Jesuit Missionaries and Enslavement at the Turn of the Eighteenth Century

An Assessment from the Loyola Plantation in French Guiana

Bibliographic Data

ID11719381
AuthorsRéginald Auger (corresponding author), Jean-François Guay (0009-0005-5070-6794), Zocha Houle-Wierzbicki (Université de Montréal), Raphaelle Lussier-Piette, Antoine Loyer Rousselle, Yannick Le Roux
Year2021
Volume8
Issue3
Pages408-429
Publication date2021-04-19
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Jesuit Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2214-1324 • E-ISSN: 2214-1332
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/22141332-0803p004
OpenAlexW3160266563
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited1

We present an overview of the archaeological research carried out on a sugar plantation operated by the Jesuits in French Guiana. The Jesuits’ production was exported to Europe to provide funds to develop their missions among Native people living in French Guiana and Amazonia. We present a brief history of the plantation and discuss the place the missionaries occupied in the colonial venture and their role in the economy of the colony. Loyola was a large and successful plantation compared with other plantations in French Guiana, and its success rested on the exploitation of enslaved labor. Recent research on the area covered by the plantation storehouse, its chapel, and the forecourt in front has allowed us to reassess our initial interpretation of the chronology and development of the plantation. In doing so, we realized that the Jesuits rigorously conformed to the architectural principles of the Enlightenment to symbolize their prestige in the colony

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art history · Chapel · Chronology · Colonialism · Economic history · Economics · Economy · Enlightenment · Interpretation (philosophy · Prestige · Theology · World history · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History

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