1744: Kingston police authorities attempted to address the sheltering of runaways by restricting huts in outlying areas to a single door.

1744: Kingston police authorities attempted to address the sheltering of runaways by restricting huts in outlying areas to a single door. Regulations mandated that any compound containing more than four huts must share one common entrance to facilitate easier surveillance. This urban planning measure was designed to disrupt the anonymity and protection provided to fugitives by the city’s free black population. It highlights the early efforts of colonial administrations to master the porous spaces of the Caribbean’s growing port towns.