The Caribbean before Columbus is a new synthesis of the region's insular history. It combines the results of the authors' 55 years of archaeological research on almost every island in the three archipelagoes with that of their numerous colleagues and collaborators. The presentation operates on multiple scales: temporal, spatial, local, regional, environmental, social, and political. In addition, individual sites are used to highlight specific issues. For the first time, the complete histories of the major islands and island groups are elucidated, and new insights are gained through inter-island comparisons. The book takes a step back from current debates regarding nomenclature to offer a common foundation and the opportunity for a fresh beginning. In this regard the original concepts of series and ages provide structure, and the diversity of expressions subsumed by these concepts is embraced. Historical names, such as Taino and Lucayan, are avoided. The authors challenge the long-held conventional wisdom concerning island colonization, societal organization, interaction and transculturation, inter- and intra-regional transactions (exchange), and other basic elements of cultural development and change. The emphasis is on those elements that unite the Bahamas, Lesser Antilles, and Greater Antilles as a culture area, and also on their divergent pathways. Colonization is presented as a multifaceted wave-like process. Continuing ties to the surrounding mainland are highlighted. Interactions between residents and new colonists are recognized, with individual histories contingent on these historical interactions. New solutions are offered to the "Huecoid problem" the "Carib problem," the "Taino problem," and the evolution of social complexity, especially in Puerto Rico.These solutions req
This volume brings together examples of the best research to address the complexity of the Caribbean past.
Alexander von Humboldt, The Island of Cuba: A Political Essay (Princeton University Press, 2001), pp. 166, 198. 95. Alexander von Humboldt, Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent During the Years ...
“A landmark . . . brilliantly [demonstrates] has that there is far more to black history than the slave trade.”—John A. Williams They Came Before Columbus reveals a compelling, dramatic,...
Table of Contents Introduction by William H. Goetzmann vi 1 A Battle at Sea 1 2 Birth of a Great Seaman 12 3 A Life Lived by the Sea 28 4 Selling His Dream 43 5 Setting Sail at Last 58 6 A Voyage of Discovery 73 7 Exploring a New World ...
This book was written as a series of bedtime stories to illustrate three of the greatest epics in human history.
In 1492, previously separate worlds collided and began to merge, often painfully, into the world-system in which we live today.
Keegan and Carlson, combined, have spent over 45 years conducting archaeological research in the Caribbean, directing projects in Trinidad, Grenada, St. Lucia, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, the ...
Symcox and Sullivan's engaging introduction presents Columbus as neither hero nor villain, but as a significant historical actor who improvised responses to a changed world.
Providing kids, parents, and teachers with a fuller picture of the seafaring life and the dangers and thrills of exploration, the book details all four of Columbus’s voyages to the New World, not just his first, and describes the year ...
Hispaniola examines the early years of the contact period in the Caribbean and in narrative form reconstructs the social and political organization of the Ta&iactue;no.