The idea that sugar, plantations, slavery, and capitalism were all present at the birth of the Atlantic world has long dominated scholarly thinking. In nine original essays by a multinational group of top scholars, Tropical Babylons re-evaluates this so-called "sugar revolution." The most comprehensive comparative study to date of early Atlantic sugar economies, this collection presents a revisionist examination of the origins of society and economy in the Atlantic world.

Focusing on areas colonized by Spain and Portugal (before the emergence of the Caribbean sugar colonies of England, France, and Holland), these essays show that despite reliance on common knowledge and technology, there were considerable variations in the way sugar was produced. With studies of Iberia, Madeira and the Canary Islands, Hispaniola, Cuba, Brazil, and Barbados, this volume demonstrates the similarities and differences between the plantation colonies, questions the very idea of a sugar revolution, and shows how the specific conditions in each colony influenced the way sugar was produced and the impact of that crop on the formation of "tropical Babylons--multiracial societies of great oppression.

Contributors:

Alejandro de la Fuente, University of Pittsburgh

Herbert Klein, Columbia University

John J. McCusker, Trinity University

Russell R. Menard, University of Minnesota

William D. Phillips Jr., University of Minnesota

Genaro Rodriguez Morel, Seville, Spain

Stuart B. Schwartz, Yale University

Eddy Stols, Leuven University, Belgium

Alberto Vieira, Centro de Estudos Atlanticos, Madeira