“When unwelcome night came”: A nocturnal history of the colonial Caribbean, 1660-1800

This dissertation examines the Dutch, English, and French Caribbean of the long-eighteenth century through the lens of nocturnality, which was the way that people lived in and discussed the night. Using “the night” as a category of analysis, it shows that the colonial Caribbean was central to the rise of the modern era in the Atlantic World and that it exercised significant influence on the way that contemporaries viewed capitalism, leisure, labor, race, religion, and violence. It argues that nocturnality was a key component of the colonial project, and that the goods and ideas from the Caribbean transformed nocturnalization in Europe. This transformation occurred in no small part because of the products of sugar, coffee, and tobacco which allowed Europeans to engage in social and intellectual activities after dark in ways that they could not do before the seventeenth century. The colonial Caribbean also provided the archetype of the industrial sugar plantation complex which served as a model for the 24-hour labor regime of the Industrial Revolution. There are five thematic chapters in this dissertation concentrated on the following topics: mobility, technology, violence, religion, and sociability. The mobility chapter looks at the movement of people and goods into and throughout the Caribbean, and considers the way that sailors, smugglers, and Maroons travelled throughout the night, by both choice and necessity. The technology chapter examines artificial illumination of the night, including in homes and streets. Importantly, it demonstrates that 24-hour sugar production was integral to the plantation economy and that this served as a model for the Industrial Revolution in Europe. The violence chapter considers the way that violent actions, including fights, murder, rape, and the brutality of the system of chattel slavery were a part of the every-night experience of people in the Caribbean. The chapter on religion shows the ways that people in the region capitalized upon the nighttime to create and pursue their own spiritual interests, including enslaved people, Jews, state-sponsored Christianity, and Protestant sects. The final chapter on sociability considers the nocturnal spaces where people gathered to participate in communal activities, such as ballrooms, bars and taverns, and the theater. The conclusion goes beyond the eighteenth century to consider the legacy of nighttime celebrations among the African-descended peoples of the Caribbean, especially in the form of Carnival and Junkanoo.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• van der Velde, Adrian Thomas

Contributors dc:contributor

• Koslofsky, Craig
• Crowston, Clare
• Hogarth, Rana
• Morrissey, Robert
• Rabin, Dana
• Roitman, Jessica

• Caribbean
• Early Modern
• Night
• Technology
• Violence
• Mobility
• Sociability
• Cultural History
• Sugar Production
• Nocturnality

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Adrian van der Velde

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124374

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F124374