An introduction to the rich history and culture of the Greater
Caribbean--the wealthiest region in British America.
In Hubs of Empire, Matthew Mulcahy argues that it is useful to view
Barbados, Jamaica, and the British Leeward Islands, along with the South
Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry, as a single region. Separated by
thousands of miles of ocean but united by shared history and economic
interest, these territories formed the Greater Caribbean.
Although the Greater Caribbean does not loom large in the historical
imaginations of many Americans, it was the wealthy center of Britain's
Atlantic economy. Large-scale plantation slavery first emerged in
Barbados, then spread throughout the sugar islands and the southeastern
mainland colonies, allowing planters to acquire fortunes and influence
unmatched elsewhere--including the tobacco colonies of Maryland and
Virginia.
Hubs of Empire begins in the sixteenth century by providing readers
with a broad overview of Native American life in the region and early
pirate and privateer incursions. Mulcahy examines the development of
settler colonies during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries,
explores diverse groups of European colonists, and surveys political,
economic, and military issues in the decades before the Seven Years War.
The plantation system achieved its fullest and harshest manifestation in
the Greater Caribbean. The number of slaves and the scale of the slave
trade meant that enslaved Africans outnumbered Europeans in all of the
affiliated colonies, often by enormous ratios. This enabled Africans to
maintain more of their traditions, practices, and languages than in
other parts of British America, resulting in distinct, creole cultures.
This volume is an ideal introduction to the complex and fascinating
history of colonies too often neglected in standard textbook accounts.
