Slavery, emancipation and the labour 'crisis' in the sugar industry of Mauritius, 1790-1842

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Periodical article

Title:	Slavery, emancipation and the labour 'crisis' in the sugar industry of Mauritius, 1790-1842
Author:	North-Coombes, Daniel
Year:	1997
Periodical:	Tanzania Zamani: A Journal of Historical Research & Writing
Volume:	3
Issue:	1
Pages:	16-49
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Mauritius
Subjects:	abolition of slavery economic history sugar
Abstract:	This article examines the impact of slave emancipation on the sugar industry of Mauritius. It discusses the early growth of the industry and the part played by slave labour in its expansion, the crisis which beset the Mauritius sugar industry as a result of the abolition of slavery in 1813, and the strategy and means whereby the crisis was resolved and planter hegemony reasserted. Although the labour crisis could have been solved by paying higher wages, by rationalizing sugar production techniques, and by introducing some measure of economic diversification, the availability of cheap Indian indentured labour removed the need for Mauritian planters to attempt readjustment. Moreover, the triumph of sugar monoculture stunted the peasantry. The inflow of British capital into Mauritius reinforced the grip of sugar monoculture and entrenched the economic and social dominance of a small minority of planters and capitalists. App., notes, ref.