Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

PLANTATION (Lat. plantare, to plant)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 727 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

PLANTATION (See also:Lat. plantare, to plant) , literally the placing of See also:plants in the ground, hence a See also:place planted or a collection of growing things, &c., particularly used of ground planted with See also:young trees. The See also:term was See also:early applied, in a figurative sense, to the See also:settlement of See also:people, and particularly to the colonization of See also:North See also:America in the early See also:part of the 17th See also:century and to the settlement of Scotch and See also:English in the forfeited lands in See also:Ireland (see below). The practice of sending convicted criminals to serve on the plantations in the colonies became See also:common in the 17th century (see See also:DEPORTATION). These plantations were chiefly in the See also:cotton, See also:sugar and See also:tobacco growing colonies, and the term " plantation " is thus particularly applied to estates in tropical or semi-tropical countries; the proprietors of such estates are specifically styled " planters." The negroes on the plantations of the See also:Southern States of North America sang their songs and See also:hymns and danced to tunes which were traditional, and are frequently known as " Plantation Songs." It has been claimed Songs tlon for some of them that they represent the folk songs brought by the first slaves from See also:Africa; but the more generally accepted view is that they were those See also:European hymn and See also:song tunes which the negroes picked up from the revivalist preachers or from the Europeans around them, and adapted to their own strongly marked rhythms, which are certainly of See also:African origin. The earliest song which became See also:familiar to those outside the Southern States was " Jim See also:Crow," sung by See also:Dan See also:Rice, and introduced to See also:England about 1836. The " See also:Jubilee Singers," a troupe from See also:Fisk University, See also:Nashville, See also:Tennessee, toured the See also:United States and See also:Europe in 1871; but the See also:great popularity of the See also:negro songs and dances, and the traditional See also:instruments, the bones and See also:tambourine (the See also:banjo was not originally used by the genuine negro), was due to the so-called " negro See also:minstrel " troupes, of which the best known in England were See also:Christy's, whence the generic name of Christy Minstrels, and later of the See also:Moore and See also:Burgess troupe at St See also:James's See also:Hall, See also:London, started in 1862 and finally dissolved in 1904. The best collection of genuine " plantation songs " and their words is Slave Songs of the United States (New See also:York, 1871); see also C. L. See also:Edwards, Bahama Songs and Stories (See also:Boston, 1895); J. B. T. See also:Marsh, The See also:Story of the Jubilee Singers (Boston, 1895) ; and articles by G.

W. See also:

Cable on " The See also:Creole Slave See also:Dance " and " Creole Slave Songs," in the Century, See also:February and See also:April 1886. Plantation of See also:Ulster.—The Irish See also:rebellion, which had disturbed Ulster during the closing years of See also:Elizabeth's reign, was followed under James I. by further trouble, due partly to the inability of the English See also:government to understand the See also:system of See also:land ownership prevalent in Ireland. At this See also:time the See also:chief offenders against the authority of England were the earls of See also:Tyrconnell and See also:Tyrone, but in See also:September 1607 these once powerful nobles fled from the See also:country. The English lawyers declared that the extensive estates which they held, not in their See also:personal capacity, but as the heads respectively of the tribes of O'See also:Neill and O'Donnell, had become the See also:property of the English See also:crown; and the problem which now confronted James I. and his advisers was what to do with the land, which was much too large to be cultivated properly by the scanty See also:population living thereon. The See also:idea of a plantation or colonization of Ulster, which was put forward as an See also:answer to this question, is due mainly to See also:Sir See also:Arthur See also:Chichester, the Irish See also:lord See also:deputy; its See also:object was to secure the better cultivation of the land and to strengthen the English See also:influence in Ulster by granting estates to English and Scottish settlers. Chichester proposed that the native inhabitants should be allowed to occupy as much land as they could cultivate, for he said, " that many of the natives in each See also:county claim See also:freehold in the lands they possess, and albeit these demands are not justifiable by See also:law, yet it is hard and almost impossible to displant them." Even if this See also:advice were carried out on a generous See also:scale, the deputy considered that there would be abundance of land to offer to colonists, and also to See also:reward the class of men known as servitors, those who had served the English See also:king in Ireland. He submitted his ideas to Sir James Ley and Sir See also:John See also:Davies, two of the ministers of James I.; they reported to the English privy See also:council, which signified its approval, and after the question had been illuminated by See also:Bacon's great See also:intellect, a See also:committee was appointed to make the necessary arrangements. But those responsible for the plantation made one See also:cardinal See also:mistake, a mistake which was to cost the country much in the future. They rejected Chichester's idea of allotting land to the natives on a liberal scale, preferring to turn them out and to See also:parcel out the whole of the forfeited See also:district anew. The forfeited lands See also:lay in six counties, Tyrone, See also:Donegal, See also:Armagh, See also:Fermanagh, See also:Cavan and See also:Coleraine (See also:Londonderry), and the See also:scheme for the plantation having been See also:drawn up, the necessary survey began in May 1609. This was very inaccurate, but it served its purpose.

