HLGC Seminar - Dr Justine Collins, University of McGill

The Role and Presence of Indigenous Peoples within the Caribbean 1640s-1700s

Guest speaker: Dr Justine Collins, University of McGill

The presence of various groups of Indigenous Peoples within the Caribbean has received little attention therefore sparse scholarship exists concerning the subject. However, perusal of archives and other sources tell a differing tale, as there were the sporadic appearances of groups and tribes of persons Native to the Caribbean, North, Central, and South America. Records of plantation economies and societies of the Caribbean rarely mention the existence of Indigenous Peoples and their role within colonial cultivation practices and enslavement. Nevertheless, the fact that they were named in treaties, legislations and correspondences meant that they played a significant role and had considerable contributions. 

This presentation traces and identifies the role played by Indigenous Peoples and Groups within the Atlantic world and ascertains how they were regulated within colonies claimed by the British. In turn, the research endeavours to examine the ramifications of their regulation throughout the Atlantic. 

Biography

Dr Justine Collins is a research in legal history, particularly slavery and the law, race law and theory and indigenous regulation in the Atlantic World. She currently lectures on Comparative Modern Legal History at McGill University as the Boulton Junior Fellow.