Empire's Crossroads Chapter Summary

Fluorescent turquoise waters, a vibrant city culture, as well as an unending supply of mimosas and sunburns within a resort, benefits the common wealthy couple looking for a swell time. When people imagine the Caribbean, they probably visualize the soft sands of the Spice Island Beach Resort. Many people see the Caribbean as relaxing paradise. What people don’t understand, are the years of history hidden behind the mask of many resorts. In the book entitled “Empire’s Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day”, Author Carrie Gibson differentiates how people view the Caribbean nowadays, by altering their visualization with four-hundred pages of rich history and culture, that argues the ideology about the Caribbean

being vacant of culture, and only a tourist destination.
Gibson’s arguments discuss how the Caribbean is not just a tourist destination without history, via addressing prompts such as colonization, slavery and how it affected Caribbean global occurrences like trade and agriculture which changed the economy from the downfall of empires due to war, as well as the future of the Caribbean. The second part of this essay is a critical response which will either counter or agree with each of Gibson’s arguments concerning each of the prompts by using textual evidence provided from the book itself.
Carrie Gibson argues that the Caribbean was once colonized.

An example of colonization portrays Columbus and his crew as being civil with the natives when they first arrive, but Columbus had plans to colonize and use them because, in his head, they were simple minded. Columbus became greedy and treats the natives as an extravagant find, rather than human. The book shows how Columbus brings the natives and other findings back to Europe and it states, “Columbus was triumphant. He showcased all the products and people he found in this New World…he brought with him ‘Indians’, as well as gold, plants, and animals. The public was mesmerized (Gibson, 19).” However, I believe this is an example Gibson uses as foreshadowing. She wants people to understand that colonizing the natives, forcing religion upon them, and receiving gold from them, was a global occurrence during that period. Inevitably, more countries would soon inhabit the ‘New World’ in hopes of rebuilding their own economies at home with trade, and slave labor. “With such dramatic events in the Americas, it was impossible for Spain to keep the news secret. Throughout Europe people were talking about the ‘New World’… (Gibson,

46).”
Gibson argues how awful slavery truly was throughout the early culture within Caribbean business empires for most countries and gives insight on the unreasonable amount of enslaved African's who worked in the sugar cane fields. In response to her argument, I believe the passage which states, “…a ship which, when used in the king’s service would hold no more than 200 people, now holding 452 slaves…Imagine the sight of such a multitude of miserable people… (Gibson, 100).” In many ways, Gibson uses slavery to unpack the negative effects empires crossroads has on Caribbean history.
Gibson’s third argument revealed when all competing countries are at a crossroads, on the path of convergence and engaging in warfare over claimed territory, inevitably created the downfall of the empires, and the rise of Haiti and other countries. Gibson’s argument helps illustrate an understanding of crossroads and convergence with this passage, “As Santa Domingo was embroiled in fighting France, Cuba was waging its own battles with it as well…Cuba was the new pearl of the Caribbean, and with Havana only ninety miles from Spanish Florida, there was some hope that the United States could take both (Gibson, 176).” In agreement with Gibson, I believe this was the downfall for many foreign influences in the Caribbean, the aftermath of the war saw the U.S take control of Cuba and Puerto Rico.
Gibson’s final argument addresses the unpleasant situations and experience’s everyday Caribbean’s endure, the sort of harshness that resorts and businesses mask from oblivious tourists.

“…staring at the sea, beer in hand…Free time is now the luxury, not sugar…or any of the goods that delighted the fickle tastes of Europeans…Such goods are now taken for granted – they came with a price, too, though that has long been forgotten (Gibson, 347).” In response, after reading a passage that states, “What is the earthly paradise for our visitors? Two weeks without rain and a mahogany tan…at sunset, local troubadours in straw hats and floral shirts beating ‘Yellow Bird’ and ‘Banana Boat Song’ to death…every island, is an effort of memory; every mind, every racial biography culminating in amnesia and fog (Gibson, 348).” I am truly in agreeance with Gibson, visitors are devoid of Caribbean culture and history to this

day.

After reading Empire’s Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day, and critically responding to the in-depth questions prompted by Gibson’s central arguments, I was truly captivated by Gibson’s message. Tourists are completely oblivious to Caribbean history, they need to understand how the different empires whom colonized the islands collided and converged with war. Tourists could learn that slavery and the harvesting of sugar cane sparked the thriving economy, which helped trade with their native countries. The book helps people understand the lack of cohesion on the islands with war and trade companies. Everything this book entails could truly aid in a tourist’s understanding of the positive and negative ways the Caribbean came to be. Carrie Gibson’s book gives the world a 400-page lesson on the very islands, people use as an escape from everyday life. The book proves that the Caribbean is a major historical paradise.