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C H A P T E R S E V E N Entrepreneurship The la Bastide family of Croix des Bouquets, military leaders who reappear in chapter 12 of this work, launched its family fortunewith a gift from a white man, possibly the father, although this is hazier even than such things usuallyare, to two young mulatto men named Pierre andJoseph la Bastide in 1755,just after their liberties became final. They received a piece of land in the hills between Mirebalais and Croix des Bouquets.1 From these humble beginnings, the la Bastide brothers built a substantial collection of real estate, both urban and rural, located in three parishes. In a notarized agreement in 1778, Pierre, the older brother, formed apartnership with a white man to operate the original piece of land as an indigo plantation . In a reversal of the usualpattern, this plantation was to be operated by the white man, who invested "sweat equity" to make up for la Bastides greater contribution of land and slaves.2 The brothers also grew coffee and indigo in Mirebalais, and they ran cattle and owned urban properties in Port-au-Prince and Mirebalais.3 The brothers were not aswell supplied in land or slaves as the greatest free colored planting families, owning about 400 carreaux of rural land of varying quality, no more than a dozen urban lots, at least four of which were undeveloped, and no more than 50 or 60 slaves. Nonetheless, these men were living quite comfortably and could have great confidence in the long-term safety and growth prospects of their investments. They were producing two different important cash crops, coffee and indigo, and, in addition, were producing food to satisfy the great appetites of the growing sugar plantations of the Plaine de la Cul de Sac, which laybetween their different pieces ofland. Moreover, with investmentsin urbanreal estate, they were well positioned to supply the housing needs of a free population growing at some 5to 6percent per year.Absent a colony-wide catastrophe, the la Bastidefamily fortune wasassured. 142 Entrepreneurship • 143 The last chapter covered the acquisition and trading of land. This chapter turns to the entrepreneurial use of land, defined as the aggressiveness with which owners sought to extract economic value from their land and their willingness to sacrifice its non-economic values for economic ones. Free coloreds varied widely in their entrepreneurial use ofthe land. Many remained very small agricultural operators , adopting the attitudes of peasants toward their land. That is, they preferred to hold land for long periods of time, asthey held their slaves. They produced primarily for their own consumption and only secondarily for the market; they were connected to the capitalist market in tropical cash crops in only averytenuousway. Some free coloreds who rose in economic status above the peasantry began to use the land and their slaves very aggressively, trading rapidly on the market, leasing capital goods that they needed, seeking to maximize the economic return on their property. It was at this economic level that free coloreds often left the countryside and began to operate in the cities, saving moneyfor the daywhen they might once again return to the countryside, this time ashabitants instead of as merepeasants. In contrast, the planter elite tended to use their assets more conservativelyeven during the early stages of their careers. This chapter also considers the urban entrepreneur and the link between urban and rural free colored populations. The tendency to maximize economic value of assets at the expenseof non-economic value—part of entrepreneurship—is most marked among urban free coloreds in the colony. At the sametime, urban free colored populations were significantlyyounger, more likely to be childless, and less likely to be married. It does not seem too much of a stretch to suggest that these variables were connected. Young, single free coloreds moved to the city to seek their fortunes.As middle age and parenthood set in, those who had achievedsome reasonable facsimileof a fortunemovedback to the countryside and, having something to conserve, becameconservative. Thus, although free coloreds were perhaps pursuing non-economic goals, both in slave and land ownership, it was important for them to make money and to be seen making money. Luckily, as a group, free coloreds were pretty good at making money. They were not the largest capitalists on the island, but they were among its most successful. RURAL E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P Colonial observerslaid...

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