In a Sea of Empires: Networks and Crossings in the Revolutionary Caribbean (Cambridge University Press, 2020) by Jeppe Mulich, analyzes the nature of imperial politics and colonial law in chapters centering on free ports and black markets, imperial warfare and colonial violence, prize courts and privateers, slave laws and free communities, abolition and the illegal slave trade, among other topics. [Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.]

Description: At the turn of the nineteenth century, the Caribbean was rife with revolutionary fervor and political turmoil. Yet, with such upheaval came unparalleled opportunities. In this innovative and richly detailed study, Jeppe Mulich explores the interconnected nature of imperial politics and colonial law in the maritime borderlands of the Leeward Islands, where British, Danish, Dutch, French, Spanish, and Swedish colonies both competed and cooperated with one another. By exploring the transnational networks involved in trade, slavery, smuggling, privateering, and marronage, he offers a new account of the age of revolutions in the Caribbean, emphasizing the border-crossing nature of life in the region. By approaching major shifts in politics, economy, and law from the bottom-up, a new story of early nineteenth-century globalization emerges – one that emphasizes regional integration and a multiplicity of intersecting networks.

Jeppe Mulich (London School of Economics and Political Science) is a teaching associate in Global History at the University of Cambridge and St John’s College.

In a Sea of Empires: Networks and Crossings in the Revolutionary Caribbean

Cambridge University Press, June 2020
300 pages
ISBN 978-1108489720 (hc)

For more information, see https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/atlantic-history/sea-empires-networks-and-crossings-revolutionary-caribbean and https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/in-a-sea-of-empires/075B1A27E874F11A07C03C473DF6E144