This bottling is a tribute to the indomitable spirit of Yon, an Arawak woman whose courage led to a landmark legal victory – the earliest documented successful litigated case for manumission in 17th-century Barbados. For the first time in 370 years we are bringing her story into the broader public. Her story is one of profound agency, resilience against systemic injustice, and a fight that makes her a pioneering figure in the island’s history.
The name Yon is a nickname that is derived from the Arawak word Ayon, meaning high, and would have referred to her high character and moral standing. It is fitting for the story that we are about to tell.
The Rum:
We chose a uniquely fruity Foursquare 2006 to pair with Yon’s tale. With 14 years of tropical ageing and another 4 years (just shy of 5) of continental ageing both in ex-bourbon casks. Bottled at a respectable cask strength of 56.7% abv.
Tasting notes
On the nose: Leather wax, varnish, hard boiled sweets, werther’s, sparkling mineral water, marzipan, quince jam and uncooked buttery pastry in no particular order.
One the palate: The entry has all of the rummy goodness we come to expect from the Foursquare distillery with those lovely sweet wood tannins. This quickly gives way to the initial swell, and with it comes a basket of red fruit and some subtle elegant floral notes. On the swallow, the second swell arises from the back taking over the whole mouth with cherries and forest fruits. This then evolves into a dance between those same fruits and marzipan with some very subtle hints of bitterness peeking in occasionally to round things off in a medium to long finish. It definitely feels a little weightier than the abv suggests and its a more rewarding undulating journey as a consequence.
The words volatility, evolution and deliciousness come to mind.
Yon: a story of sugar cane and freedom
Captain Henry Powell, on behalf of Sir William Courteen (as part of an Anglo-Dutch enterprise), arrived in February 1627 to establish a colony. Recognizing the settlers’ unfamiliarity with cultivating tropical crops, Powell sailed to the Essequibo in Guyana. The Dutch Governor there, Groenewegen, an acquaintance of Powell, facilitated the English captain’s efforts, permitting interaction with the local Indigenous populations. Captain Powell then dealt directly with the Lokono-Arawak people, trading with them for all the diverse plants and seeds deemed necessary for the new Barbadian settlement. Powell’s Quarter Master refers to the place where they met with the Lokono as Aronooto, which some historians translated as Orinoco, however it may actually refer to the Arawak term Arantato which would mean the ‘mixing place’, a place where the Lokono would create a temporary settlement for trading purposes.
As Powell’s ship was departing, three canoes carrying Arawaks with whom he had traded followed him downriver to the river’s mouth. Desiring to speak with him, they met ashore on a small island. Powell recorded that these Arawaks, perceiving he was establishing a new settlement, expressed their desire to accompany him. They offered to go to Barbados as free people, under specific conditions: they requested a piece of land to manure the fruits they would bring and to establish a consistent trade between Barbados and their homeland on the Main, indicating that many more of their people might follow. Powell agreed and 30 to 40 Lokono accompanied him, arriving in Barbados around May 1627, promising to teach the English settlers how to grow the crops that they sold them. In reality such a large number of the village would not just up and leave by themselves, this was coordinated by their Chief, and based on Major Scott’s telling of events this move was also likely coordinated with Governor Groenewegen. The fact that they intended to set up trade relations with the English and that intended to bring over more people if successful only confirms the involvement of the Hereditary Chief.
They brought a treasure trove of plants, including cassava, yams, Indian corn, plantains, bananas, citrus fruits, pineapples, cotton, tobacco, and, crucially, the very first sugarcane stalks to the island. A formal agreement was made, based on their requests and Powell’s undertakings, that should they wish to return to Essequibo after some years, they would be transported back with a reward of fifty pounds sterling in goods.
