A Brief History of the Caribbean: From the Arawak and the Carib to the Present

by Jan Rogozinski

Traces the events that have shaped the history of the Caribbean islands in the five hundred years since the arrival of Columbus

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Historical, Travel, Reference, The Americas

432 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Asha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Provides good information on the social, political and economic history of Caribbean, including Cuba, Puerto Rico and Jamaican. Definitely a good starting point . But also appears to be written from a "westerner-white-mans" perspective. Therefore, outside of slavery , issues of race relations and cultural identity will be missing or limited. You will need other books to dig deeper, but good book to start with.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 4 out of 5]

The great German statesman Otto von Bismarck once said that it was best not to know how one's laws and one's sausages were made.  The same is true of places that one enjoys visiting.  The Caribbean, of course, is an area that makes a great deal of its contemporary income from tourism, and that tends to require being polite to traveling Americans and Europeans (and others) in the hope that they will spend plenty of money in one's country and have nice things to say.  Sometimes that means having available discreet places to keep one's money, and ensuring tranquility in domestic politics so as to avoid scaring those whose dollars and euros ensure the well-being of the economy.  That said, the Caribbean has had a very dark history, involving centuries of slavery and a distinct unwillingness on the part of freed slaves (and in many cases, their descendants) to engage in useful labor because such labor was viewed as oppression and not as the way out of poverty.  Indeed, the Caribbean has only been profitable when people have served others, which does not always make for the most enjoyable history.

This particular book is about 300 pages long and it is divided into five parts and eighteen chapters.  The author begins this book with a list of tables and a preface.  After that the author discusses the Caribbean under Spanish rule (I), which chapters on the enduring environment and the first islanders, namely the Arawak and Carib (1), the discovery of the islands by Columbus (2), the fight of pirates for Spanish gold (3), and Spain's Caribbean colonies (4).  Then the author discusses the imperialism of Northern Europeans in the Caribbean (II), with chapters on the Dutch empire (5), the settlement of the Lesser Antilles (6), the buccaneers of Jamaica, Saint-Domingue, and the Bahamas (7), and war and piracy from 1665-1720 (8).  After that the author discusses the sugar empire built on slavery (III), with chapters on the rise of sugar planting (9), the world of the slaves (10), the struggle for control between France and England (11), and runaways and rebels (12).  The author turns to discuss abolition of slavery and the challenges of freedom (IV) with chapters on the British colonies (13), the fight for freedom of the Spanish islands (14), and Hispaniola and the Leeward Islands (15).  The last part of the book then looks at poverty and "progress" in the Caribbean islands since 1914 (V), with chapters on the US and its relationship to the independent nations of the Caribbean (16), the gaining of independence of the islands (17), and the Commonwealth Caribbean since independence (18), after which there are maps, notes, suggestions for future reading, photo credits, and an index.

As has been the case in many books I have read about the Caribbean and its history, this book spends too much time and effort writing about the political leaders of the contemporary Caribbean.  It is not surprising when one sees the sort of protest politics and leftist bent of many Caribbean regimes, as well as the long adoption of squatting and insecurity of property rights that one can find in such areas that the Caribbean has struggled to have secure economies.  Throughout the history of the Caribbean, development has been directed to external rather than internal purposes, and the results have been lamentable and predictable, with a false dilemma between socialist and crony capitalist projects to ensure domestic peace through excessive spending and dependence on external trade with cash crops or oil (in the case of Trinidad) in order to provide for a favorable balance of trade to pay for all of the necessities that the islands have been unable to provide for themselves.  Although the Caribbean is a lovely area, it has seemingly been unable to escape from the trap of being dominated by others who seek it as a pleasant place to visit, a market for goods, and as the source of cash crops, and not much else.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read this prior to my first trip to the Caribbean so I would better understand the area I was going to, but I didn't quite make it. I found it interesting enough though that when I got a chance a wanted to finish. This book was published in the very early 90s but from what I have read most countries have not changed much in the intervening 20 years in some cases that is very sad but for most of the area that is a fairly good thing. The history of the Caribbean is a brutal story in many ways and one in which Americans and Europeans have little to be proud of, I hope we can do better in the future.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of this book is really useful and readable. It’s hard to write a comprehensive history of this region, but it’s possible until one gets to the 19th century. Then things become so fragmented that it reads more like disparate encyclopedia entries with too much detail. Still, it’s a useful reference bio with good photos, illustrations and maps.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, detailed, lots of stories, excellent figures information about all of the Caribbean islands including the Bahamas. Read cover to cover as I always do but had to skim the last 100 pages. I know history is violent, bloody, terribly unfair but this is as bad as it gets. Different countries were fighting over the islands to get gain and the people were exterminated, massacred, brutalized. This wiped out possibilities of good leaders and it repeated itself and it is understandable the last 100 years has continued to be depressing for most of them.

[Kevin Dorival · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book on the history of the Caribbean. I had to read it while in college but have kept it with me ever since. Learned a great deal about the plantocracy/slavocracy of the French, Spanish, and Americans. I think it could've went deeper into Toussaint L'Ouventure, the freedom fighter of Haiti but great book.

