Cheap Labour

After Adriaan van der Stel lost his men, he was left with only 30 men! He would have preferred it was the other way around. And now, he was left with only 30 men. How could he possibly improve the fort or bring general development? He was only the 2nd governor, after all. He needed labour. At that time, the V.O.C. had a colony in Madagascar and Adriaan knew it would provide him with “cheap labour” so he went there.

The Dutch West India Company and the Dutch East India Company, which were the biggest slave-trading companies in history, enjoyed monopolies over the shipment and sale of African slaves.” ― Mawuena Addo, Roses in the Rainbow

Here is a chapter from the book I wrote as a school project about the arrival of the slaves on the island. From the research, I have made and from the text, I have read, it was how I portrayed those slaves walking up the shores of Mauritius for the very first time. I have used my imagination as well as facts. It is not meant to hurt or criticize anybody.

---

Packed up like sardines

In 1641, he returned from Madagascar aboard a large vessel. From afar, it resembled a giant bird, moving with ease, going where the wind would take it. On the deck, we could see Adriaan and some Dutch settlers. As soon as the ship anchored, they marched up the shores with grace and confidence. Like their ship, they moved freely. Then hundreds of men appeared, 105, actually. They walked close to each other, naked and chained. One would believe a giant centipede was coming out of the ship. Those were the slaves captured in Madagascar, the so-called cheap labour. With corpse-like figures, they, too, marched up the shores for they had to meet their new masters. Adriaan did not say anything about their state, nor did his men. They knew of the reasons. They knew that throughout the whole journey, the slaves were shackled to each other, cramped, unable to move. They knew of the cries that would erupt from the below deck, especially after the beatings. They knew of those who died, of the smell of vomit and putrid that invaded the lower part of the vessel. They knew everything. But they did not care, or they pretended not to. They were always told that men with skin as black as the night were no men at all but beasts to be enslaved. They did their best to believe this lie. Each turned their heads, so they would feel no shame, no guilt.

---