Books in the Cambridge Library Collection - Latin American Studies series

This report on the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico was published in 1834. It portrays the West Indies in a positive light, at a time of transition due to the abolition of the slave trade. He describes in detail the island, its geography, resources and people.

This 1840 work was the first detailed account of the colony of British Guiana. Schomburgk surveyed and helped determine its boundaries with Brazil and Venezuela, and explored the interior, discovering many new plant species. He also studied the native tribes, who were suffering from attacks by the Brazilians.

Eminent Victorian historian James Anthony Froude travelled around the British West Indies in 1886-1887. These observations on the people of the different islands (first published in 1888), and views on how they should be governed, were highly controversial, implying that former slaves were not yet capable of self-government.

This 1848 volume gives a comprehensive picture of the history, geography and political economy of the British colony of Barbados. Schomburgk had been knighted in 1844 for his survey work in British Guiana, and was conscious of the importance of Barbados to Britain's trading interests in the West Indies.

This 1837 work provides a comprehensive survey of the British West Indies, by the Inspector of Hospitals. While it shows a particular interest in disease and climate, Halliday discusses the history, religion, administration and economic life of the islands, shortly after the abolition of slavery.

H. C. Prinsen Geerligs (b. 1864) was a Dutch microbiologist and a leading authority on the scientific and manufacturing aspects of the sugar cane industry. This volume, first published in 1912, is a comprehensive examination of the history, economics and politics of an industry that remains powerful to this day.

This journal, translated into English in 1771, is an account by naturalist and writer Antoine-Joseph Pernety (1716-96) of the 1763-4 French expedition to colonise the Falkland Islands. Included also are writings on subsequent voyages to Patagonia and the Straits of Magellan.