In Mansfield Park written by Jane Austen, Antigua is only mentioned a few times but it plays such a large role in the plot and the Bertram Family. I was curious to know more about this place and what kind of business was being conducted there. Some background and information on this Island will be helpful for readers to gain a better understanding of Sir Thomas's activities and motives. 

The Island itself is located southeast of Florida and the Dominican Republic. For hundreds of years the island of Anitgua was inhabited solely by slaves. It was disocevered by Christopher Clumbus during his second voyage. (Antigua Colony) Not until the year 1632 was it claimed by England and there was an increase in slaves once England took control. The main crop on Antigua was sugar and this was made popular by the first plantation owner named sir Christopher Codrington. There were other crops grown such as tobacco and indigo. Slavery was big in Antigua and it lasted for over a hundred years from 1700-1834. (History of Antigua and Barbuda) We can assume that Sir Thomas participated in the slave trade and growing crops on the island. As a reader this made me see him differently. (Deb) Slavery was so important to him that he left his family for months to teach his eldest son the trade. "Sir Thomas found it expedient to go to Antigua himself, for the better arrangements of his affairs... probability of being nearly a twelvemonth absent." (Austen) 

It is unclear how Jane Austen feels about slavery herself and stays aloof to the subject through her novel. It is oftentimes spoken of how dangerous traveling to Antigua was. I wonder if there were slave uprisings and insurrection at the time the novel takes place in 1808. Slave trade was abolished in 1807, just the year before. Plantation owners had to find laborers to work their fields and this could have caused trouble for Sir Thomas and could have been his reason for leaving. "...as his own circumstances were rendered less fair than heretofore, by some recent losses on his West Indie Estate." (Austen) While the troubles Sir Thomas were facing were never spoken about explicitly, it is implied that it is related to his plantations and slaves. "...such an absence not only long, but including so many dangers." (Austen) 

I do not believe Sir Thomas to be a terrible person necessarily, nor do I believe the reader is supposed to dislike him. Slavery was extremely common at the time, however this does not make owning slaves acceptable. But as for the rest of the story he is a kind and patient father and uncle. I think knowing all this information about Sir Thomas certainly puts him and the rest of the Bertram family in a new light. I  wish we could have received a closer look at his dealings in Antigua to identify what kind of man and master he was. Overall I think Antigua and slavery play a very large role in this story even though the reader never actually travels there. History and background is very beneficial for the future understanding of Sir Thomas's absence from the family for so long.

Sources

“History of Antigua and Barbuda.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Feb. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Antigua_and_Barbuda. 

Deb, BookLady. “Quoting Jane Austen's Mansfield Park ~ the Issue of Slavery and the Slave Trade.” Jane Austen in Vermont, 29 Aug. 2014, https://janeausteninvermont.blog/2014/08/28/quoting-jane-austens-mansfie...

“Antigua Colony.” The British Empire, https://www.britishempire.co.uk/maproom/antigua.htm.