The History of Jamaica 3 Volume Set: Or, General Survey of the Antient and Modern State of That Island, with Reflections on Its Situation, Settlements

Edward Long's three-volume work marks a major turning point in the historiography of Jamaica, as the first attempt at a comprehensive description of the colony, its history, government, people, economy and geography. The son of a prominent Jamaican plantation owner, Long (1734-1813) spent twelve years running his father's property, an experience which permeates his vision of the island's past, present and future. Long defends slavery as 'inevitably necessary' in Jamaica, suggesting the institution to be implicit in the 'possession of British freedom'. The book includes accounts of the Spanish colonial period in Jamaica, the British colonial government, slavery and the slave rebellions, the economy and infra-structure of the island, and its climate and natural history. This important 1774 book provides fascinating insights into eighteenth-century colonial Jamaica and the ideology of its commercial and administrative elite.