Tracing the Post-Emancipation Landscape of Dominica’s Lime Industry

Summary

In a time when global travel was fairly restricted, citrus lime consumption extended across the Atlantic, regularly appearing in British advertisements and utilized in the global perfume and beverage markets. Following abolition, in 1834, limes and lime by-products became the chief export of islands like Montserrat and Dominica. In the case of Dominica, lime production gradually developed, and by 1875, many lime estates were yielding exceptional profits. The L. Rose and Lime Company was one of the most successful enterprises in Dominica’s agricultural history. It acted as the centralized point of processing for surrounding lime plantations, like Morne Patate. Analyzing the lime industry, this study seeks to understand how wage-based systems of labor transformed island economies after emancipation and how this shift was expressed physically and socially for the island’s inhabitants. This work serves as preliminary research for a dissertation comparing Dominica’s lime history with that of Montserrat’s. Understanding the post-emancipation plantation landscape through an analysis of citrus limes engages with methods of transferable technology, sustainable agriculture, and networks of agency concerning the ways in which this industry impacted the lives of formerly enslaved laborers.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Colonial Consequences: Results from the Archaeological Survey of Colonial Dominica

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15231