For a brief period, this agreement was honoured. The Arawaks had their own settlement, and in turn they taught the English how to plant both food and cash crops, prepare food without poisoning themselves (e.g. cassava), make alcohol and a host of other skills they would need to not just thrive but survive. According to an oral tradition passed down through the descendants of the very first Africans enslaved on Barbados, recorded in 1740 by Griffith Hughes, “before the country was cleared from woods there was an Indian town near a pond, in his estate in the Parish of St. Michael, which place to this, day Is called the Indian Pond…” . Some details of Hughes oral account do not match other historical records, but the existence of an “Indian town” near a man-made clay reservoir called “Indian Pond” perhaps gives some clue as to where this Lokono-Arawak Settlement was [Griffith Hughes]. The reference to this being on Tunckes estate would place this (potential location of the Arawak settlement) on or around the modern day Waterford Estate in St. Michael. Captain Henry Powell himself attested that when he departed Barbados in 1629, the Arawaks remained free people. However, the volatile political landscape of early colonial Barbados, marked by the proprietary dispute between Courteen and the Earl of Carlisle, led to a devastating betrayal. New English governors repudiated Powell’s agreement. When the Arawaks asserted their contractual rights, they were forcibly enslaved around 1629-1630, their families cruelly separated. One Arawak managed to escape, on a Dutch ship back to Essequibo, his testimony of their treatment causing significant diplomatic issues for Governor Groenewegen with the mainland Arawaks. By 1636, the de facto enslavement was codified in a resolution from the Carlisle Governor, Henry Hawley and his council, stating that “Negroes and Indians, that came here to be sold, should serve for life, unless a contract was before made to the contrary”.
A smallish aside as to where the Arawaks obtained sugar cane and how it was used by them. The Arawaks obtained their sugar cane through Amerindian trading networks that brought it up from Brazil, and it is entirely plausible that they started growing sugar cane decades before Powells arrival in 1627 (it goes without saying that the Dutch had no sugar plantations in Essequibo at this point). Robert Harcourt’s 1603 account lends support to both of those assertions. He references there being a “great plenty” of “Suger-canes” on the Guyanese coast (he is mainly in modern day French Guyana) and that the greatest store of sugar cane is found between Cayenne and “Cassipurogh”. This early account supports the coastal area as the Indigenous trading root for sugar cane, as well as early Indigenous cultivation of it. However, given there is no record of Arawak sugar production, then how was this cane used? Primarily for two purposes; as a quick source of energy when doing other work (i.e. stripped and chewed on), or it was pressed and fermented to make a drink referred to as warap. So we can assume, once the Lokono-Arawaks brought the cane to Barbados and began cultivating it, that it was similarly used to make a fermented alcoholic beverage. I believe this to be the beverage referred to as grippo or crippo in various colonial texts. According to N Darnell Davis “the sugar cane had been introduced by Captain Powell in 1627, with other plants from the Essequibo, but the juice seems only to have been used for making some kind of drink that would be refreshing in a hot climate.” This is further supported by the linguistic similarities between grippo/crippo and the Guyanese early fermented sugar cane (more precisely made from skimmings) drink graap/craap which is derived from the Indigenous word warap, and the Brazilian early fermented sugar cane (skimmings) drink garapa/garapo which is derived from the old Tupi Ûarapa (the term Guarapo was also used throughout parts of Latin America, e.g. Peru, to refer to fermented sugar cane juice and may have its origins in the Quechua language in the word warapu). And given the existence of other Indigenous drinks on the plantations such as mobbie and piwarri, and the well-established history of Indigenous women making drinks on plantations as they do in their own communities, we can confidently be assured of the importance of specifically Amerindian/Indigenous fermentation of sugar cane in pre-distillation and early distillation plantation societies in the aforementioned colonies, Barbados included. This would place Amerindian women’s fermentation knowledge as foundational to the development of sugar cane spirits in the new world including rum. (Much more can also be said on the links between the etymology of molasses, molasses fermentation and fermented drinks in Kongo and what is known in present day as Gabon, but this is entirely out of scope)
For nearly a quarter of a century, Yon and her Arawak kin endured this profound betrayal, their lives and labour stolen in the very land they had helped to cultivate. The children born into this captivity, including Yon’s own, grew up knowing only the harsh realities of enslavement. By 1652 the Yon was the only surviving member of the original group. Her, her three children and a young boy named ‘Barbadoes’ at the fort all owned by Colonel Thomas Ellis. Ligon places Ellis’ land/plantation some small way back from Chalkie Mount in St Andrew. 1652 is also the year that we first find evidence that Yon had enlisted the help of a Mr Cole to litigate for her Freedom. The pair had deposed Captain Powell, now in England, to provide his attestation of their original status as free people who came to assist the English, which he happily did.
