A Concise History of the Caribbean

B. W. Higman is Professor Emeritus at the Australian National University and Professor Emeritus of the University of the West Indies, where he studied and taught for thirty years. His numerous books include Slave Population and Economy in Jamaica 1807-1834 (1977), which was awarded the Bancroft Prize.

• 1. A history of islands; 2. Ancient archipelago, 7200 BP-AD 1492; 3. Columbian cataclysm, 1492-1630; 4. Plantation peoples, 1630-1770; 5. Rebels and revolutionaries, 1770-1870; 6. Democrats and dictators, 1870-1940; 7.Decolonization and diasporas, 1940-2000; 8. A changing climate, 2000-2020.

'Anyone embarking on a history of the Caribbean is faced with a complexity of problems. What, for a start, do you mean by the Caribbean? And how do you provide a chronological and analytical narrative that embraces widely divergent geographies, nationalities, and peoples over, say, a millennium? If any single historian is qualified to tackle the topic, [B. W.] Higman is surely the best … A Concise History of the Caribbean is a rare book – an important study for all students of the Caribbean, but with a resonance that goes well beyond the Caribbean itself.' James Walvin, New West Indian Guide