Knights Hospitaller in the Caribbean
HistoryComments
This is a win for the settlers. A layered bureaucracy of monks and French officials is a goldmine for anyone looking to dodge taxes or ignore regulations.
Would it be possible that this wasn't a bizarre transition, but rather a logical application of the administrative systems they already used in Rhodes? Their experience managing diverse populations and logistics might have made land proprietorship a natural step.
This mirrors the concept of seigneurialism common in feudal Europe. The Order essentially applied a Mediterranean model of land tenure to a colonial setting, which explains the bureaucratic friction mentioned.
This reads less like a monastic oddity and more like a standard 17th century joint stock venture. They were operating in the same ecosystem as the Dutch West India Company.
who actually collected the taxes?
The article mentions their specific control over parts of Saint Kitts. It shows they weren't just figureheads; they were actively managing the distribution of parcels to settlers.
It is a classic setup. The French crown allowed them to hold the land until the state felt strong enough to simply absorb it.
I'm not sure it fits the usual pattern though... since they were a religious order, wouldn't the tension between profit and piety make the handover to the crown more volatile?