Daniel Ramos Mattos, estudiante de doctorado en historia en la Universidad de Lehigh, publicó una reseña del libro más reciente de la historiadora puertorriqueña Jennifer Wolff. titulado “Isla Atlántica: Puerto Rico, circuitos antillanos de contrabando y la formación del Mundo Atlántico, 1580–1636”.
A continuación un extracto de la reseña:
Since the publication of Fray Iñigo Abbad y Lasierra’s Historia geográfica, civil y natural de la isla de San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico in 1788 and its 1866 reissue, historical narratives have perpetuated the notion that sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Puerto Rico was an isolated outpost on the margins of the Spanish Empire and an abandoned military settlement that frequently fell victim to violent piratical incursions, attacks, and raids by the French, English, and Dutch. Jennifer Wolff’s Isla Atlántica challenges this long-standing interpretation, arguing that Puerto Rico played a central role in the formation of the Atlantic world during the early modern period. Wolff particularly highlights how Puerto Rico served as a commercial hub for the Portuguese-led networks of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, its importance as a stopover for vessels that entered the Caribbean in need of repairs, as well as water and food supplies, and its centrality as a convergence point for contraband between Europe and the Caribbean Basin.
Isla Atlántica spans little over half a century (1580–1636) that saw serious transformations in Europe’s relationship to the Antilles. Spain and Portugal were no longer the only European powers leading seafaring ventures across the Atlantic—England, France, and the Netherlands took an active role in the nascent commercial networks that connected the Caribbean Basin to Africa and Europe. During this time, at least 123 vessels made arribada or descamino in Puerto Rico. That is, they arrived without a legal permit or authorization from Seville’s Casa de la Contratación. Ship captains and their crews justified their illegal landings by claiming illnesses, shortages of food and water, and adverse weather conditions. While some arribadas responded to real life-threatening incidents at sea, others, as Jennifer Wolff elucidates, were part of coordinated arrangements between Puerto Rico’s inhabitants and colonial authorities and the seafaring merchants that illicitly transported commodities across the Atlantic world.
Este verano, Daniel está trabajando como becario de la Fundación Mellon con las colecciones de la Colección Puertorriqueña de la Biblioteca de la UPR y en el Archivo General de Puerto Rico, mientras profundiza su trabajo con distintos recursos archivísticos. Para ver el texto completo de Daniel, oprima aquí.
PRAC Summer Intern Daniel Ramos Mattos published review of J. Wolff’s Isla Atlantica
Daniel Ramos Mattos, Ph.d. student in history at Lehigh University, published a review of Puerto Rican historian Jennifer Wolff’s recent book, titled Isla Atlántica: Puerto Rico, circuitos antillanos de contrabando y la formación del Mundo Atlántico, 1580–1636.
An excerpt of the review:
Since the publication of Fray Iñigo Abbad y Lasierra’s Historia geográfica, civil y natural de la isla de San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico in 1788 and its 1866 reissue, historical narratives have perpetuated the notion that sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Puerto Rico was an isolated outpost on the margins of the Spanish Empire and an abandoned military settlement that frequently fell victim to violent piratical incursions, attacks, and raids by the French, English, and Dutch. Jennifer Wolff’s Isla Atlántica challenges this long-standing interpretation, arguing that Puerto Rico played a central role in the formation of the Atlantic world during the early modern period. Wolff particularly highlights how Puerto Rico served as a commercial hub for the Portuguese-led networks of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, its importance as a stopover for vessels that entered the Caribbean in need of repairs, as well as water and food supplies, and its centrality as a convergence point for contraband between Europe and the Caribbean Basin.
Isla Atlántica spans little over half a century (1580–1636) that saw serious transformations in Europe’s relationship to the Antilles. Spain and Portugal were no longer the only European powers leading seafaring ventures across the Atlantic—England, France, and the Netherlands took an active role in the nascent commercial networks that connected the Caribbean Basin to Africa and Europe. During this time, at least 123 vessels made arribada or descamino in Puerto Rico. That is, they arrived without a legal permit or authorization from Seville’s Casa de la Contratación. Ship captains and their crews justified their illegal landings by claiming illnesses, shortages of food and water, and adverse weather conditions. While some arribadas responded to real life-threatening incidents at sea, others, as Jennifer Wolff elucidates, were part of coordinated arrangements between Puerto Rico’s inhabitants and colonial authorities and the seafaring merchants that illicitly transported commodities across the Atlantic world.
Daniel is working as a Mellon Intern this summer with collections at the Colección Puertorriqueña of the UPR Library and at the Archivo General de Puerto Rico, while he deepens his engagement with various archival resources. For the full text: Daniel Review