited in France. IV. The image of the slave described in early writings. Defamation of the Master who was, himself, a servant of the « Lord of the Islands »; this was a way to increase his own standing. The monks wanted to regenerate and absolue the slaves in the waters of Holy Baptism. Cham's curse is the source of cultural differences and the denial of the others. They may have been bought as slaves because they were non-Christian prisoners of war. Should their children, christened at birth, remain slaves ?