Supporting the Slave: usage and social Stakes in a Caribbean Colonial Society (Martinique: 17th Century - beginning of the 19th century)

Abstract

The colonial project of the French monarchy in the West Indies from the beginning understood an evangelizing will towards the indigenous populations. However, despite attempts to do so, the failure many missionaries is patent, as summarized with bitterness Caesar de Rochefort, attributing it to the fact that "the Indians of America are changing like Cameleons ". While they are gradually evacuated from the colonized islands, the missionary effort is devoted primarily to the servile population from Africa, to whom Catholicism is imposed.The conversion of slaves is more successful and allows to establish in Martinique a religious unity, barely tainted by the temporary presence of some Jewish and Protestant families. The "Negroes new arrivals from Africa and their children are all destined to receive the baptism and, on this occasion, a godfather and a godmother. Failing the same existence, the slaves and the free have the same God, the same church and the same priest. The perception of the rite of sponsorship and the uses therein associates is not necessarily identical to that of the settlers.