Description
A pioneering examination of the role smuggling played in the transformation of Spanish Caribbean society and culture in the seventeenth century.
About the Author
Juan Jose Ponce Vazquez is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Alabama.
Reviews
'Islands and Empire is an important contribution to the growing literature on the Caribbean during the long seventeenth century. This deeply researched and well written study of the social and economic smuggling networks on Hispaniola shows how royal officials and local elites on the island confounded the Crown's attempts to enforce mercantilist controls.' Jane Landers, Gertrude Conway Vanderbilt Professor of History, Vanderbilt University
'Working from a difficult archival base with incredible imagination and care, Smugglers and Empire reconstructs stratifications - and freedoms - made within a world shaped by extralegal trade. Ponce Vazquez helps to reframe narratives not only of the early colonial Caribbean, seen from Santo Domingo, but also all of the plantation struggles that were yet to come.' Anne Eller, Associate Professor of History, Yale University
'Through an innovative investigation of smuggling, this deeply researched book asks us to reconsider subjecthood in the Spanish Empire. Ponce Vazquez convincingly argues that illicit commerce enabled Santo Domingo's inhabitants to consolidate control over colonial government, redefine their relationships with foreigners and the Spanish monarchy, and selectively disobey royal orders.' Jesse Cromwell, Associate Professor of History, University of Mississippi
'A century after Columbus conquered Hispaniola, the crown rerouted the silver fleets away from Santo Domingo. The impoverished island thus became the hub of a vast, grassroots, intra- and trans-imperial smuggling network. Islanders and Empire is a fascinating, crisply written, richly researched book on the political economy of smuggling and the making of a decentralized, Creole-ruled American Spanish Empire.' Jorge Canizares-Esguerra, Alice Drysdale Sheffield Professor of History, University of Texas-Austin
'... draw[s] attention to important yet understudied periods of Haiti's history.' Crystal Eddins, Haiti's New Political Worlds
Book Information
ISBN 9781108477659
Author Juan Jose Ponce Vazquez
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 640g
Dimensions(mm) 150mm * 230mm * 20mm