The romantic interest which attaches to the waters of the Caribbean
has to some extent obscured the fact that the records of the
Caribbean during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth
centuries are an integral history of England and of the American
colonies. Battles fought in the Caribbean Sea were often an
important factor in making peace or war in Europe. Not only were
settlements established in the West Indies and in the Spanish Main
a century in advance of those in North America, but for three
hundred years the struggles of the European nations for the control
of the commerce of this region had a direct effect upon the
material, political, and racial development of the North American
colonies. During the last quarter of the sixteenth century, Spain
was the strongest of European powers. In the New World, Spanish
rule was practically absolute from Labrador to the Rio de la Plata
on the Atlantic side and from the Isthmus south on the western
coast of South America; in fact a Papal grant had divided the
American continent between Portugal and Spain. The arrogant claim
of the Spanish Crown was contested only by a small French
settlement on the St. Lawrence and in Labrador by Frobisher's
Adventure. The story of the great seamen of Elizabeth's reign -
Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher - is almost the history of the
England of their day; the battles they fought made the settlements
in Virginia and Massachusetts possible. Of no less influence in the
development of the English colonial settlements were the naval
undertakings of Sir Henry Morgan in the seventeenth, and of Admiral
Vernon and Admiral Rodney in the eighteenth century. It was the
final supremacy of British control of theCaribbean Sea which made
the Rio Grande the northern boundary of Latin America instead of
the Potomac. Francis Russell Hart (1868-1938) was a Fellow of the
Royal Geographic Society.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
