A Concise Natural History of East and West Florida
Publication Year: 1999
Braund presents the only annotated edition of Bernard Romans's rare and valuable 18th-century account of his observations in the southeastern United States.
Bernard Romans's A Concise Natural History of East and West Florida, William Bartram's Travels, and James Adair's History of the American Indian are the three most significant accounts of the southeastern United States published during the late 18th century. This new edition of Romans's Concise Natural History, edited by historian Kathryn Braund, provides the first fully annotated edition of this early and rare description of both the European settled areas and the adjoining Indian lands in what are now the states of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
Romans's purpose in producing his Concise Natural History was twofold: to aid navigators and shippers by detailing the sailing passages of the region and to promote trade and settlement in the region. To those ends, he provided detailed scientific observations on the natural history of the area, a summary of the region's political history, and an assessment of the potential for economic growth in the Floridas based on the area's natural resources.
A trained surveyor and cartographer and a self-taught naturalist, Romans supplied detailed descriptions of the region's topography and environment, including information about the climate and weather patterns, plants, animals, and diseases. He provided information about the state of scientific inquiry in the South and touched on many of the most important intellectual arguments of the day, such as the origin of the races, the practice of slavery, and the benefits and drawbacks of monopoly on trade.
In addition, Concise Natural History can be placed firmly in the genre of colonial promotional literature. Romans's book was an enthusiastic guide aimed at those seeking to establish modest holdings in the region:
"What a field is open here! . . . No country ever had such inexhaustible resources; no empire had ever half so many advantages combining in its behalf!" Romans explained how settlers should travel to the area, what they would need in terms of provisions and tools, and what it would cost to have their land surveyed. In addition to providing an abundance of practical advice, Romans also offered information about the history of earlier settlements, including the earliest and most complete account of New Smyrna near St. Augustine.
Romans also presented unique information about the various Indian tribes he encountered. In fact, historians agree that among the most useful portions of the book are Romans's descriptions of the largest Indian tribes in the 18th-century Southeast: the Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws. Romans's account of the diet of the Creeks and Choctaws is one of the most complete available. And his description of the location of Choctaw village sites is one of the best sources for this information.
Published by: The University of Alabama Press
Contents
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pp. v-
Illustrations and Maps
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pp. vii-
A Note on This Edition
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pp. ix-xii
This project began as an effort to produce a facsimile edition of A Concise Natural History for the Library of Alabama Classics series of the University of Alabama Press. Although repeated attempts to locate a suitable copy for photographic reproduction were undertaken, the rarity and fragility of surviving copies led all owners of original 1775 editions of the work whom we ...
Acknowledgments
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pp. xiii-xiv
Special appreciation is extended to the following manuscript repositories and libraries that provided documents and information from their collections: American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia; William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Staffordshire Record Of�ce, Stafford, England; Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford; Georgia Historical Society ...
Bernard Romans: His Life and Works
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pp. 1-41
Bernard Romans was a man of action: a navigator, surveyor, cartographer, botanist, writer, promoter, engineer, and soldier. His maxim, recorded in his most famous work, A Concise Natural History of East and West Florida, testifies that he was also a philosopher. “Truth,” wrote this Dutch scholar, “should be the object of man’s enquiries” (58).* Romans believed that man’s questioning ...
Romans’s History as a Source for Understanding the Eighteenth-Century South
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pp. 42-70
Bernard Romans’s A Concise Natural History of East and West Florida, William Bartram’s Travels, and James Adair’s History of the American Indians comprise the three most signi¤cant accounts of the Deep South published during the late eighteenth century. Adair, an Indian trader and entrepreneur of long standing, lived for years among the Chickasaw Indians. His work describes ...
Romans’s Copper Plate Illustrations, Maps, and Table
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pp. 71-74
Romans planned twelve copper plate illustrations to accompany his book, but only eleven were ultimately included in the final work. Unfortunately, the twelfth plate, a map of the southern Indian nations, was lost in transit between the engraver and the publisher. The eleven copper plates that illustrate A Concise Natural History are especially valuable to historians, particularly ...
A Concise Natural History of East and West Florida
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pp. 75-348
A describer of countries, ought in a great measure, to imitate a building Engineer, in �rst laying before those, whom he will employ, accurate and distinct plans of his intended work, thereby enabling them to judge more distinctly of the execution thereof. I think that in a work of this nature, I could not do this better that [than] by directing my readers to the charts or ...
Notes
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pp. 349-410
Bibliography
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pp. 411-426
Index
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pp. 427-442
E-ISBN-13: 9780817384234
Print-ISBN-13: 9780817308766
Page Count: 456
Publication Year: 1999
