Borderless Empire: Dutch Guiana in the Atlantic World, 1750-1800

294 Pages·2020·20.167 MB·English

by  Bram Hoonhout

Borderless Empire
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Vincent Brown, Duke University
Andrew Cayton, Miami University
Cornelia Hughes Dayton, University of Connecticut
Nicole Eustace, New York University
Amy S. Greenberg, Pennsylvania State University
Ramón A. Gutiérrez, University of Chicago
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Karen Ordahl Kupperman, New York University
Joshua Piker, College of William & Mary
Mark M. Smith, University of South Carolina
Rosemarie Zagarri, George Mason University
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Borderless Empire
Dutch Guiana in the Atlantic World, 1750–1800
Bram Hoonhout
The University of Georgia Press
Athens
© 2020 by the University of Georgia Press
Athens, Georgia 30602
www.ugapress.org
All rights reserved
Most University of Georgia Press titles are available from popular e-book vendors.
Printed digitally
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hoonhout, Bram, author.
Title: Borderless empire : Dutch Guiana in the Atlantic world, 1750–1800 / Bram
Hoonhout.
Other titles: West Indian web
Description: Athens : University of Georgia Press, [2020] | Series: Early American places |
Revision of author’s thesis (doctoral)—European University Institute, 2017, titled The
West Indian web : improvising colonial survival in Essequibo and Demerara, 1750–
1800. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019010723 | ISBN 9780820356082 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN
9780820356075 (ebk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Essequibo—History. | Demerara—History. | Netherlands—Colonies—
America—History. | Netherlands—Colonies—History—17th century.
Classification: LCC F2351 .H66 2020 | DDC 988.1/2—dc23 LC record available at https://
lccn.loc.gov/2019010723
For my parents
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Contents
List of Maps, Tables, and Figures xi
List of Abbreviations xiii
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction: Borderless Societies 1
1 The Borderland 19
2 Political Conflicts 43
3 Rebels and Runaways 74
4 The Centrality of Smuggling 111
5 The Web of Debt 136
6 Borderless Businessmen 162
Conclusion: The Shape of Empire 189
Appendix 1 193
Appendix 2 195
Notes 197
Bibliography 245
Index 267