Tropical Babylons: Sugar and the Making of the Atlantic World, 1450-1680 - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807828750 ISBN 13: 9780807828755

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2004

Synopsis

The idea that sugar, plantations, slavery, and capitalism were all present at the birth of the Atlantic world has long dominated scholarly thinking. In nine original essays by a multinational group of top scholars, Tropical Babylons re-evaluates this so-called "sugar revolution," presenting a revisionist examination of the origins of society and economy in the Atlantic world. Focusing on areas colonized by Spain and Portugal, these essays show that despite reliance on common knowledge and technology, there were considerable variations in the way sugar was produced. With studies of Iberia, Madeira and the Canary Islands, Hispaniola, Cuba, Brazil, and Barbados, this volume demonstrates the similarities and differences between plantation colonies, questions the very idea of a sugar revolution, and shows how the specific conditions in each colony influenced the way sugar was produced and the impact of that crop on the formation of "tropical Babylons" - multiracial societies of great oppression.

About this title

About the Author

Stuart B. Schwartz is George Burton Adams Professor of History and Master of Ezra Stiles College at Yale University. He is author or editor of several books, including Slaves, Peasants, and Rebels: Reconsidering Brazilian Slavery.

From the Inside Flap

This collection of original essays provides a comparative study of early Caribbean sugar economies as well as a revisionist examination of the origins of society and economy in the Atlantic world. Schwartz also examines the role of plantation colonies in the formation of multiracial, oppressive societies.

Edition details

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807828750
• ISBN 13: 9780807828755
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368
• Editor: Schwartz Stuart B.