A Review of Chapters Seven and Nine of “from Columbus to Castro” by Eric Williams free essay sample

The main idea of chapter seven is how the Caribbean came to be the cock pit of European rivalry and wars in the latter parts of the fifteenth century up to the eighteenth century, an interesting tale of adventure, greed and cruelty. What William offers here is a broad overview of the history of the Caribbean, with special emphasis on England, France and Holland whom he describes as â€Å"new comers†, who through various means fair and foul, gradually suppressed Spanish territorial powers in the Caribbean region. Chapter nine discusses how sugar revolutionalised the Caribbean economy from the seventeenth century through to the eighteenth century. Assessment and Evaluation The author gives a historical antecedent of the power struggle revolving around the control of resources in the Caribbean region. He justifies this from paragraph one of chapter seven by stating that gold, sugar and slaves, the ‘Caribbean trinity’ represented an enormous accession of power and wealth. This gives the reader an idea about what he or she should In pages 69 and 70 the author gives an account of how countries like Portugal, Venice and even Columbus’ own country, Genoa, rejected his idea of finding a new route to India by going west. He vividly states that it was Spain that reached an agreement with Columbus to sponsor his voyage. This provides the reader with firsthand information of how a younger nation, Spain, became the first European country to acquire territories in the New World. The exploration of Columbus offers an understanding of how the Spaniards came to dominate the lands â€Å"discovered† by Columbus. Similarly, in pages 70 and 71, the author, in a narrative, provides his reader with an account of how the opposition to Spanish monopoly over lands in the New World started. Thus, how the protest against â€Å"Adams Will† began with the issuance of a patent to John Cabot by Henry VII, King of England, on March 5, 1496 to undertake a voyage of discovery. This date according to Eric Williams has been called the birthday of the British Empire. In fact, this date is very significant because it makes it clear for the reader to understand how the imperialist rivalry between Spain and the new comers started. With this knowledge, the reader will know that it was England that spearheaded the rivalry against Spanish imperialism. In pages 73 through 76, the author describes the three policies or methods that were adopted by England, France and the Netherlands to undermine Spanish imperialism. These were buccaneering, contraband trade and encroachment on Spanish territories. Here, the author elaborates on these three policies and shows the extent of how these policies especially buccaneering eventually became prejudicial to Spain and the governments that fostered it. He also provides the names and legacies of the men who spearheaded each of these policies. This helps the reader to know the level of influence that these men had on their various countries in their bid to get a share of ‘Adams Will’. From this, readers get an understanding of how the results of these policies affected the Spanish imperialist agenda. Eric William generally assumes his readers familiarity with sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century European history. Thus, he pre-supposes his readers knowledge of European history in some detail. In his attempt to give explanations to events and happenings in Europe that influenced or affected the history of the Caribbean, he many at times did not throw more light on some important terms and important events that he mentioned in this chapter. In page 69, paragraph 2, the first sentence the author writes is: â€Å"this imperialist rivalry was anticipated even before the voyage of Columbus†. This was after he had given a very short description of how the Caribbean islands began their association with modern society. After reading the whole chapter, the most common knowledge one gains is the fact that imperialist rivalry between Spain and other European countries started after Columbus voyage. So what one asks is; what were the reasons that supported his claim that the imperialist rivalry was anticipated even before Columbus voyage? There may have been some developments that made him come to that conclusion but he does not share that with his readers. Also in the last paragraph of page 74, Eric Williams talks about the destruction of the Spanish Armada by England in 1588. Without giving his reader any information as to what the ‘Spanish Armada’ was, he goes on further to explain how its destruction signified the supremacy of British over Spanish sea power. Since its destruction signified the beginning of English sea power, the author would have done his readers more good by giving little information about the Spanish Armada. The Armada according to Gerard S. Graham was a collection of armed transport rather than a fleet of battle ships. It was not merely a vehicle for carrying men but an instrument of seamanship designed to fight other ships at a distance. The author’s use of some complex words in the chapter makes it difficult for a reader to apprehend the complete meaning and essence of some of the sentences. Use of words such as ersatz, bulwark, cynosure and others makes it difficult for a first time reader to deduce the meaning of the author’s message. He could have used words such as ‘fake’, ‘wall’ and ‘focus’ in place of ‘ersatz’, ‘bulwark’ and ‘cynosure’ respectively which were used in Chapter seven. The history of the Caribbean is dominated by the history of sugar. Of the Caribbean trinity, sugar was the hallmark of the Caribbean economy. The overwhelming importance of sugar made it the principal economic enterprise in the Caribbean region. This is perhaps the main reason why Eric Williams dedicates a whole chapter to sugar and even personifies it as ‘king’. In page 111, the author makes mention of tobacco and cotton as the main cash crops that were cultivated by the planters in the new European territories. The author does a good job by telling his readers about how the production of sugar came to replace these two. With this, readers will know that sugar cultivation was not the first agricultural activity in the European territories. In page 112, he goes on further to inform his readers about how sugar was introduced into Barbados by the Dutch. However in his attempt to give his readers this important information, he fails to explain the ‘secrets of sugar cultivation’ which the Dutch taught the inhabitants of Barbados. These so called ‘secrets’, so important to the development of the sugar industry in Barbados ought to have been revealed by the author since it would have given a complete understanding of the transition from the cultivation of tobacco and cotton to sugar cane. In chapter nine, the author provides ample numerical data to illustrate the period. Thus the author gives an impressive collection of data. The chapter has a lot of data which one will enjoy if one wants to know how many hogsheads, tons and tierces of sugar that were exported from a particular place in a particular year. It further provides data on the acres of cultivable lands that were used in the cultivation of sugar cane. The data given in this chapter is very useful in analysing or studying the economic history of the Caribbean in this period. The provision of this data by the author is indeed significant but the chapter is occupied with endless statistics that the reader immediately forgets. Also, any casual reader might find the statistics uninteresting and may skip it. Conclusion. From the above, one realises that the author has made greater contribution to knowledge in the field of Caribbean history. This is not to say that there are no set backs in the work produced by the author. The author’s choice of words in this book can be a discouraging factor for any reader of this book. There is little or no sense of humour in his sentences which can be attributed to the times in which he wrote the book. We therefore suggest that a revision of the book be made and if possible, an abridged version be published. This, we think will increase the number of interested readers of the book and reduce its limitation to academic users. Overall, this is an important book. It has many significant insights but it is not an easy read. Admittedly, it took a while to get through. Nevertheless, we recommend this book to anyone who wants to gain or broaden his knowledge about Caribbean history.