Book contents
- Islanders and Empire
- Cambridge Latin American Studies
- Islanders and Empire
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Additional material
- Introduction
- 1 Colonial Origins: Hispaniola in the Sixteenth Century
- 2 Smuggling, Sin, and Survival, 1580–1600
- 3 Repressing Smugglers: The Depopulations of Hispaniola, 1604–1606
- 4 Tools of Colonial Power: Officeholders, Violence, and Exploitation of Enslaved Africans in Santo Domingo’s Cabildo
- 5 “Prime Mover of All Machinations”: Rodrigo Pimentel, Smuggling, and the Artifice of Power
- 6 Neighbors, Rivals, and Partners: Non-Spaniards and the Rise of Saint-Domingue
- Conclusion
- Glossary of Spanish Terms
- Bibliography
- Index
- Other Books in the Series (continued from page ii)
Conclusion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 October 2020
- Islanders and Empire
- Cambridge Latin American Studies
- Islanders and Empire
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Additional material
- Introduction
- 1 Colonial Origins: Hispaniola in the Sixteenth Century
- 2 Smuggling, Sin, and Survival, 1580–1600
- 3 Repressing Smugglers: The Depopulations of Hispaniola, 1604–1606
- 4 Tools of Colonial Power: Officeholders, Violence, and Exploitation of Enslaved Africans in Santo Domingo’s Cabildo
- 5 “Prime Mover of All Machinations”: Rodrigo Pimentel, Smuggling, and the Artifice of Power
- 6 Neighbors, Rivals, and Partners: Non-Spaniards and the Rise of Saint-Domingue
- Conclusion
- Glossary of Spanish Terms
- Bibliography
- Index
- Other Books in the Series (continued from page ii)
Summary
In the early days of 1694, tireless traveler Gregorio de Robles arrived at a bay on the northern coast of Hispaniola, where the town of Puerto Plata once stood. He journeyed on the ship of an asiento slave merchant, and once ashore, he encountered two Dutch sloops and an English one full of goods and openly trading. Locals had prepared 1,000 hides and the English and Dutch sailors went ashore “as if it was their own land,” ready to exchange their wares for all kinds of agricultural products. Robles suggested that this port needed to be better defended and that the city of Santiago should have a “good commander” because vigilance was crucial to protect the region. If Gregorio de Robles suspected that the local militias were involved in allowing this illicit trade, he was correct. Less than a century after the depopulations, the northern residents of Hispaniola had once again restored their transnational mercantile connections with the complicity of local militias and officials.
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- Islanders and EmpireSmuggling and Political Defiance in Hispaniola, 1580–1690, pp. 263 - 268Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020