Cannibal Encounters: Europeans and Island Caribs, 1492–1763When the natives of Hispaniola first told Christopher Columbus of their feared enemies to the east - using the Arawak word caniba or carib - the admiral considered two possible explanations. Either these fierce warriors were soldiers of the nearby Great Khan (Spanish can) or they were cannibals. Europeans' dawning awareness of New World geography soon proved Columbus's first theory wrong. But the second has persisted for centuries. In Cannibal Encounters Philip Boucher analyzes the images - and the realities - of European relations with the people known as Island Caribs during the first three centuries after Columbus. Boucher begins by examining the current debate about the Caribs' ethnic origins and the controversy over their supposed cannibalism. Subsequent chapters show how French and English Caribbean policies evolved and how those policies were related to - and influenced by - literary and cultural images in the work of such thinkers as Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. Although the French and the English developed similar plantation economies that meant harsh treatment for the Caribs, French relations with the islanders were usually less strained than those of the British. Among the reasons for this difference, Boucher argues, were the benevolent influence of French missionaries and merchants and the firm hand of French government, which restrained colonialists' worst excesses. Based on literary sources, travelers' observations, and missionary accounts, as well as on French and English colonial archives and administrative correspondence, Cannibal Encounters offers a vivid portrait of a troubled chapter in the history of European-Amerindian relations. |
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Page 40
... Canada , considered by most Frenchmen to be a frozen wasteland , attracted few emigrants or indentured servants in this period despite intense propaganda efforts in France . 42 41 Warner had a head start in the race to populate the ...
... Canada , considered by most Frenchmen to be a frozen wasteland , attracted few emigrants or indentured servants in this period despite intense propaganda efforts in France . 42 41 Warner had a head start in the race to populate the ...
Page 53
... Canada , Great Lakes ) and the continental English colonies , the islands received scant literary attention . For the period 1607-1713 , only 25 books and pamphlets about the English West Indies were published , com- pared to 167 such ...
... Canada , Great Lakes ) and the continental English colonies , the islands received scant literary attention . For the period 1607-1713 , only 25 books and pamphlets about the English West Indies were published , com- pared to 167 such ...
Page 96
... Canadian frontier and the important French deploy- ment of Amerindian allies there immediately raises the question of Island Carib involvement in the Antillean struggle . The vaunted Carib threat was to prove at most a minor irritant to ...
... Canadian frontier and the important French deploy- ment of Amerindian allies there immediately raises the question of Island Carib involvement in the Antillean struggle . The vaunted Carib threat was to prove at most a minor irritant to ...
Contents
Europeans and Island Caribs in | 13 |
EuroCarib Relations during | 31 |
The Island Carib Struggle | 61 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
A.N. Col aborigines accounts Acosta Allaire Amerindians Anthropology Antigua Arawaks Baas Barbados Black Caribs Blénac Brazilians Breton British British West Indies Caliban cannibals capesterre Caraïbes Carib Cannibalism Carib culture Carib islands Carib raids Caribbean Christopher civilization Clodoré Colbert colonists Columbus contemporary Council coureurs d'histoire despite Dominica Dominica Caribs Dutch edited England English especially Euro European evidence française France Fredi Chiapelli French Colonial French island governor governor-general Greater Antilles Grenada Guadeloupe Gullick Histoire générale History Hobbes hostile Hulme human Ibid Images of America impact Indian Island Caribs island officials Jesuit John l'Amérique Labat Leewards Léry Lesser Antilles London Lucia man-eating Martinique Martire missionaries Montaigne Myths natives natural noble savage numbers Paris peace pean Petitjean Roget Philip Warner Pierre pirogues readers relations Rochefort Rousseau settlement settlers seventeenth century ship slaves sources Spanish Stapleton Tertre tion Trade treaty Tupinambas University Press views Vincent vols West Indies William Willoughby World