The Past Speaks

The Caribbean and the Atlantic World Economy Circuits of Trade, Money and Knowledge, 1650-1914

This forthcoming book contains essay that should interest some business historians. Some of the contributors include some very accomplished economic historians.

This collection of essays explores the inter-imperial connections between British, Spanish, Dutch, and French Caribbean colonies, and the ‘Old World’ countries which founded them. Grounded in primary archival research, the thirteen contributors focus on the ways that participants in the Atlantic World economy transcended imperial boundaries. The volume presents linked chapters which together examine the evolving and strengthening interconnections between the changing political economies of Europe and the Caribbean during the ‘long’ eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It brings together research by well-established authors and early-career historians. Their work, and thus this volume, above all is about the historical formation of the modern political economy to which Europe and its Caribbean territories made a significant contribution. The chapters are about the exchanges and interconnections which characterised the Atlantic World; the book as a whole is about the Atlantic World’s influence on the Caribbean, and the Caribbean’s influence on the Atlantic World.

Table Of Contents
1. Experiments In Modernity: The Making Of The Atlantic World Economy; A.B. Leonard And David Pretel
2. From Seas To Ocean: Interpreting The Shift From The North Sea-Baltic World To The Atlantic, 1650-1800; David Ormrod
3. On The Rocks: A New Approach To Atlantic World Trade, 1520-1890; Chuck Meide
4. Commerce And Conflict: Jamaica And The War Of The Spanish Succession; Nula Zahedieh
5. Baltimore And The French Atlantic: Empires, Commerce, And Identity In A Revolutionary Age, 1783-1798; Manuel Covo
6. Modernity And The Demise Of The Dutch Atlantic, 1650-1914; Gert Oostindie
7. From Local To Transatlantic: Insuring Trade In The Caribbean; A.B. Leonard
8. Slavery, The British Atlantic Economy, And The Industrial Revolution; Knick Harley
9. Commodity Frontiers, Spatial Economy, And Technological Innovation In The Caribbean Sugar Industry, 1783-1878; Dale W. Tomich
10. From Periphery To Centre: Transatlantic Capital Flows, 1830-1890; Martín Rodrigo Y Alharilla
11. Baring Brothers And The Cuban Plantation Economy, 1814-1870; Inés Roldán De Montaud
12. Circuits Of Knowledge: Foreign Technology And Transnational Expertise In Nineteenth-Century Cuba; David Pretel And Nadia Fernández-De-Pinedo
13. Afterword: Mercantilism And The Caribbean Atlantic World Economy; Martin Daunton

About the editors:

David Pretel is Post-doctoral Research Fellow in Economic History at University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain, where he lectures in the history of economic thought. Previously he was Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellow in History at European University Institute in Florence, Italy. He specialises in economic history, historical political economy, and the history of technology.

Adrian Leonard is Post-doctoral Researcher at the Centre for Financial History, University of Cambridge, UK. He has written widely on topics related to marine insurance and the Atlantic World. He is co-editor of the series The Atlantic World 1400-1850 (2014), and of Questioning Credible Commitment (2013).