The attempt in 1652 was scuppered, however, by Colonel Ellis, a Royalist (rebellion leader), being temporarily banished from Barbados by the new pro-parliamentarian Assembly [N Darnell Davis] [State Papers Colonial] and thus not being able to show up to defend himself and did not send a representative in his stead. And in fact the case could have been purposefully timed to coincide with when Colonel Ellis’ political influence was at its lowest point, as pre-rebellion he was highly influential, serving multiple terms on the council and even serving as Justice in 1631 [Narrangansett historical register]. A Colonel Ellis that was considered an enemy of the state, was much easier to beat in court than one that was part of Barbados’ governing structure. In any case, Governor Searle postponed the trial until 1654. According to Jerome Handler, starting on September 5th 1654 we start to see entries in the minutes of the Barbados council pertaining to Yon’s case [Handler].
Despite Colonel Ellis’ diminished political status, an enslaved person litigating for their freedom in a colonial court of law (or in the Barbados Council in this case) would face almost impossible odds. Getting your case heard in the first place was extremely difficult in a system that depended on the suppression of your rights. The testimony of an enslaved person counted for nothing, as did verbal assurances of freedom in general, even when there were multiple witnesses to call upon. Formal documentation was required, be it a will or a deed of manumission. In Yon’s case the written deposition/petition of Henry Powell was critical and it exposes her likely legal pathway to victory. The 1636 resolution that “Negroes and Indians, that came here to be sold, should serve for life, unless a contract was before made to the contrary” in combination with Powell testifying the fact that Yon and the others came over with a formal contract with him, and that it was subsequent English governors who did not honour this, suggests that this was the legal strategy. Whilst the Arawaks did not have a formal legal system, they did have a three tier dispute resolution system (with the highest tier being the dispute being heard by the Hereditary Chief) that was centred around maintaining and repairing the relationships involved. As such this legal case would have been a last resort, and she would have made a number of attempts to engage with Captain Ellis in good faith, appealing to his humanity and his honour.
In early 1655, Yon’s tenacity and the irrefutable truth of her claim led to a monumental victory. After a full hearing, Yon, her three children, and the boy Barbadoes were legally declared free, an affirmation of their original rights.
We do not know whether Yon and the children made it home to Essequibo or stayed to live out their lives in Barbados as free people. The triumph of Yon and the Lokono children is the earliest documented successful litigation resulting in freedom through the Barbados Council in the 17th century. This landmark achievement distinguishes Yon as a figure of immense courage and historical significance, a woman who, against overwhelming odds, successfully challenged the colonial infrastructure, secured liberty for her family and restored honour to her people. Her story is one that deserves to be remembered and demands to be told.
Key Sources:
Timehri being the journal of the royal agricultural and commercial society of British Guyana vol V 1891 p.51-60
Timehri being the journal of the royal agricultural and commercial society of British Guyana vol VI 1892 p. 327-349
Jerome S Handler – The Amerindian slave population of Barbados in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries 1969
Jerome S Handler – Amerindians and their contributions to Barbadian life in the seventeenth century 1977
Robert Harcourt – A relation of a voyage to Guiana
Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 1, 1574-1660. Various entries
N. Darnell Davis – The Cavaliers & Roundheads of Barbados, 1650-1652
Griffith Hughes – The natural history of Barbados – In ten books
Damon Corrie – Hereditary Chief and Faithkeeper of the Eagle Clan Arawaks
Further Reading
A new book detailing the long but largely forgotten Lokono Arawak history of Barbados written by Hereditary Chief and Faithkeeper of the Eagle Clan Arawaks
The Forgotten Lokono Arawak History of Barbados – by Damon Corrie
Henry Powell’s Petition in full:
