Origin of free people of color, St. Thomas 1803
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Description
The map shows the birthplace of free people of color in the port town Charlotte Amalie in the Danish colony St. Thomas in 1803. In total there were 1,353 free people of color, 290 of these were born on the island. Danish colonial authorities worried about the growth of the population of free people of color, in particular in light of the revolutionary upheaval in the French islands in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Consequently, authorities carried out a registration of free people of color. The map is based on the information gathered during this registration.
Source
David Knight & Laurette de T. Prime, St. Thomas 1803: Crossroads of the Diaspora. The 1803 proceedings and register of the free colored inhabitants in the town of Charlotte Amalie, on the island of St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies, St. Thomas: Little Nordside Press 1999.
Rights
Please feel free to use the map with credits.
Credits and citation
“Origin of free people of color, St. Thomas in 1803,” In the Same Sea: The Lesser Antilles as a Common World of Slavery and Freedom, (supported by the European Research Council, agreement No. ERC-2019-COG 863671), Ping Chang, Rasmus Christensen, Gunvor Simonsen, June 2021, [insert link], accessed [insert date].