The land was divided into three sections. One See also:

block was set apart for English and Scottish settlers, who were not to be allowed to have any Irish tenants; another was allotted to the servitors, who might have either English or Irish tenants; and a third was reserved for the Irish. Applications were then entertained from those willing to take up the land, and under Chichester's direction the settlement was proceeded with. The land was divided into portions of loco, r5oo and 2000 acres, each colonist undertaking in return for his See also:grant to build a See also:castle or a walled enclosure, and to keep, See also:train and See also:arm sufficient men for its See also:defence. Moreover he must take the See also:oath of supremacy to James, and must not alienate his See also:estate to an Irishman. He was given two years in which to do the necessary See also:building; during this See also:period he was freed from paying See also:rent, but afterwards he must pay a quit-rent to the Crown. A scale of rents was drawn up, the native Irish paying at a higher See also:rate than the English and Scottish settlers. Out of the forfeited lands See also:provision was made for the See also:maintenance of churches and See also:schools, which were to be erected in conformity with the scheme. The See also:work progressed very slowly and much of the building was not even begun within the required time. Then in 1611 James I., who had from the first taken a lively See also:interest in the plantation, sent Lord See also:Carew to See also:report on it. Carew's inspection did not reveal a very favourable See also:condition of affairs, and in1615 Sir See also:Josiah See also:Bodley was sent to make a further report about the progress of the work. A third report and survey was made three years later by See also:Nicholas Pynnar, who found in the six counties 1974 See also:British families, with 6215 men capable of bearing arms.

He said that even on the lands occupied by the colonists the cultivation of the See also:

soil was still very much neglected The words spoken by Bacon in 1627 with reference to the plantation had come true. " Take it from me," he said, " that the bane of a plantation is when the undertakers or planters make such haste to a little See also:mechanical See also:present profit, as disturbeth the whole See also:frame and nobleness of the work for times to come." Another survey took place in 1622, when various changes were suggested, but no serious alterations were made. On the whole the plantation had been a failure. Very few of the settlers had carried out their undertaking. In many cases the Irish had remained on the land allotted to the colonists, living under exactly the same conditions as they had done before the plantation, and holding on " whether the legal landlords liked it or not." As actually carried out the plantation dealt with 511,465 acres. Two-fifths of this was assigned to British colonists, being divided about equally between Englishmen and Scotchmen. Rather more than one-fifth went to the See also:Church and about the same amount to the servitors and the natives. The best settlers were the Scots, although their tendency to marry with the Irish was noted and condemned during the early years of the settlement. An important part of the plantation was the settlement of the county of Coleraine by the See also:corporation of the See also:city of London. Receiving a grant of practically the whole of the county the corporation undertook to spend £20,000, and within two years to build 200 houses in Derry and Too in Coleraine. This was the most successful part of the settlement, and to it Londonderry owes its present name. The See also:expulsion of the Irish from the land in which by law and See also:custom they had a certain proprietary and hereditary right, although not carried out on the scale originally contemplated, naturally aroused great indignation among them.

Attacks on the settlers were followed by See also:

reprisals, and the plantation may fairly be regarded as one of the causes which led to the terrible See also:massacre in Ulster in 1641. During Elizabeth's reign a scheme for the plantation of See also:Munster was considered, and under See also:Charles I. there was a See also:suggestion for the plantation of See also:Connaught, but eventually both were abandoned. The " Orders and Conditions of Plantation " are printed in See also:Walter See also:Harris's Hibernica (See also:Dublin, 177o) ; and in See also:George See also:Hill's See also:Historical See also:Account of the Plantation in Ulster,16o8–z62o(See also:Belfast,1877). See also S. R. See also:Gardiner, See also:History of England (1899), vol. i.; and R. Bagwell, Ireland under the Stuarts (1909), vol. i.

End of Article: PLANTATION (Lat. plantare, to plant)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
PLANTAIN (Lat. plantago)
[next]
PLANTIN, CHRISTOPHE (1514–1589)