In the eye of all trade : Bermuda, Bermudians, and the maritime Atlantic world, 1680-1783 / Michael J. Jarvis.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 473-649) and index.

Introduction: In the eye of all trade : Bermuda, Bermudians, and the maritime Atlantic world, 1680-1783 -- Colonizing paradise : the Somers Islands Company and colony -- Bermuda's turn to the sea, 1685-1715 -- Bermuda's maritime economy 1 : circumatlantic shipping and smuggling, 1715-1775 -- Bermuda's maritime economy 2 : working the Atlantic commons, 1690-1775 -- A seafaring people : Bermuda's maritime society -- Maritime migration, trade, and Atlantic families -- Navigating the American Revolution -- Epilogue: From seaport to sentry post : the decline of maritime Bermuda, 1783-1820 -- Conclusion: Fate, contingency, and the development of maritime America.

The first social history of eighteenth-century Bermuda, this book profiles how one especially intensive maritime community capitalized on its position "in the eye of all trade." Jarvis takes readers aboard small Bermudian sloops as they shuttled cargoes between ports, raked salt, salvaged shipwrecks, hunted whales, captured prizes, and smuggled contraband in an expansive maritime sphere spanning Great Britain's North American and Caribbean colonies. He shows how humble sailors and seafaring slaves operating small family-owned vessels were significant but underappreciated agents of Atlantic integration. The American Revolution shattered interregional links that Bermudians had helped to forge. Reliant on North America for food and customers, Bermudians faced disaster. A bold act of treason enabled islanders to continue trade with their rebellious neighbors and helped them to survive and even prosper in an Atlantic world at war. Ultimately, however, the creation of the United States ended Bermuda's economic independence and doomed the island's maritime economy

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