Empires of the Atlantic World

Starred review from March 13, 2006
In a masterful account, Oxford don Elliott explores the simultaneous development of Spanish and English colonies in the so-called New World. Though colonists tried to recreate traditional institutions on American soil, there were inevitable differences between colonial life and life in the mother countries: familial roles, for example, were reconfigured across the ocean. In addition to differing from Europe, Spanish and British settlements differed from one another, says Elliott. Whereas Spain determined to prevent Jews and Moors from entering its territories, Britain's grudging acceptance of religious diversity was evidenced in the Crown's allowing, and in some cases encouraging, persecuted minorities to join colonial ventures. The English colonies' fractious Protestantism made Spain's Catholic colonies look homogeneous by contrast. Yet the "pigmentocratic" social order of Spanish colonies proved to be exceedingly complex. English colonies, with their adoption of racial slavery, came to be organized around the deceptively simple categories of black and white, while Spanish America was home to varied ethnic groups that readily produced "mixed-blood" offspring. Ultimately, British colonies would privilege innovation and entrepreneurship, while Spanish-speaking society held on more firmly to "the old hierarchies." Elliott's synthesis represents some of the finest fruits of the study of the Atlantic world. Illus., maps.

May 15, 2006
A noted scholar of early modern Spain, Elliott (modern history, emeritus, Univ. of Oxford; "Spain and Its World: 1500 -1700") has expanded his scope with a comparative history of the British and Spanish empires in the Americas. He adopts this comparative approach in an effort to contend with what he feels is the fragmented story of the Americas, where historians separate out regions as distinct entities without much connection to a larger whole. His efforts thus run parallel to other recent scholarship, such as Anthony Pagden's "Lords of All the World: Ideologies of Empire in Spain, Britain, and France, c.1500 -c.1800", on interconnections in the Atlantic World. Given his background, Elliott of course writes very well on Spanish matters; his sections on British colonization do slightly pale in comparison. Nevertheless, he generally succeeds in illuminating the larger history of the Americas, providing readers with a sense of both the interplay between the two empires and the pressures (sociocultural, geographic, and demographic) that shaped colonization. While not essential for all libraries, Elliott's scholarship makes this survey a useful addition to academic collections, especially those with a focus on the Americas during the European Colonial era." -John Russell, Georgia State Univ. Lib., Atlanta"

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