Mosquito Empires: Ecology and War in the Greater Caribbean, 1620-1914 (New Approaches to the Americas)

"This book explores the links among ecology, disease, and international politics in the context of the Greater Caribbean - the landscapes lying between Surinam and the Chesapeake - in the seventeenth through early twentieth centuries. Ecological changes made these landscapes especially suitable for the vector mosquitoes of yellow fever and malaria, and these diseases wrought systematic havoc among armies and would-be settlers. Because yellow fever confers immunity on survivors of the disease, and because malaria confers resistance, these diseases played partisan roles in the struggles for empire and revolution, attacking some populations more severely than others. In particular, yellow fever and malaria attacked newcomers to the region, which helped keep the Spanish Empire Spanish in the face of predatory rivals in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. In the late eighteenth and through the nineteenth century, these diseases helped revolutions to succeed by decimating forces sent out from Europe to prevent them"--Provided by publisher. Half-title 3 Series-title 5 Title 7 Copyright 8 Dedication 9 Contents 11 List of Maps 13 List of Abbreviations Used in the Footnotes 15 Preface 17 Acknowledgments 19 Chapter One: The Argument (and Its Limits) in Brief 21 The Argument 22 The Limits of the Argument 25 The Limits of the Novelty of the Argument 28 Part One: Setting the Scene 33 Chapter Two: Atlantic Empires and Caribbean Ecology 35 Atlantic American Geopolitics, 1620–1820 35 Ecological Transformation in the Caribbean, 1640–1750 42 Sugar revolutions and demography 43 Sugar revolutions and creole ecology 46 Yellow Fever and Caribbean Ecology 52 Yellow jack and black vomit: symptoms and susceptibility 53 Yellow fever mortality 57 Yellow Fever Transmission and Immunity 60 Yectors of the caribbean: aedes aegypti 60 Yellow fever immunity 64 Sylvan yellow fever 67 Epidemic Yellow Fever and Plantation Sugar 67 Malaria, Mosquitoes, and Plantations of Sugar and Rice 72 Climate Change, El Niño, Mosquitoes, and Epidemics 78 Conclusion 80 Chapter Three: Deadly Fevers, Deadly Doctors 83 Early Yellow Fever Epidemics and Their Victims 84 A Virulent Strain of Medicine 88 Medical ideas 89 Medical practices: venesection and the bark 92 Preventive medicine 98 Afro-caribbean medicine 101 Conclusion 106 Part Two: Imperial Mosquitoes 109 Chapter Four: Fevers Take Hold: From Recife to Kourou 111 The Dutch in Brazil, 1624–1654 112 The dutch assault on brazil 112 Dutch health in brazil 115 The English in Jamaica, 1655–1660 117 Cromwell's assault on spanish jamaica 118 The toll from disease 120 Clues and diagnosis: cattle, mosquitoes, englishmen, and malaria 122 A new regime 124 The Scots at Darien, 1698–1699 125 The cold and hungry 1690s in scotland 126 The first voyage 129 The second voyage 137 Aftermath and diagnosis 139 The French at Kourou, 1763–1764 143 Kourou in the eighteenth century 144 Choiseul's plan 146 Settlement and sickness 149 Diagnosis and aftermath 152 Conclusion 155 Chapter Five: Yellow Fever Rampant and British Ambition Repulsed, 1690–1780 157 Yellow Fever and the Defense of the Spanish Empire 157 Fortification and disease 158 Garrisons and diseases 162 The Deadly 1690s 164 Siege Ecology at Cartagena, 1741 169 Admiral vernon goes to the caribbean 173 The spanish defense at cartagena 175 Death at guantánamo, 1741 184 Reckoning dead, 1740–1742 186 The Seven Years’ War and the Siege Ecology of Havana, 1762 189 The british amphibious expedition 190 Havana and its defenses 192 Yellow fever at havana before 1762 195 The siege 198 Aftermath: death in havana and peace in 1763 203 Conclusion 208 Part Three: Revolutionary Mosquitoes 213 Chapter Six: Lord Cornwallis vs. Anopheles quadrimaculatus, 1780–1781 215 Introduction 215 Slave Risings and Surinam's Maroons 215 Revolution and Malaria in the Southern Colonies 218 Malaria vs. smallpox in the american revolution 220 The southern strategy and the american revolution 222 The carolinas and their mosquitoes 223 Malaria, malaria resistance, and malaria awareness 227 Malaria vs. the british army in the southern colonies, 1780–1781 229 Yorktown 240 Conclusion 252 Chapter Seven: Revolutionary Fevers, 1790–1898: Haiti, New Granada, and Cuba 255 St. Domingue, 1790–1804 256 Population and society 257 The disease environment 258 Yellow fever in st. domingue 260 The haitian revolution begins 262 The british in st. domingue, 1793–1798 264 Toussaint louverture 269 Leclerc 271 War fevers 272 Reckoning dead 278 The genius of toussaint 280 Aftermath 285 New Granada, 1815–1820 287 Revolution in spanish america 288 Fervor and fevers in new granada, 1808–1815 290 War to the death 296 Arithmetic and aftermath 303 Immigration, Warfare, and Independence, 1830–1898: Mexico, the United States, and Cuba 307 Cuba: a ghastly little war 315 Conclusion 323 Chapter Eight: Conclusion: Vector and Virus Vanquished, 1880–1914 324 The Argument Recapitulated 324 Vector and Virus Vanquished 326 Cuba and yellow fever control, 1898–1900 326 Panama 328 Disease and Power 332 Bibliography 335 Manuscript Sources 335 Books, Dissertations, and Articles (mainly since 1850) 346 Index 383 9780521452861 This book explores the links among ecology, disease, and international politics in the context of the Greater Caribbean - the landscapes lying between Suriname and the Chesapeake - in the seventeenth through early twentieth centuries. Ecological changes made these landscapes especially suitable for the vector mosquitoes of yellow fever and malaria, and these diseases wrought systematic havoc among armies and would-be settlers. Because yellow fever confers immunity on survivors of the disease, and because malaria confers resistance, these diseases played partisan roles in the struggles for empire and revolution, attacking some populations more severely than others Machine generated contents note: Part I. Setting the Scene: 1. The argument: mosquito determinism and its limits; 2. Atlantic empires and Caribbean ecology; 3. Deadly fevers, deadly doctors; Part II. Imperial Mosquitoes: 4. From Recife to Kourou: yellow fever takes hold, 1620-1764; 5. Cartagena and Havana: yellow fever rampant; Part III. Revolutionary Mosquitoes: 6. Lord Cornwallis vs. anopheles quadrimaculatus, 1780-1781; 7. Revolutionary fevers: Haiti, New Granada, and Cuba, 1790-1898; 8. Epilogue: vector and virus vanquished.