A Forgotten Heritage: “Slave Societies” in the French Caribbean Colonies during the First Half of the Nineteenth Century

In the French Caribbean colonies of Guadeloupe and Martinique, between the reestablishment of slavery in 1802 and the second abolition in 1848, one of the aims of the authorities was to maintain social control over enslaved populations (c. 70% of the total). Special ministerial commissions, during the 1830s, had the task to revise the Code noir of 1685 as order of the day, and to elaborate stronger regulations of slavery. At the same time, the British Parliament voted the Abolition Bill and the French abolitionist movement was increasing, under British influence. In the colonies, slave resistance was growing. Testimonies were more and more numerous about slave societies, called “slave convoys”, existing since the eighteenth century. They were linked to African groups – the “Mende” for example – and to Maroon communities (in Guadeloupe). They had “kings” and “queens”, and special meetings. They were composed essentially with slaves, and with freed men and women too. Local authorities and the police knew their existence, feared them and accused them in case of riot and rebellion. Their memory disappeared after the abolition of slavery in 1848 and the forgetfulness policy which has been much effective. The proposed paper deals with these groups and networks for a better knowledge 1) of their links with the slave trade and slavery heritage, 2) of their functions in the slave resistance process, 3) of their functions in the emergence of historical and oral transmission of the memory of slavery after the 1848 abolition. It is based on unpublished sources (reports of the governors and attorneys, testimonies written by priests and by some abolitionists and planters, among others). Historiography has ignored, until now, these strong resistance means to slavery. However, they may be considered as one of the roots of social and cultural survival and heritage.