Peter Jimack (University of Stirling / University of Glasgow)
Coconuts, spice and sugar: indolence, energy and social interaction in the HDI
The tension between the ideals of natural man and social man, a major theme in enlightenment thought, is visible throughout the HDI. Though the ultimate ideal of the work is a world linked by trade, several books depict with approval primitive peoples, living in isolation. The interaction (if any) of the Europeans with such peoples, mainly in the New World, is very different from their interaction with the civilized peoples of the East, already much involved in trade.
In Book 1, the wonderful qualities of the coconut and the sago tree permit the inhabitants of the Moluccas to live in idleness (as previous writers had shown). But this state of idleness is deplored. There is an explicit contrast with the development of the spice trade, involving complex interaction between the Portuguese and local societies.
Inaction and “mollesse”, usual characteristics of peoples in hot countries, are generally condemned: the paper will consider other examples from Book 1, and that of the Hottentots in Book 2. In contrast, there is admiration for energetic primitive peoples, such as the Canadian Indians (Book 15), even when they are brutal, eg the inhabitants of Malacca (Book 1). This often amoral admiration for energy underlies the presentation of the Portuguese in Book 1, especially Albuquerque, idealized by Raynal. But in time the Portuguese themselves become feeble, leading to their moral corruption – exaggerated by Raynal.
In the New World, especially the Caribbean, mainly populated by primitive tribes, there is little interaction (other than slaughter) with native peoples. But the discovery of the economic potential of sugar, dependent on energetic cultivation and processing, leads to the importing of African slaves in vast numbers, and interaction of Europeans with them gradually develops: the beginnings of this development are already clear in the HDI. Despite slavery, there is great admiration for the European colonizers in the Caribbean, particularly the British (Book 14).
Finally the paper will consider the role of coconuts, spices and sugar in the movement of peoples and the development of world trade.
