New Publication: The French Revolution in British Dominica
Carte de la Dominique Prise par les François Le 7 September 1778 Avec le Plan du Débarquemont et de l'Attaque des Forts et Batteries par les Troupes et les Frégates de Sa Majesté Dédiée a M. de Sartine Ministre et Secrétaire d'Etat au Département de la Marine et des Colonies. Par le S. Buache, Courtesy of John Carter Brown Library, Providence, Rhode Island.
Heather Freund is pleased to announce the publication of her article, “‘A Place of Refuge to Republicans and Royalists’”: The French Revolution in British Dominica” in the Journal of British Studies.
During the French Revolution, thousands of revolutionaries and royalists fled the turmoil in French islands. Many went to nearby islands, from which they could observe events. Situated between Martinique and Guadeloupe, Dominica had a majority French population and a long history of connection with its French neighbors. This article uses the case of Dominica to explore the effects of the French Revolution on a non-French island in the Eastern Caribbean. From the start, its proximity to the French islands led to its entanglement in revolutionary politics. It was the first British island to receive refugees, and the influx of people of all racial, social, and political backgrounds into Dominica posed challenges for island officials. Officials had to determine on what terms to admit emigrants, whether they posed a threat to the colony, and how to feed and house them. They also worried about the influences of foreigners and revolutionary ideas on their own disaffected free and enslaved populations. This article argues that Dominica’s location, heterogeneous population, and internal instability allowed it to become a node for regional migration and information networks that embroiled it in the turmoil that engulfed its neighbors and ultimately threatened British control of the island.
You can access the article here.