1713: The British planter class in the English West Indies reached a significant demographic milestone following a century of expansion.

1713: The British planter class in the English West Indies reached a significant demographic milestone following a century of expansion. By this time, the enslaved population had grown to approximately 155,000 across the region’s colonies. This massive growth in human capital fueled the rise of the sugar-based plantation complex and the dominance of the white elite. The structural dependence on African labor established the social conditions that would eventually lead to regional instability. This era cemented the legal and economic frameworks that would be challenged during the later revolutionary period.