Bainet's Population in 1730

Looking at ANOM's digitized collection of Saint Domingue census material brought our attention to this detailed 1730 census. Bainet's population in that year is enumerated separately from Jacmel, so one can see exactly who was living in the area in that year. Of course, some of the information must be interpreted carefully, as with all censuses. What is interesting is that only 12 free black and mulatto persons were enumerated, although there were likely additional free people of color who may have been counted as white in 1730 (besides, women seem to be excluded from that total). In total, Bainet had 700 slaves in this year, with 325 male adults and 138 enslaved women. Among the enslaved children, only 168 were counted while the infirm were about 69. Bainet also had the smallest slave population in the Jacmel quartier, which is not too surprising. For the entire quartier, only Jacmel possessed a sucrerie so indigoteries were the main type of plantation. However, Bainet did have more cotton than Cayes de Jacmel and, presumably, Jacmel. 

It is clear that Bainet at this stage was still a developing area in terms of the colony's slave-based plantation model. Indigo and cotton were profitable, but one can see that the white population, which reached a total of about 168 people, was not outnumbered by the slave population to the same extreme degree like in other parts of the colony. Of course, part of the "white" population were likely mixed-race people, but we are still talking about a region with a less "developed" plantation economy than Jacmel and Cayes de Jacmel, with only 57 indigoteries to 101 in Cayes de Jacmel or 147 in Jacmel. Of course, the adult enslaved laboring population in Bainet was lower than that of the other two parishes in the quarter, only 463 out of the total 2,263 (20.46%).