The Spanish Caribbean and the Atlantic World in the Long Sixteenth Century ed. by Ida Altman and David Wheat (review)

The Spanish Caribbean and the Atlantic World in the Long Sixteenth Century is a marvelous addition to the historiography of the Caribbean, providing a deep, reflective, and cogent look at a period of colonial history that is still too often understudied. The editors have done a superb job of curating a volume that explores the history of the region's key population groups while also tackling specific topical areas. The volume features a mix of established and emerging scholars. Together, they render fresh perspectives that ultimately make an excellent case for the "long" sixteenth century as a foundational period not just for the Caribbean but also for the broader Atlantic world. The interlocking nature of the chapters uphold an important thesis: while there is much dynamism and variety in the region, there are true commonalities that rationalize a systemic view of the whole.

The three opening chapters focus on the native experience in the early Caribbean, with Lauren MacDonald's article offering a fascinating case study of the Spaniards' initial attempts to Christianize Hispaniola. Their failures and successes are highlighted, and the cultural survivals and partial transformation of native beliefs enable readers to reconsider the effectiveness of the island's conquest efforts. Casey Farnsworth's contribution picks up on these themes, insisting that the body of scholarship known as "New Conquest history" should necessarily include the Caribbean. The chapter proceeds to demonstrate just how difficult the conquest of Puerto Rico was, while also arguing that preexisting patterns of interethnic associations and alliances shaped the nature of island conquest and subsequent native resistance. Taking these factors into account, Farnsworth posits that native revolts in the Caribbean must be interpreted within a larger interisland framework. Concluding this part of the book is Erin Stone's article, which shows that each conquest event subsequently unleashed new flows of native slaves in the New World. Indeed, Stone reveals that native slavery probably continued long beyond traditionally accepted timelines. As the native slave trade endured, its markets and the diaspora of native peoples began to profoundly affect the demographics of the region.

The book's second section studies the experiences of European colonizers. Ida Altman opens with a rich biography of Cuba's Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa, whose accomplished life and career unearths insights into the social world of the sixteenth century. Shannon Lalor complements Altman's chapter with an equally arresting and rare examination of two elite women's efforts to boost their family status in the islands. While the women's fortunes diverged, their sagas provide us with an invaluable roadmap into the strategies and approaches that helped cultivate elite status and survival. Brian Hamm closes the section with an article that analyzes the Portuguese contribution to the early Spanish Caribbean. Toggling between fears surrounding their supposed support of French and English corsairs, their rumored connections to Protestantism, and their actual fruitful engagements in helping support Spanish imperial ambitions, he notes that their true impact is greater than we may have once imagined.

Africans and their experience in the Caribbean is the central topic of concern for the volume's third section. Marc Eagle begins by providing a nice survey of the slave trade's rhythms prior to 1580, which is widely recognized as a challenging period of study given the difficult nature of the records and sources. Eagle's article offers a short master class in methodology and historiography while arriving at a synthesis that will undoubtedly prove useful to scholars of the transatlantic trade. David Wheat's essay focuses more tightly on Havana, and particularly the experience of the Biafadas. Wheat argues that their social networks in the Caribbean drew significantly from experiences in the homeland, including memories of war and violence. Consequently, patterns of Biafada interaction, alliances, and activities were forged within a larger Atlantic theater that cannot be ignored.

The final two portions of the book...