1749 AD: Negroes From Whydah Were The Best Slaves

Query III

Why are the Negroes from the Gold Coast and Whydah the most valuable, and so necessary for the subsistence of sugar plantations?

Answer

“Gold Coast and Whydah Negroes are hardy, and are enured to labour in their own country; and will go to the hard work necessary in sugar plantations, as soon as they are purchased by the planters; which is not the case with other Negroes from Angola, Calabar, and other parts of Africa, who live idle in their own country, and are in general of a lazy disposition…”[1]

[1] The Alarm-Bell: Or, Considerations on the Present Dangerous State of the Sugar Colonies (The British Library) 1749 – pg. 8