The Caribbean in the Wider World, 1492–1992: A Regional Geography (Geography of the World-Economy)

The Caribbean was Europe's first colony, its landscapes transformed to produce tropical staples and its decimated aboriginal populace replaced with African slaves. As European power has waned in the Caribbean, it has been replaced by the geopolitical domination of the United States. Professor Richardson examines this colonization and recolonization of the Caribbean during the past half millennium, portraying a region victimized by natural hazards, soil erosion, overpopulation and gunboat diplomacy. Most importantly, he explains the ways in which Caribbean peoples have reacted and adapted to their external influences. No other single survey of the region provides equivalent breadth--ranging from aboriginal ecologies to today's narcotic traffic--or harnesses so effectively elements of the past to illuminate the present. Frontmatter......Page 1 Contents......Page 11 List of maps and tables......Page 13 Acknowledgements......Page 15 1 - The creation of the Caribbean......Page 17 The physical background......Page 28 Pre-Columbian ecology......Page 35 Spanish transformations......Page 39 The great clearing......Page 43 The geographical legacy......Page 49 3 - Plantations and their peoples to 1900......Page 53 Plantation fields and factories......Page 55 Trade, war, and politics......Page 65 Slavery and the slave trade......Page 77 Emancipation and its aftermath......Page 85 4 - The American century......Page 93 The Caribbean rim of Central America......Page 96 Domination of the Greater Antilles......Page 98 Revolutionary Cuba and the United States......Page 105 Military intervention in the Dominican Republic......Page 109 The Grenada invasion......Page 111 The Caribbean Basin Initiative......Page 116 The agricultural dilemma: Subsistence production versus......Page 121 cash cropping......Page 124 Minerals......Page 130 Industry......Page 135 Tourism......Page 139 The narcotics traffic......Page 142 6 - Human migrations......Page 147 The evolution of a regional migration tradition......Page 149 Twentieth-century migrations......Page 153 Migration's effects in the Caribbean......Page 163 The drift to Caribbean cities......Page 167 7 - Resistance and political independence......Page 173 Resisting slavery......Page 176 The Haitian revolution......Page 180 Insurgency in the Greater Antilles......Page 185 Riots, trade unions, and political independence in the British Caribbean......Page 193 8 - Towards a geography of Caribbean nationhood......Page 199 Caribbean control of Caribbean lands......Page 202 Overcoming insularity: The regional vision......Page 206 Coping with the wider world......Page 214 "We're in nobody's backyard"......Page 220 Bibliography......Page 223 Index......Page 240 This major textbook survey, first published in 1992, explains how the Caribbean's present geography is intimately tied to the past. The Caribbean was Europe's first colony, its landscapes transformed to produce tropical staples and its decimated aboriginal populace replaced with African slaves. As European power has waned in the Caribbean, it has been replaced by the geopolitical domination of the United States. Professor Richardson examines this colonisation and recolonisation of the Caribbean during the past half millennium, portraying a region victimised by natural hazards, soil erosion, over population and gunboat diplomacy. Most importantly, he explains the ways in which Caribbean peoples have reacted and adapted to their external influences. No other single survey of the region provides equivalent breadth - ranging from aboriginal ecologies to today's narcotic traffic - or harnesses so effectively elements of the past to illuminate the present

The Caribbean was Europe's first colony, its landscapes transformed to produce tropical staples and its decimated aboriginal populace replaced with African slaves. As European power has waned in the Caribbean, it has been replaced by the geopolitical domination of the United States. Professor Richardson examines this colonization and recolonization of the Caribbean during the past half millennium, portraying a region victimized by natural hazards, soil erosion, overpopulation and gunboat diplomacy. Most importantly, he explains the ways in which Caribbean peoples have reacted and adapted to their external influences. No other single survey of the region provides equivalent breadth—ranging from aboriginal ecologies to today's narcotic traffic—or harnesses so effectively elements of the past to illuminate the present.

For review see: Brian J. Hudson, in Caribbean Geography, vol. 3, nr. 3 (March 1992); p. 209-210; Frank L. Mills, in New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids, vol. 69, no. 3 & 4 (1995); p. 331-334 Analiza: Caribe:entorno colonizado; Plantaciones y sus gentes en 1900; El siglo americano; Dependencia económica; Resistencia e independencia política