Conquer and Educate. Swedish colonialism in the Caribbean island of Saint‐Barthélemy 1784‐1878

The present paper is about the education system in Saint‐Barthelemy, a Carribean island which was a Swedish colony from 1784 to 1878. Saint‐Barthelemy was a pluralistic society where a sizeable segment of the population was of African origin. Likewise attesting to its multiplicity was the existence of three official languages, English, French and Swedish. Moreover, in a society whose population never exceeded 6,000 souls, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and Roman Catholics practised their various religions. Saint‐Barthelemy was a socially‐stratified community with slaves at the lowest level. A portrait of the school system is presented with the aid of examples from comprehensive archival sources. Social control was an important function of education, especially after the liberation of the slave population, when physical control was no longer practicable. Even if the occupiers may have endeavoured to transplant Swedish educational traditions, it took a long time until the School Reform of 1842 had any pal...