[Peter Talbot · Rating 3 out of 5]

This history was almost too brief to be useful: jammed with statistics and one sentence summaries of persons, places and events, it actually tries to stuff too much into too small a container. Would have been more useful had it been 300% longer with better coverage of several features: 1. relationship between colonial powers and imperialist interventionists and each of the Larger Antilles was given far too short shrift; 2. despite its central coverage, the book is light on the causes and affects of the sugar trade taken in the limited frame of the Caribbean; 3. coverage of Saint Domingue/Haiti prior to the American occupation is very poor: even relevant map is missing; 4. the book is already in need of update since its 1992 publication.

Worthy to have on the shelf, and chocked full of useful tidbits, but a terrific slog to read cover-to-cover. Even then, I spent a lot of time on the internet getting more background on key persons and places to fill in issues mentioned but unexplained in the book. The book is only 292 pages and took me three weeks to finish.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the best-written history I have ever read, but it is a fine survey of the history of the islands of the Caribbean. The whole dreary colonial/slavery/sugar epic is told without too much hand-wringing, thankfully, and the modern era is presented without too much political correctness, so that the reader should recognize the difference between social problems and tyranny. The islands vary widely in their geography, terrain and demographics, so the narrative does a great deal of jumping around. Still, all in all, a good introduction to the topic.

[Matthew Hittinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Describing the great earthquake of 1692 that sunk Port Royal, Jamaica as "a fitting punishment for the new Sodom" doesn't seem quite like an objective history...what's wrong with whoring and pirates?

Still...I did get to learn about the Alco, small Arawak dogs that couldn't bark.

[Gray Buetzow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chose it as background information for my 5th grade history curriculum. It met my needs and certainly enhanced my lessons. Spellbinding reading? No. Solid historical data, absolutely.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Brief History of the Caribbean by Jan Rogozinski provides a high level overview of the history of the region from the Arawak tribes to the colonization by European Powers. The mercantile system and slave trades are well detailed here as well as the rebellions by the enslaved and the battles of the Napoleonic era. The book then jumps forward to cover post World War II and the changes in the region around communism and the United States. The book breaks down island by island in the second half and the first half deals with the region as the European powers held it. Overall provides a solid overview of the history of the region.

[Andres Cordoba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely quite outdated, with the beginning chapters near insufferable with imperialist overtones and conflation of myths and facts. This continues through the age of empires, with some good history but also a decent bit of myth telling. The later chapters are actually quite good at describing the modern politics in the region with a clear factual account, though sometimes biased. Overall, quite biased and outdated but certainly a good read for the interested reader.

[Steven McKay · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good first read on the topic, but the author attempts to cover both breadth and depth, making this book a challenge.

That said, I clearly knew next to nothing about the history of this region, and I have a new appreciation for its complexity. I look forward to learning more, but I’ll probably focus on narrower subtopics.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a very good comprehensive history of the Caribbean. Imagine writing the history of 20 countries simultaneously. It reads like a text book. All fact, some opinion, but no storyline.

Props to the author for putting in the work.

I have a hard back copy that I will send to the first person who ask for it for free. Just pay the shipping.

[Shu Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only read the first two chapters for my research. Easy to understand, but I would recommend other books, with a lot more maps and pictures for trying to picture the lay of the land. The history timeline is much easier to grasp, though.

[Dorival John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book on history of the Caribbean

[Stephen Colon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a bit to finish. Written in a well easy to read format but also feels like a textbook. I enjoyed it and it really opened my eyes to that part of the world.

[JP · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I like most about this book is the thorough coverage of the interaction between aboriginal and various European peoples. Rogozinski describes the plight of the Awawak and Carrib, the original discovery and settlement by Spain, and the continuous shifts in power that ensued over the following four hundred years. Covering that many islands over such a time period makes this a survey course. There were dozens of dictators that came and went, too often in extreme cycles of grabbing power only to be eventually deposed. Some of the larger islands with resources were able to maintain long periods of authoritarian or socialist rule. Many of the smaller islands subsisted on basic agriculture, tourism, and banking.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little dry, especially the military and political histories, but it did what the title said. I learned a lot about the region's history and was inspired to want to learn more.

Side note - I thought it was weird that the author wrote a whole inset about why s/he thinks it is fine to say that Columbus "discovered" the Americas. It didn't seem like s/he really got it about why people think this is problematic.

[Magda · Rating 3 out of 5]

But the main obstacle to European immigration—now and for two centuries to come—was the Caribbean's reputation as a white graveyard.

...as many as 8 million Africans may have died to bring 4 million slaves to the Caribbean islands.

[Linda]

An author I really like has this book on a shelf called "life-changing" on her own Goodreads page. That's a pretty strong recommendation to me!

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I use this book as one of the texts for my class that I teach on Mexico & The Greater Caribbean. It is an excellent overview of the history of the region. It serves as a terrific survey.

[Graham Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very useful resource. I'll be coming back to this one.

[Mason]

Lots of data, but no decent gift of prose. If you want the Caribbean on one book, you can get it here, but it's not worth buying used, much less new.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven, but good read on the colonial and post colonial history of the islands in the Caribbean. Would have liked more European discovery tales.

[Anders Brotherus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thorough - albeit tiresome, at times - read on the history of the Caribbean. Set the scene well for further books on the same topic.

[Scott Lord · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very tough book to read. The author jumped around a lot between islands and time. That said, I learned a lot about the Caribbean that I didn't know.