Between 1737 and 1746, James Knight—a merchant, planter, and sometime Crown official and legislator in Jamaica—wrote a massive two-volume history of the island. The first volume provided a narrative of the colony’s development up to the mid-1740s, while the second offered a broad survey of most aspects of Jamaican life as it had developed by the third and fourth decades of the eighteenth century. Completed not long before his death in the winter of 1746–47 and held in the British Library, this work is now published for the first time. Well researched and intelligently critical, Knight’s work is not only the most comprehensive account of Jamaica’s ninety years as an English colony ever written; it is also one of the best representations of the provincial mentality as it had emerged in colonial British America between the founding of Virginia and 1750. Expertly edited and introduced by renowned scholar Jack Greene, this volume represents a colonial Caribbean history unique in its contemporary perspective, detail, and scope.
Cuprins
Acknowledgments
Editorial Conventions
Note on Images
James Knight and His History
Preface
Introduction
1. The Etymology of the word Jamaica; and the Discovery of the Island by Christopher Columbus. Some account of the Native Indians, before they were Subdued and Extirpated by the Spaniards; with such other Occurrences, as happened, while it was in their possession.
2. Of the Expedition and miscarriage of the Design against St. Domingo; The conquest of Jamaica by the English, and such other Occurrences as happened before the Restoration of King Charles the Second, or any form of Civil Government was Established.
3. Of the Administration of the Severall Governors of Jamaica. The Origin and Exploits of the Privateers Commonly Called Buccaniers and all the Other Remarkable Transactions by Sea and Land, which happened during the Respective Governments.
4. A Geographical Description of the Island, with its Mountains, Mines, Plains, Towns, Precincts, Harbours, Bays, Fortifications and Buildings, together with the Territories thereone depending.
5. Of The Climate, Air, Seasons, Winds, Weather, Currents, Water and Rivers; as also of the Diseases and Distempers Most Frequent in Jamaica, and Other Parts of the West Indies.
6. Of the Inhabitants, Masters, Servants, and Negroes; Their Number, Strength and Manner of living; as Also an Account of the Negroes, who were many Years in Rebellion, and Settled in the Mountains, together with the Treaty made with Them in 1738, upon which They submitted, and became Free Subjects of Great Britain.
7. Of the Government of the Island, Civil and Military, of the Laws; Courts of Justice; Publick Offices; Revenues, and Church Affairs; with some Observations thereupon.
8. Of the Soil and Productions, the Manner of Planting Sugar Canes, and Making of Sugar, Rum, and Indigo; Also Cocoa, Coffee, Ginger, Piemento, Cotton, and other Commodities, that are or May be Produced in Jamaica.
9. Of Beasts, Birds, Fishes, and Other Animals, and Insects in Jamaica.
10. Of the Situation and Natural Advantages of Jamaica, and the Trade thereof to and from Great Britain, Ireland, Africa, the Plantations in North America, and other Parts, with some Observations and Proposals, for their Encouragement, Improvement and Security.
Those Other English Colonies: The Historiography of Jamaica in the Time of James Knight
List of Illustrations
Index
Despre autor
Jack P. Greene is Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities Emeritus at Johns Hopkins University and author of Settler Jamaica in the 1750s: A Social Portrait (Virginia).
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