If anyone can point me to a book on 17-18th (1650-1750) century Caribbean history, you would be forever in my debt.
I have been doing a lot of reading on piracy during this era, but seem to be at a total loss when trying to learn about colonial rule during this time. If anyone can answer, or point me towards reading that would answer the following questions it would be greatly appreciated.
Did England, France, and Spain all have the same economic drivers in the West Indies (sugar trade) or did they each have unique economies for their Caribbean colonies?
It seems the main powerbrokers in the region were the French and English. The Dutch didn't have enough of a naval presence to fight in the area, and mostly focused on smaller colonies in the lower antilles. Is this a correct assumption? Was there a singular most powerful nation in the Caribbean?
Following the previous question, did the Spanish try to exert the same military and naval presence in the Caribbean as the French and English, or were Cuba and Puerto Rico merely staging grounds for their mining operations in Central America and Florida?
Was there "free trade" between the colonies, or did English, French, and Spanish colonies have no contact with each other (besides military contact)
How did the internal policies differ between the European nations in regards to their Caribbean holdings?
Hey. The broader Caribbean isn't exactly my field, but I'm more than happy to point you towards some bibliography on it.
Note: If I add an * next to a title, it means that I haven't personally read it but have seen it come highly recommended from serious scholars or cited in serious texts that I have read.
-The Caribbean: A History of the Region and Its Peoples, edited volume.*
-The Cambridge History of Latin America [multiple volumes], edited by Leslie Bethell. [here you'd look up the pertinent pages ]
-Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America 1492-1830, J.H. Elliot.
-Entangled Empires: The Anglo-Iberian Atlantic, 1500-1830.* [literally just bought this, but haven't had a chance to get around to it]
-Oxford History of France: Old Regime France: 1648-1788 by William Doyle. [has chapter on France's overseas possessions]
-The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall 1477-1806 (Oxford History of Early Modern Europe) by Jonathan Isreael.*
-Sweetness & Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History by Sidney Mintz.
-Capitalism & Slavery by Eric Williams.
This would be a good place to start.
If you don't get a good answer here, try asking this again in the Thursday Sources thread in a couple days. people are more likely to give you a quick steer towards a good work in that thread.