"A Glittering Speculation": Archaeology of Jamaica’s First Coffee Boom, 1790–1806

Summary

In the late 18th century, the British colony of Jamaica entered the first of its several boom periods in coffee production. A highly addictive product that was at the time primarily a luxury good for a small domestic market, overproduction on the island resulted in attempts by the coffee industry to expand their markets in Great Britain and the European continent to the middle and working classes. Meanwhile, the rush to get coffee to the market resulted in a rapid expansion in the number and scope of slave-based plantations, owned by both wealthy speculators and local middling planters without the means to become established in sugar production. This paper will examine the material evidence of this first coffee boom, which one planter characterized in his correspondence as "a glittering speculation." Evidence presented will include excavation results from Marshall's Pen Planation in the central Jamaica parish of Manchester, as well as survey data from the former Blue Mountain parish of St. Davids.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21107