Edward Long

Edward Long (23 August 1734 – 13 March 1813) was a British colonial administrator and historian, and author of a highly controversial work, The History of Jamaica (1774).

Long was the fourth son of Samuel Long (1700–1757) of Longville, Jamaica, son of Charles Long MP, and his wife Mary Tate, born 23 August 1734 at St. Blazey, in Cornwall. His great-grandfather, Samuel Long, had arrived on the island in 1655 as a lieutenant in the English army of conquest, and the family established itself as part of the island's governing planter elite. His sister, Catherine Maria Long, married Sir Henry Moore, 1st Baronet (Governor of Jamaica), and Long, in Jamaica from 1757, became his private secretary.

In 1752 Long became a law student at Gray's Inn, and from 1757 until 1769 he was resident in Jamaica. During this period he explored inside the Riverhead Cave, the Runaway Bay Caves and the Green Grotto. He was judge in the local vice admiralty court, and briefly Speaker of the Assembly, elected 13 September 1768.

Long was an influential and wealthy member of British society, as well as an established Jamaican planter and slave owner. He moved permanently to England, in 1769, for health reasons.

Long died in 1813. He was a polygenist who claimed that the White race was a different species to the Black race.

Long's History of Jamaica, first published in 1774 in three volumes but again in the 1970s, was his well-known work. This book gives a political, social, and economic account with a survey of the island, parish by parish from 1665 to 1774. It is comprehensive book, yet it contains some of the most virulent and rather unflattering description of Jamaicans and Africans in general.

The book contains a racist description of American black slaves during the Age of Enlightenment. In a similar fashion to his contemporaries, Long's description of race discussed it as a 'natural state' compared to the Romantic period. Long, in his rather shocking descriptions argues that American 'Negroes' were characterised by the same "bestial manners, stupidity and vices which debase their brethren" in Africa. He maintained that 'this race of people' is distinguishable from the rest of mankind in that they embody "every species of inherent turpitude" and imperfection that can be found dispersed among all other races of men. Unlike the most "abandoned villain" to be found in civilisation, argues Long these peoples have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Such racist views were widespread among European writers at the time, some of whom used to write detailed descriptions of Africans and Africa based only on accounts of missionaries and Plantation owners. Long echoes Hume and Kant in his deeply racist descriptions of Africans and finds it astonishing that despite being subject to colonisation for a long time, the 'Negroes' have failed to demonstrate any appreciation for the arts or any inventive ability. He observes that throughout the entirety of Africa, there are few natives who "comprehend anything of mechanic arts or manufacture", and those who do, perform their work in the manner of some under-evolved ape. This is due to them being "void of genius". The book also contains descriptions of interracial marriage. In the book he included a poem by Francis Williams.

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