David Alston's Slaves & Highlanders
Sharing research on the role of Highland Scots in the slave plantations of Guyana in the late 18th/early 19th centuries
NOW Index of 427 people with connections to the Highlands and plantations in Guyana.
Indexes also now available for Other Scots, English, Irish, North American, Other Caribbean and Other European
Some recent additions: Cameron of Glen Nevis
New source material: Transcriptions from Inglis papers in Inverness Museum of Susanne Kerr's Will [1814] and George Inglis' Demerara Notebook [1813/14]
Joshua Bryant's idealised Rainbow over a Plantation (above) contrasts with the same artist's illustration of slaves executed after the Demerara slave uprising of 1823.
The Republic of Guyana [formerly British Guiana], on the north coast of South America, was created by the amalgamation of the former Dutch colonies of Demerara, Berbice and Essequibo. Great Britain gained control of these colonies in 1796 but British merchants had been heavily involved in the plantations for many years before this.
The purpose of this web site is to share my ongoing research on the role of Scots – particularly those from the Highlands of Scotland – in these colonies, before the emancipation of enslaved Africans in 1834. Few of these Scots intended to make their home there. Their intention was to make money, to make as much money as possible and as quickly as possible, and to return home.
For an introduction to the topic go to:
The Growth of Dutch Guiana and its sub-pages
and 'First Speculators' from Scotland