The Leeward Islands: Sugar, Slavery, and Survival

The Atlantic Slave Trade: Empire Built on Human Suffering — Fexingo History · Oct 23, 2026 · 7m · transcript

We left off looking at the broad strokes of the Atlantic slave trade, but today we’re zooming in on the Leeward Islands. This cluster of small territories—Barbados, Saint Kitts, Nevis, and Antigua—became the laboratory for the British Caribbean slave system. We explore how the Barbados Slave Code was exported from these islands to shape laws across the hemisphere. You’ll hear about the brutal efficiency of sugar production and the specific legal mechanisms like partus sequitur ventrem that ensured children born to enslaved mothers were also property. Luna and I discuss how this dense…