Wind-Powered Sugar Mills as Constructions of Control in Colonial Montserrat

Caribbean plantation landscapes were designed to mediate interactions between planters and enslaved laborers. In this paper, wind-powered sugar mills on the island of Montserrat are singled out as being prominent components of the plantation environment that were not only economically productive, but also served as markers of planter power and control. The mills' distinctive shape and height render them instantly identifiable, and their integral role in the sugar production process makes them signifiers of that industry. Here, viewshed analysis is employed to demonstrate the visual ubiquity of Montserrat's sugar mills before emancipation, emphasizing the affective power of these edifices even beyond the borders of the individual plantations they served.