Research Catalog
The English conquest of Jamaica : Oliver Cromwell's bid for empire
- Title
- The English conquest of Jamaica : Oliver Cromwell's bid for empire / Carla Gardina Pestana.
- Author
- Pestana, Carla Gardina
- Publication
- Cambridge, Massachusetts : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2017.
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person. | Text | Use in library | JFE 17-4466 | Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315 |
Details
- Description
- 362 pages : illustrations, maps; 25 cm
- Summary
- In 1654, England's Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell conceived a plan of breathtaking ambition: the conquest of Spain's vast American empire. As the first phase of his Western Design, a large expedition sailed to the West Indies, under secret orders to take Spanish colonies. The English Conquest of Jamaica presents entrenched imperial fantasies confronting Caribbean realities. It captures the moment when the revolutionary English state first became a major player in the Atlantic arena. Although capturing Jamaica was supposed to be only the first step in Cromwell's scheme, even that relatively modest acquisition proved difficult. The English badly underestimated the myriad challenges they faced, starting with the unexpectedly fierce resistance offered by the Spanish and other residents who tenaciously defended their island. After sixteen long years Spain surrendered Jamaica and acceded to an English presence in the Americas in the 1670 Treaty of Madrid. But by then, other goals--including profit through commerce rather than further conquest--had superseded the vision behind the Western Design. Carla Gardina Pestana situates Cromwell's imperial project in the context of an emerging Atlantic empire as well as the religious strife and civil wars that defined seventeenth-century England. Though falling short of its goal, Cromwell's plan nevertheless reshaped England's Atlantic endeavors and the Caribbean region as a whole. Long before sugar and slaves made Jamaica Britain's most valuable colony, its acquisition sparked conflicts with other European powers, opened vast tropical spaces to exploitation by the purportedly industrious English, and altered England's engagement with the wider world.--
- Subjects
- Spain
- Great Britain
- Jamaica
- Spain > Foreign relations > Great Britain
- Great Britain > Politics and government > 1660-1688
- Diplomatic relations
- Jamaica > History > To 1962
- Politics and government
- Jamaica > Colonization
- History
- Cromwell, Oliver, 1599-1658
- Colonization
- Great Britain > Foreign relations > 1603-1688
- British colonies
- America
- Great Britain > Colonies > America
- Great Britain > Foreign relations > Spain
- Great Britain > History > Commonwealth and Protectorate, 1649-1660
- To 1962
- Genre/Form
- History.
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-347) and index.
- Contents
- Preparation -- Expectations -- Hispaniola -- Failure -- Jamaica -- Imagining -- Surviving -- Conquering -- Settling.
- Call Number
- JFE 17-4466
- ISBN
- 9780674737310
- 0674737318
- LCCN
- 2016043267
- OCLC
- 959648873
- Author
- Pestana, Carla Gardina, author.
- Title
- The English conquest of Jamaica : Oliver Cromwell's bid for empire / Carla Gardina Pestana.
- Publisher
- Cambridge, Massachusetts : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2017.
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-347) and index.
- Chronological Term
- To 1962
- Research Call Number
- JFE 17-4466