A Concise History of the Caribbean - 9780521043489

"A first-rate interpretive overview that at present has no equal, by a master historian and insightful scholar."---David Barry Gaspar, Duke University

"This is the best short general history available on the Caribbean, covering the area with magisterial authority as well as enviable comprehensiveness and competence."---Franklin W. Knight, Johns Hopkins University

"Au excellent comparative history by a leading historian of the Caribbean ... a perceptive analysis of West Indian people and their environment from ancient times to the present."---Kenneth Morgan, Brunel University

"In this fast-paced, compact text, the prolific B. W. Higman chronicles familiar and new life-changing episodes in the history of those who settled voluntarily or involuntarily in the complex space we call the Caribbean." - Verene A. Shepherd, Professor of Social History and University Director, Institute of Gender and Development Studies, the University of the West Indies

A Concise History of the Caribbean presents a general history of the Caribbean islands from the beginning of human settlement about seven thousand years ago to the present. It narrates processes of early human migration, the disastrous con-sequences of European colonization, the development of slavery and the slave trade, the extraordinary profits earned by the plantation economy, the great revolution in Haiti, movements toward political independence, the Cuban Revolution, and the diaspora of Caribbean people. Written in a lively and accessible style yet current with the most recent research, the book provides a compelling narrative of Caribbean history essential for students and visitors.