The registry required enslavers to submit lists of the people they claimed as property. Jamaica's returns recorded names, ages, sex, colour, African or Creole status and, in some cases, mothers' names and people marked as runaways. These records are valuable for family and community history, but they were created to police ownership and help enforce the ban on the slave trade. Their categories often reflect the assumptions of owners and officials rather than self-identification.
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Why did Jamaica require detailed slave registers beginning in 1817?
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Explanation
The registry aimed to establish ownership and guard against illegal imports, while treating people as property in its administrative structure.
The registry beginning in 1817 sometimes recorded mothers' names and people described as runaways.
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Explanation
The Jamaican registry law required such details in specified cases.