5101/3/4 BGCSE
HISTORY
COURSEWORK ASSIGNMENTS
FOR ATTACHED AND UNATTACHED CANDIDATES
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
BAHAMAS GENERAL CERTIFICATION OF SECONDARY EDUCATION
INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES:
Assignment must be supervised by a practicing History teacher. The attached form
is to be signed by both the candidate and the teacher. ALL assignments MUST
reach the Examination and Assessment Division of the Ministry of Education on or
before 19th April, 2024. *Subject to change
Complete assignments should be about 2000-4500 words. Coursework will be
assessed using the following criteria:
selection, deployment and communication of content
(Assessment Objective 1) [15]
understanding of basic terminology and concepts involved
(Assessment Objective 2) [15]
ability to place the chosen problem in context and to reveal an empathetic
understanding of individuals and situations
(Assessment Objective 3) [15]
interpretation, use and evaluation of sources; relevance of conclusions drawn
from the evidence produced by sources.
(Assessment Objective 4) [15]
Total: 60 (i.e. 30%)
This paper consists of 4 pages and 1 blank page
© MOE 2024 [Turn over]
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Topic: The Inhumane Treatment of Slaves
Study the sources, and then answer the questions which follow.
SOURCE A From an internet article about sugar plantations in the West Indies in the
eighteenth century.
‘The sugar cane plant was the main crop produced on the numerous plantations
throughout the West Indies. Sugar production was labour intensive. Because of the lack
of labour in the West Indies, and to meet increasing demand for sugar, enslaved African
people were transported to work on plantations. The most efficient method of growing
sugar was on large plantations with many workers. Life on the plantations was
extremely hard with a third of enslaved Africans dying within three years of arriving in
the West Indies. The plantation owners simply replaced them with new slaves. In 1746
an English economist wrote that without enslaved African people we can have no sugar.
The money made from importation of sugar will be wiped out. And hundreds of
thousands of Britons making good money from the triangular trade will lose their jobs.’
SOURCE B: From a book about the Atlantic slave trade.
The Transatlantic slave trade radically weakened Africa's potential to develop
economically and maintain its social and political stability. The arrival of Europeans on
the West African Coast and their establishment of slave ports in various parts of the
continent triggered a continuous process of exploitation of Africa's human resources,
labor, and commodities. This exploitative commerce influenced the African political and
religious aristocracies, the warrior classes and the elite, who made small gains from the
slave trade, to participate in the oppression of their own people.
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SOURCE C: A drawing of a windmill on a sugar plantation in Antigua, 1823.
SOURCE D: From a secondary school history textbook
The yearly cycle of cultivation began in spring with the planting of new canes. The great
gang had to open up the soil to a depth of 15 centimeters. The task was doubly difficult
if old ratoons had to be pried out by the roots. Dr. Tullideph of Antigua estimated that his
field gangs wore out near half a ton of hoes each planting season. Once the field was
planted, the great gang was kept busy weeding, thinning, hoeing and replanting. They
were assisted by the second and third gangs who also manured the cane holes.
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SOURCE E: From ‘Fifty Years of Slavery by Francis Fredric, 1863. Fredric escaped
from slavery and moved to England.
‘My master had bought a farm in Mason County. When we arrived there we found a
great deal of uncultivated land belonging to the farm. The first thing the Negroes did
was to clear the land of bush, and then to sow blue grass seed for the cattle to feed
upon. They then fenced in the woods for what is called woodland pasture. The
neighbouring planters showed my master how to manage his new estate. They told the
slaves how to tap the sugar-tree to let the liquid out, and to boil it down so as to get the
sugar from it. The slaves built a great many log-huts, for my master, at the next slave-
market, intended to purchase more slaves.
I was taken into the house to learn to wait at table – a fortunate chance for me, since I
had a better opportunity of getting food. I shall never forget my first day in the kitchen. I
was delighted to see some bread. I took piece after piece to skim the fat from the top of
the boiling pot, overjoyed that I could have sufficient.’
SOURCE F: From a recent book about sugar plantations.
The white men who owned plantations knew that the tremendously hard work would so
exhaust many enslaved people that they would die young. Each year a planter bought
newly imported slaves from Africa to replace those who had died. It was estimated that
a sugar planter who owned 100 slaves and employed them in growing and processing
sugar cane would kill them all in 19 years. The production of sugar required – and killed
– hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans. So, between 1748 and 1788 over 1,200
ships brought over 335,000 enslaved Africans to Jamaica, Britain’s largest sugar
producing colony. Yet in 1788 a Jamaican census recorded that only 226,432 enslaved
men, women and children were alive on the island. Even with all who had already been
there before 1748, the more than 335,000 new arrivals, and all of the children born to
enslaved mothers, many died to produce sugar.’
QUESTIONS
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1a. Study Source A. Explain reasons why slaves were used on sugar plantations in the
eighteenth century. [7]
1b. Study Source B. Outline the negative social, economic and political effects of the
slave trade on West African states in the 18th century. [8]
2. Study Source C and D. Describe the processes and work involved in the production
of sugar on West Indian plantations from the preparation of the land to the export of
sugar from the ports. [15]
3. Study Sources E and F. You are a slave working on a sugar plantation. Describe
your experiences on the plantation from when you are bought in the West Indies. [15]
4. “Slaves working on the West Indian Sugar Plantations were treated inhumanely. Do
these sources prove the statement to be true? Explain your answer. [15]
