Diversity and division: Digital mapping of censuses in the Swedish Caribbean, 1835–1872

Abstract

ABSTRACT By examining the census records of Swedish-Caribbean colony St. Barthélemy, a GIS – Geographic Information System – can be constructed which maps the inhabitants of the harbor city of Gustavia, as well as the inhabitants’ placement within the census categories of the colonial administration. This article examines these categories and how they shifted over time, as well as maps out patterns of settlement across the city. One major finding is the division between the Catholic French-Caribbean side on the east and the Anglican Anglo- and Dutch-Caribbean side of the west, the latter of which was home to a number of merchants owning high amounts of enslaved people. This spatial division was also parallel to the political differences between the merchant elite and the Swedish colonial administration. Furthermore, this article encourages additional GIS studies of predemocratic Caribbean cities, particularly regarding spatial division between whites and free people of color.