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France and the American Tropics to 1700

Tropics of Discontent?

Philip P. Boucher

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Traditionally, the story of the Greater Caribbean has been dominated by the narrative of Iberian hegemony, British colonization, the plantation regime, and the Haitian Revolution of the eighteenth century. Relatively little is known about the society and culture of this region—and particularly France's role in them—in the two centuries prior to the rise of the plantation complex of the eighteenth century. Here, historian Philip P. Boucher offers the first comprehensive account of colonization and French society in the Caribbean.

Boucher's analysis contrasts the structure and character of the...

Traditionally, the story of the Greater Caribbean has been dominated by the narrative of Iberian hegemony, British colonization, the plantation regime, and the Haitian Revolution of the eighteenth century. Relatively little is known about the society and culture of this region—and particularly France's role in them—in the two centuries prior to the rise of the plantation complex of the eighteenth century. Here, historian Philip P. Boucher offers the first comprehensive account of colonization and French society in the Caribbean.

Boucher's analysis contrasts the structure and character of the French colonies with that of other colonial empires. Describing the geography, topography, climate, and flora and fauna of the region, Boucher recreates the tropical environment in which colonists and indigenous peoples interacted. He then examines the lives and activities of the region's inhabitants—the indigenous Island Caribs, landowning settlers, indentured servants, African slaves, and people of mixed blood, the gens de couleur. He argues that the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were not merely a prelude to the classic plantation regime model. Rather, they were an era presenting a variety of possible outcomes. This original narrative demonstrates that the transition to sugar and the plantation complex was more gradual in the French properties than generally depicted—and that it was not inevitable.

Reviews

Reviews

A serious, richly detailed scholarly study that has an important place in the historiography of slavery.

An important addition to the literature on Caribbean history and colonial societies in the 17th century.

Boucher writes with full sensitivity to the complex religious politics of France and Europe... fine book.

France and the American Tropics to 1700 draws on its author’s lifelong study of France in America. It offers an authoritative and readable account of the period which is sure to become recognised as the standard work on the subject in English. It is a very valuable contribution to the historiography of the Caribbean.

This book is a rich—indeed invaluable—resource, one which will hopefully spur on a new generation of historians to wander back into this fascinating and startling period of encounter, devastation, change, and creation.

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Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
392
ISBN
9780801887260
Illustration Description
25 line drawings
Table of Contents

Preface
List of French Colonial and Commercial Companies Discussed
Introduction
1. At the Dawn of French Colonization: The Greater Caribbean
2. French Challenges to Iberian Hegemony in America up to 1625
3

Preface
List of French Colonial and Commercial Companies Discussed
Introduction
1. At the Dawn of French Colonization: The Greater Caribbean
2. French Challenges to Iberian Hegemony in America up to 1625
3. Frontiers of Fortune? The Painful Era of Settlement, 1620s to 1640s
4. Frontiers of Fortune? The Era of the Proprietors, 1649 to 1664
5. Frontier-Era Free Society: The 1620s to the 1660s
6. Frontier-Era Society: The World of Coerced Labor
7. The Transformation from Settlements to Colonies Begins: The 1660s to the 1670s
8. The Sun King Asserts Control: The 1680s to the 1690s
9. Island Society from the 1660s to the 1690s: The Habitants
10. Island Society from the 1660s to the 1690s: The World of Coerced Labor
Conclusion
Notes
Index

Author Bio
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Philip P. Boucher

Philip P. Boucher is Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and author of France and the American Tropics to 1700: Tropics of Discontent? also published by Johns Hopkins.
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