Hubs of Empire: The Southeastern Lowcountry and British Caribbean (Regional Perspectives on Early America)

In “Hubs of Empire,” Matthew Mulcahy offered an excellent survey of colonial history in the Caribbean and South Carolina, and Georgia. Mulcahy presented a great overview of the region in the 17th and 18th centuries, stressing how the Lowcountry in general--and South Carolina in particular--were closer to the Caribbean than other North American colonies. Like any survey, you can quibble with what was left in and what was left out. Mulcahy could have done more on Paul Pressly’s work showing Georgia was close to the Caribbean, the brief history of British East Florida. But these are, at most, minor problems. This is an excellent survey, offering an overview in a readable and brief book. Highly recommended.

Well written work that shows the relation of settlement in the West Indies and how it affected the development of the South Carolina and Georgia colonies, all in the context of the great powers in Europe. Also great on the economics that led to increased use of enslaved people and the conditions under which they lived and worked.

Makes a good case for the general proposition and most interestingly explains the "difference" and colonial wealth of South Carolina.

This book is the latest in the series “Regional Perspectives on Early America” published by Johns Hopkins University Press. The series enhances standard views of early American history by examining the French presence in the Great Lakes area, the colonial backcountry, and other topics. Matthew Mulcahy connects the British colonies in the Caribbean with the Atlantic mainland’s Lowcountry, specifically the area that became South Carolina and Georgia, focusing on the period between the late 1500s and the 1760s. Although there have been many studies done on this region (as Mulcahy deftly demonstrates in an excellent Essay on Sources), the author pulls together the similarities and differences in the Lowcountry and Barbados, Jamaica, and Leeward Island colonies. Initially isolated and ignored by European powers, Barbados first served as a base for English privateers who made their fortunes by raiding and plundering rival colonies. Sugar and its high value prompted the evolution of Barbados, Jamaica, St. Kitts, Antigua, Barbuda, and Montserrat into sugar production. Apart from Jamaica, the smaller islands focused on sugar plantations to the point where they depended on imports of food and lumber. South Carolina’s economic base rested on growing rice and indigo, the rice a staple food sold to plantations to feed the slaves. Mulcahy closes the distance between event and narrative through vivid descriptions of how raw sugar is processed to become molasses and in turn into rum, a valued trade item with African kingdoms willing to trade slaves for rum. He describes plantation slavery as much more than field work, listing numerous occupations from blacksmiths to coopers and carpenters. Disease spared neither black nor whites as malaria and yellow fever killed thousands. Wealthy planters moved to England and left the supervision to overseers. Linking events in the Caribbean to the Lowcountry, Mulcahy demonstrates the similarities in the growing grievances between colonists and mother country. Although Jamaica and the other island colonies objected to taxation and other issues, they found the British military provided them with a “protective umbrella” against the threat of slave revolts as the slave populations vastly outnumbered their white masters. Unlike the thirteen mainland colonies that revolted against Great Britain, the island colonies stopped short of revolution. Mulcahy’s book broadens the scope of colonial economic, political, and social life well beyond the usual coverage given in U.S. history textbooks. Teachers and students alike will enjoy this fresh perspective even as they face its discussion of an unequal economy in which whites became wealthy at the expense of expendable, enslaved people.